After breakfast at the “Casa Bonita” hotel restaurant we were off on a grand adventure.
Our first stop was at a “Larimar” store right down the hill from our hotel. The owner is Christian Vargas and he cuts raw stones freshly mined from the Larimar mine about 20 km away. He polishes the semi precious stones and mounts them in jewelry. It was fascinating to watch him work. I love the color of Larimar and had him cut me a couple of paperweight size pieces of Larimar. They are beautiful.
Next we took the coast road heading South and West out of Bahoruco. The morning was clear and the coast line was breathtaking. The color of the ocean is dazzling. There are multiple shades of blue that are just like the colors of Larimar.
We headed south past the small villages of La Cienaga, Paraiso, Los Patos and finally went through the largest of the towns, Enriquillo. Enriquillo is the only town on the coast road south of Bahoruco that has full time missionaries.
Out of Enriquillo we went past the village of Juancha and arrived at the town of Oviedo. This was our intended destination. Just outside of the small town there is a huge lagoon of 27 square Kilometers that has been designated a National Park in the Dominican Republic. The brackish water is three times saltier than ocean water and hosts 600 species of birds. Most notably are the Florida Flamingos that favor this lake in their migrations every year.
Our guide took us on a walking tour of the Lagoon. Even though this isn’t the season for flamingos we were delighted to see a half dozen. We saw many other water fowl too. I was very interested to see a fishing boat pull up to the beach to unload their catch. I asked our guide why fishing was allowed on the lake and he said permits are issued for some fishing. However these fisherman had crossed the small land barrier that separates the lagoon from the ocean and they did all of their fishing in the ocean.
Back on the road we got to enjoy the coast line all over again. It seems that the very same locations seen from the opposite direction and under a different direction of sunlight completely changes the view. It was as if we were seeing an all new part of the Dominican Republic.
Back in Bahoruco we went back to the lapidary/jeweler shop to pick up the pieces of Larimar I had cut and polished. They look beautiful.
This afternoon we spent some time at the “Casa Bonita” swimming pool again. For the second day in a row Hna. Johnson got cramps in her right foot. But this time we went into the warm Jacuzzi and turned on the bubbles. The bubble massage in warm water seemed to help her a lot.
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