Published on May, 2022
Lorenzo was our guide and he did a great job explaining everything, making it fun and interesting. He and the driver picked us up on the hotel on time, although there was some confusion on the list over our name as we had booked through another travel agency.
The tour took us to Higues and the first stop was on a horse ranch, cigar making and a shop with paintings. We rode the horses for about 15 min to go back and forth towards the back of the property.
One of the guys working there noticed that I was nervous since my horse kept pacing and he offered to take me and he even took photos! Super nice and talked to me about the ranch and the horses. At the front, the cigar maker gave us a demonstration and you could purchase cigars. Also, Lorenzo provided more information.
Then, we went to a sugar cane plantation and stop on the side of the road to see it up close and Lorenzo cut some for us. Next, we stopped at a elementary school. This part was sad, a lot of kids were asking for money through the windows of the bus. The school had a little box for donations too. It was good to see how Dominican people leave, but sad they had to resort to begging.
After, we did a stop in Higuey see the market and the cathedral. The market I would have skipped since there was a lot of construction and holes. The cathedral design was interesting and stained glass beautiful.
Our stop for lunch was at El Salto de Anamuya and there is a river behind it. Some people were swimming. It was buffet with spaghetti, rice, salad, some fruit, pork chop and chicken if I remember correctly.
The next stop was at the cacao and coffee farm and the house of a really nice lady that she let us tried cacao before processing and some hot chocolate. She also sold some coffee and cacao products. We were able to tour her house to see how traditional Dominican houses are built.
To finish we went to Macao beach. The beach is beautiful but it is too rough for swimming. When we went it had red flags on it. Even Lorenzo said to not swim or to stay very close to the shore as the surf was rough. There are some bars and restaurants you can sit down too for shade as well.