A couple of Saturdays ago, David and I, along with our friends Wanell and Joe Donnelli went on a half-day kayaking tour.  I can’t begin to tell you what fun it was!!!

We were picked up by our tour guide, Yoann, in front of our condo around 9:00 and about a half-hour later, we were sliding into the river.  His friend, Helmut, was with him as well.  So, in all there were 6 of us.

Wanell was a real trouper as she had never gone kayaking before.  It was a relatively easy paddle with just a few rapids that were not that bad. After about an hour of paddling, we landed our kayaks and went swimming.  The day was warm and the river was so refreshing.  The water was amazingly clean as well.  Continuing on down the river, we enjoyed the beauty of this country.

I fear my pictures do not do justice to the beautiful sights that we saw.  Plus, it was so very, very peaceful.  A few people live along the river but there were no “city sounds” of motorbikes, horns blaring and people yelling.

After about another hour of paddling, Yoann hooked up a Tarzan swing that we were able to swing on and fall into the water….what a blast!!

This is the group of us right after our time on the Tarzan swing…(left to right) Joe, Wanell, myself, David and Helmut.

After about 2 1/2 hours on the river, we arrived at the pick-up destination.  They loaded the kayaks onto the trailer and we walked up the road about 10 minutes to where we ate lunch.

It was in a lovely Dominican lady’s yard, under the trees, as you can see in the photo below.  I cannot begin to tell you how delicious the food was.  She served us rice and beans, fried plantains and the most amazing eggplant dish.  I am not 100% certain how she prepared it but it was something about using spices on the eggplant and then roasting them over the open fire that she cooked everything over.  Then, she put the eggplant into a pot (I think) and cooked it until is was soft enough to mash.  It was this wonderful smoky flavor and so very, very good!    So, the next time your travels bring you to Cabarete in the Dominican Republic make certain you look up Kayak River Adventure…you will be glad you did!