A few years ago, visiting Devon in a wet and windy summer, chef Margie Nomura, host of theDesert Island Dishespodcast, stumbled across Beachhouse cafe on a soggy dog walk at South Milton Sands.
15.01.2024 - 10:33 / nytimes.com
The tree-ringed lagoon glowed a color you usually see only in the mouthwash aisle, and under the surface of its glassy water, fallen branches looked like open hands ready to make a catch. The boulders at the bottom were either a few feet down or impossibly deep — the clarity of the water made it impossible to tell.
Hoyo Claro, a spring-filled pool known as a cenote (say-NO-tay) in the Dominican Republic, was just a few miles inland from the luxury all-inclusive beach resorts of Punta Cana, but it felt like a different universe.
If sandy Caribbean beaches are the face of the Dominican Republic, its streams, rivers and cenotes are its veins, arteries and heart. The capital, Santo Domingo, is framed by three rivers, the Haina, the Isabela and the Ozama, upon which the conquering Spaniards built their fort, the first in the Americas, in 1496. The country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, to the west, is laced with waterways and peppered with those irresistible neon blue cenotes.
Dominican friends balked at my plan to rent a car and visit the rivers and cenotes alone last summer. The country has a reputation for being a little rough, an idea bolstered by a U.S. Department of State advisory, which warns U.S. citizens to exercise increased caution while traveling in the Dominican Republic. And with 65 of every 100,000 Dominicans dying in road accidents every year, the country also has the highest rate of traffic fatalities in the Americas, according to World Bank data.
Instead, I joined two of those friends, Hogla Enecia Pérez and Manuel Herrera, on a journey over some rugged dirt roads that are better hiked than driven. Hogla rented a car for us to visit one river. And using a cousin’s S.U.V. with four-wheel drive, Manuel ferried me and, on one day, his family to other swimming holes. In the Dominican Republic, small, rural pools like Hoyo Claro are marked only with a small plastic sign, barely visible from the road, so finding them is a great way to sample Dominican warmth and hospitality: Invariably, you’ll have to pull over and ask directions from a local.
Once you find a swimming hole and immerse yourself in the cool, clear water, you may feel, as I did, ducking under the water, that you’re feeling the heartbeat of the Dominican Republic itself.
A few years ago, visiting Devon in a wet and windy summer, chef Margie Nomura, host of theDesert Island Dishespodcast, stumbled across Beachhouse cafe on a soggy dog walk at South Milton Sands.
At Duke’s Lobster & Seafood—a popular restaurant at Finest Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic—all-inclusive guests can order their lobster dishes however they please. Steamed in a lemon-butter sauce, perhaps? Or thermidor-style with mushrooms and shallots. How about grilled with a white wine and garlic sauce or succulent pieces piled on linguine? Actually, why not just try the decadent dish a different way each night because the lobster—and this may be a shellshocker—is indeed included in the all-inclusive rate.
A couple who stayed at a hotel in Guangdong, China, is demanding a refund worth 10 times the cost of their room after a cleaner walked in on them while they were naked.
Experts believe the stinky seaweed known as sargassum that impacted several popular Mexican tourism destinations in recent years could return as early as February.
To walk across New Zealand is to experience some of the greatest landscapes in the world. From moss-carpeted forests to sun-drenched mountaintops with impossibly far-reaching views, the country is blessed with an almost unfair share of natural beauty, thanks to the volcanoes, glaciers and rivers that have helped carve out its environs over millions of years.
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Happy Thursday, folks! Hope you’re having a great week so far. Has it been as busy for you as it’s been for us? Today our lead item comes all the way from the Middle East. Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia brings funding news, linking the UAE and San Francisco. Also on the agenda today is Airbnb’s new housing council – Executive Editor Dennis Schaal has the deets.
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In partnership with Paramount, Karisma Hotels & Resorts has announced a host of new openings and renovations at the award-winning Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
CRUISE ON LAND PUNTA CANA, a revolutionary and sustainable tourist project, is taking shape about 25 minutes from the international airport and close to the most outstanding tourist attractions in the east of the Dominican Republic. The development is the perfect opportunity for all persons seeking to invest, vacation or rent.
With its immense buttress roots and leathery green leaves, the northern rātā tree isn’t to be underestimated. Carried on the wind, its seeds land in the canopies of neighbouring trees and begin to germinate. Then, over hundreds of years, each individual seedling’s spidery roots wrap around its host, eventually entombing it and consuming the rotting trunk.