The day finally came, and we had to take Charlie and Colin back to the airport. On the way, we stopped in Puerto Plata to take the teleferico (remember our misadventure with the teleferico?) up the side of the mountain. Of course, before we left, we weighed a bag of Captain Cat, because he had just hit 13 months and apparently 12.5 pounds.
We arrived early enough that the clouds hadn’t quite hit the summit yet, so we had some nice views down to Puerto Plata and the ocean beyond.
The real highlight, though, was the cloud forest botanical garden at the top. The jungle flowers are beautiful, and the air feels cleaner and cooler, especially as the cloud descends. We didn’t have a ton of time to spend here, so we’ll definitely be coming back. We’ve been reluctant to come up when there are clouds on top of the mountain, but now we know that that’s a mistake – the views from the car are all the city/ocean you need, and the real reason to climb the mountain is to go to the park.
Even in the short time we were up top, the clouds came down, and so on the way down we watch the cable car emerge from the clouds, and then stepped into it to begin our descent.
After we dropped our guests at the airport, we stopped at Playa Dorada, and confirmed once again that the DR does in fact have pretty, stereotypically tropical beaches, if you know where to look.
We also passed through a campaign rally. We were initially concerned that it was a protest, which can be complicated to get caught up in, but we quickly figured it out from all the matching shirts. It’s always interesting to see the political process – plus ça change, etc.
I liked the cable car coming out of the fog. Nice mountain top