I've been in Cabarete twice before. Usually I prefer to see new places when I travel but since this is one of the best kitesurfing spots in the world, I can't stay away. Last week there wasn't any wind so instead a friend of mine I met here last summer promised to take me on an adventure. I hoped to experience some extreme things but this went way over my expectations.
Day 1
We left around 4 pm after my friend got back from work with the rental car which turned out to be a disaster. First lesson, always check that the car you rent actually works. The car stopped working twice. First it started to fill up with smoke and two hours later the battery broke. We had been driving for about 4 hours and only had 8km left.
We were in the middle of nowhere quite late in the evening and I thought we would have to sleep in the car. It wouldn't have bothered me if I wasn't so hungry. We hadn't eaten for 7 hours. Fortunately my friend speaks Spanish and we found some locals who called a mechanic who repaired the battery for 10 euros. A bumpy ride later and we finally arrived at the hotel.
They didn't have any rooms left but offered us a tree house. It was perfect.
Ever since I saw George of The Jungle I've always wanted to sleep in a tree house.
It was already close to midnight but they still served us food. I slept like a baby.
Day 2
My morning started with a proper rush of adrenaline I got when I jumped down a 50m cliff.
If it wasn't for the struggle to get back up I would have done it again. Thanks to my circus backround I was able to climb up the long rope that was hanging down in the water from the cliff. When I got up my whole body was shaking and I had a few new bruises. Breakfast has never tasted better.
We packed the bags and drove to a small shop to get the stuff we needed for the next
adventure.
We were a bit short on
money and thought we might be able to catch a fish. All we bought was some chips, vegetables and some alcohol.We left the car at the beach and payed a guy to drive us by boat to a desert beach and pick us up next morning. The desert beach turned out to be filled with tourists and other campers. Usually it's very empty b
ut apperently that weekend happened to be the busiest in the whole year.We weren't in the mood for tourism so instead we decided to take all the heavy bags and climb over a big rock to see what's on the other side. A half hour after climbing barefoot through the jungle we reached the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. There was not a single soul around and behind the beach were high mountains.
After setting up the tent my friend went out spearfishing. We deffinately hadn't brought enough food with us, so I decided to go on a coconut mission. I picked out a good tree, put the machete between my teeth and started to climb. I wish I hadn't done it in a bikini. It resulted in a lot of bruises. I cut down a couple of coconuts that unfortunately cracked but managed to get down quick enough to drink the remaining juice.
The hunger was still burning and my no fish was caught. Two coconuts wouldn't do so to instead he decided to cut down a whole coconut tree.
A half hour later we had more coconuts than we could eat and made some great tasting coco-locos (cocount juice with rum) with bambusticks as straws.
Everything was absolutely perfect until a guy who was walking by told us we shouldn't stay there over night. If anyone happens to see our tent across the water they might show up with machetes to steal our money and perhaps kill us. Even how much we wanted to stay on the paradise beach it wasn't worth risking our lives.
We moved our tent and walked back through the jungle right before sun set. We moved our tent twice. First beacuse of the wind and the second time because we realized the water was rising and our tent would have turned into a swimming pool. We made a fire and grilled the vegetables we had left.
Next morning we packed our stuff and took a boat back to the beach where we had our car. All I could think about was a warm wonderful shower. I kind of felt like I had been living in a trashcan for the past month, but my soul was at peace. That night I slept like a baby.
Cheers,
Jessica
