Aaah...a breath of fresh salty air in Samana.

We finally got away to the beach for an overnight trip. There are so many beautiful areas to explore on the island that I am learning about and one such area is Samana. It's a small peninsula in the north east part of the island that is rich in history (african slaves who were trying to escape the US shipwrecked there in 1820 and settled much of the area) and loaded with miles of coconut palm lined beaches waiting to be enjoyed. The are isn't overrun by all inclusive mega hotels, which adds to it's charm. In fact, the are we went to on the Samana Peninsula is called Las Terrenas and it's just one small hidden hotel after another along the beach. From the beach you can't even see the hotels, because they are all tucked away behind palm trees. Las Terrenas has a bustling village where a mix of local action and tourism give it a nice balance of activity. There is an area in the village where little wooden beach shack-style restaurants hang over the beach and serve the freshest seafood we've had since we've been here.

To get to Las Terrenas we took a brand spankin' new highway from Santo Domingo up to the Samana area. It was almost completely deserted as it's so new, which was eerily nive. On the way there we passed this forest of palm trees that bordered the highway on both sides for about miles. Stunning. And, when the new highway ended we had to take a very steep two lane road over a mountain to the get to the Las Terrenas village. It took us through a couple of mountain towns and offered us amazing views of the coast below. I took several pictures but this was one of those times when the pictures just can't live up to the real thing.

We stayed in an apartment-style villa, so we had a kitchen to cook meals and a separate bedroom. The apartment was decorated in pastel caribbean colors with wicker and wooden furniture. I didn't get any pictures of the inside of the apartment for some reason, except for this picture of our breakfast, which looks a lot more appetizing than it actually was, since the pancakes stuck to the bottom of the non-stick skillet that had lost it's non-stick. The grounds had an amazing garden and a nice-sized pool. Just across the dirt pathe we drove in on was the beach, where we sat under coconut trees in lounge chairs, walked as far as we wanted in either direction, and swam in the calm caribbean waters. I know it sounds like a dream come true and for this weary soul it was for the one short night we were there.

Little Eric had so much fun playing in the sand and swimming in the water. He was a little more intrigued with the water than he was excited about it. He was very timid about going in the pool and the ocean. It was actually nice to see him a little scared by something, since he doesn't really have any fear in his little boy body.

Eric and I both agreed we need to take advantage of these kinds of getways and do it more often. It's just do nice to get away from the noisy city and explore the island we are living on. I think Eric enjoys seeing things he hasn't seen in a long time. We BOTH can't wait to go back and feel like we found "our place."

Ok...and this is just funny. There is a brand of water they sell in Samana that is called "Agua Boy" and has this smiley face as a logo. We kept seeing the signs all over the colmados (little stores) and it made us laugh. In a country that has trouble with clean water I don't think you will see us rushing to buy a refreshing bottle of Agua Boy anytime soon.