Our trusty Skoda (pronounced Sszzchhkoda) Felicia transported us safely to the north coast to chill out at the transcendent Secret Garden resort which is owned by two lovely Hungarians. An absolutely beautiful and nearly deserted beach was only about 100 meters from the place, and we made good use of it. The first day we were there was cloudless and hot with mellow surf good for boogie boarding and body surfing; the next two days, however, brought in a few ominous clouds, nightly rain storms, and some very fierce surf. We body surfed throughout the days just to see what our scrawny selves could withstand and it turned out to not be much. My favorite sight was the formation of wave pinnacles from two colliding ways going in almost opposite directions. The pinnacles were about two or three feet higher than the normal waves which were already five or so feet tall and just flat out crushed you everytime they formed - great fun.
Getting a good night's sleep was a tall order since the electricity from the Secret Garden's solar panels routinely dies out at around 1 am bringing the ceiling fans to a dramatic halt. As the midnight sweat begins to pool on your neck, the bionic Dominican crickets that are squatting just outside the window sense it is the right time to begin their hours-long orgiastic emissions. Combine that with a nasty, lingering cough from Dominican strep throat and you have yourself a night from hell. Thankfully, the incredible homemade $7 Hungarian breakfast took some of the sting off of what would have otherwise been a morning defined soley by insomnia-induced ugly man mood.
Down the road a few miles from The Secret Garden is the town of Cabarete that we had heard so much about. Cabarete feels like a slightly burned-out California surfer town, but has a kinetic night life and some great restaurants and also has the hilariously named Sports Bar Jose O'Shay's where everyone can make up their best possible jokes pertaining to Spanish and Irish stereotypes.
We will definately make it back up to the Secret Garden soon.
