Live the same

My new friend had just arrived in the country. He was a freelancer and, unlike me, he didn’t know the country very well and didn’t know how to get free tours. So he talked me into going on a trip with him. I wasn’t against it, although I was nervous about such a long ride on a motorcycle with a passenger. But in the end, I agreed.

We grabbed a couple of cameras, a drone and hit the road. Luckily, the roads in the Dominican Republic are great and there are almost no cars outside the big cities — perfect conditions for a biker like me, hahaha.

But we almost had an accident right at the exit from the parking lot of our house. A car was driving towards us on a narrow street. To let it pass, I had to ride on the very edge of the asphalt. Right behind it was a ditch and a fence — it was easy to fall into it. It seemed that everything could be overcome, until the car suddenly swerved sharply in our direction — obviously on purpose. I've seen it many times: when I was riding a bike, drivers often tried to push me off the road or brake abruptly in front of me (I still don't understand why some drivers hate cyclists so much - I wish every such driver seven years of non-stop diarrhea, hahaha!). But I kept calm, didn't jerk the wheel - and we safely passed this idiot.

The rest of the ride was smooth and calm - almost straight. We visited the beaches of Macau and Uvero Alto and stopped for lunch in small villages. The only problem was that on turns my bike leaned heavily towards the turn, and I had to make an effort to keep it on the line. It turned out that my passenger leaned towards the turn, thinking it was easier. Well, yes, but it was not. 😄 At one point I almost drove into a ditch because of this, but fortunately everything worked out.

Overall, the road was picturesque, easy and almost empty - it was a pleasure to drive along it!

We got there without any problems. But we didn’t dare to ride the motorcycle up the mountain itself… it was too scary, haha. Although some locals did ride all the way up on their bikes. But the road up is just clay and rocks — it’s narrow, and if a truck full of tourists had come down toward me, I honestly wouldn’t have known what to do. So we paid the fee and went up on foot.

The mountain isn’t very tall — about 100 meters, 96 if I remember correctly — but the hike up is a few kilometers at a pretty steep angle, under the blazing sun. Still, it was fun, and the nature there is absolutely beautiful.

By the way, we happened to go on a day when local people were relaxing at the top of the mountain, and the only tourists there were people like us who came on their own. Apparently, on certain days of the week, tour companies don’t take groups up the mountain at all.

It was a bit scary to leave our new motorcycle down below, because scooter and motorcycle theft is, unfortunately, very common. Three of my friends have had their scooters stolen — even from guarded parking lots near residential areas… and now we had to leave our bike in the middle of nowhere. But it all turned out fine. And to be honest, halfway up the trail I stopped thinking about it — I was already soaked with sweat and dreaming about the ice-cold beer they sell at the top, haha.

Though honestly, the hike wasn’t that hard — we just happened to come during the hottest part of the day…