Moto Taxis: a complete user guide!
Planning a trip to Cabarete? Not sure how to get around? Read on! We do things a little differently around here. If you want to truly embrace the Dominican culture, you will love getting to know the moto taxi mode of transportation. At the Extreme Hotel we attract guests that are looking for adventure and exploration, and as such, transportation becomes an integral part of their trip. The hotel staff value guest safety as a top priority and we will always be available to assist you in setting up the mode of transportation that best suits your needs. One option that many of our guests find exciting, cheap, and easy is the the moto taxi. Just a stone’s throw from the Extreme Hotel sits a moto taxi stop. Here you will find a few of our true and tested local moto taxi guys that wait around to accommodate our travel pursuits. Meet a few of our guys! From left to right we have: Luis, Luis, and Vale The rates are cheap, the ride is fun, and the best part is that you don’t have to wait around like you would for a bus. Fifty pesos will get you to downtown Cabarete; a hot spot for tourists and locals alike. You will find yourself downtown for dancing, drinks, shopping, socializing on the plushy lounge chairs that pepper the beach in front of the restaurants, dropping in on volleyball pick-up games, and live music events! Ready to ride the moto taxi wave? There are a few things you should know, since transportation can be very dangerous. However, there are basic principles you can implement to avoid unnecessary accidents. Moto Etiquette: 7 Key Points to Know Before You Go 1) Get on a trusted moto taxi! -Don’t let just anyone pick you up. Instead, look for an actual moto taxi stop. The taxi guys operate territorially here and will not allow any sketchy business. If you are desperate for a ride and can’t seem to find a moto taxi stop anywhere, you can ask to see a license before you hop on. 2) Always, always, ALWAYS get on and off from the left side! -Forgetting this tidbit may cost you a severe burn from the exhaust pipe. Ouch! (Not a memento you want to take from your trip) 3) One word- “Tranquilo!” -If you feel that your driver is going too fast, don’t be afraid to speak up. The word “tranquilo” will basically command your driver to slow down. 4) Don’t get on the moto until it’s facing the direction you will be going. -This will help you avoid unnecessary turning into traffic. 5) 50 pesos -Fifty pesos will get you into town and you can fit a third person on the back for 50 more pesos. Four people is pushing it!. 6) Use the same guy. -Your driver will want to wait for you if you will need a ride back. If you won’t be spending much time at your destination, ask the driver to wait and he will happily give you a ride back. If you will be awhile you can ask him to meet you at a certain hour to give you a ride back. 7) Lean with it! -It may feel natural for you to lean the opposite direction as the driver when you are taking a turn; however, the driver will maintain balance easier if you lean in the same direction as him. Study these seven points and you will learn to love the moto taxis as much as we do! Happy Travels :)
Mojito Bar eXtreme’s Cabarete Festival
This past weekend in Cabarete, the eXtreme Hotel and Mojito Bar Cabarete hosted the first ever Cabarete Festival! Despite the spring showers, it was an extraordinary night full of delicious food, live musical performances, a local mercado, circus acts, fire dancing and much more! A big thanks from the eXtreme Hotel and Mojito Bar Cabarete to our local community and all of our artisans, vendors and sponsors for coming out and supporting the event. Entertainment was plentiful at the first Cabarete festival, many talented performers had the chance to show their stuff on our stage and the dance floor. Local artisans brought tons of creativity to the first Cabarete Festival! Locally made goodies ranged from bikinis to baked goods to body care products! Everyone wants to remember the highlights, so we crafted a light ring and ran our own photo booth! For more pictures from the Cabarete Festival check out the Mojito Bar Cabarete Facebook page. Don’t forget to tag your self and let us know what your favorite part of the event was! The highlight for me was the circus performances by Kaicetous Circus, I was so mesmerized by the strength and grace of the performers I didn’t even capture a photo. To end our first ever Cabarete Festival, we figured we needed an epic grande finale. Four fire dancers performed and brought the house down! Thanks to all who came out to the event, we were thrilled to see our community coming together and supporting the local arts! We hope to host more events in the future so keep an eye out on our Facebook page and around town. Post by Lynsey Wyatt.
Gua Gua to Gri Gri Lagoon
Our adventure catching a gua gua to Gris Gris Lagoon: This past weekend myself and the rest of the Taino Organic farm volunteer crew took off on another gua gua adventure on the north coast of the beautiful island of Hispaniola. As volunteers at eXtreme hotel’s farm, we often spend our weekends off cruising the coast and exploring different areas of the island. This time our destination was Playa Diamante in Cabrera, about 60km from Sabaneta or 70km from Cabarete. From Sabaneta we piled into a gua gua and headed east to Rio San Juan. Gua guas are a low cost option for exploring the Dominican Republic, from Sabaneta to Rio San Juan it costs 75 pesos and another 75 pesos from Rio San Juan to Playa Diamante in Cabrera. After a beautiful drive along the north coast and through the mountains we reached Playa Diamante. It is a charming little spot perfect for the whole family with a calm tide and crystal clear water. There is a restaurant on site and not too many people, rather uncommon for a Sunday on the beach in the Dominican. We found ourselves amidst friendly local families relaxing and listening to some bachata music. Bring along a picnic and enjoy, kids can run and play in the seemingly endless shallows and parents are free to sit back and relax in the sun free of worry. We caught a gua gua back to Rio San Juan and before heading back to Sabaneta stopped at the Gris Gris Lagoon. The mangrove trees are stunning and you can take a boat out for less than 400 pesos per person. Or, if you are short for time like we were, you can walk down a winding path around the lagoon and through the trees that leads all the way down to the beach. The trees are great to climb and if you’re daring like some of the local kids you can jump off into the water. The beach is lively and there are plenty of opportunities to join in on a game of volleyball or baseball. For lunch we went to the restaurant at the Gris Gris Lagoon. When we asked for a menu, they instead showed us the catch of the day and offered to split the massive fish for us. I opted for some delicious platinos fritos and stir fried veggies. All of the food was seasoned to perfection and very reasonably priced (we all paid under 300 pesos including some fresh donuts for desert). There is a beautiful view of the lagoon and we were even lucky enough to watch some turtles while we waited for our meal. If you are looking for a family friendly spot, Playa Diamante is a wonderful place to spend a relaxing afternoon. Stop by Rio San Juan on the way back and explore the mangrove forest and a fresh meal or a game of volleyball on the beach before enjoying a sunset ride back across the north coast.
How we celebrate birthdays at Extreme Hotel
How we celebrate birthdays at Extreme Hotel The manager of Extreme Hotel is a 6ft tall Canadian goddess. She’s been part of the team that has transformed the hotel over the last five years and has been a main fixture on the site for the last year and a half. She works as hard as she plays, so on her 26th birthday we celebrated in true Genevieve style. She concocted a “dirty 26” workout and invited all the gym regulars and Extreme guests. The result: we had three separate heats of people all sweating their brains out in celebration. 26 Exercises, 26 reps for each one. Number 26 was a shot of rum to finish :) Thanks Gen, I could barely get out of bed this morning – although I’m not sure if that’s from the pre-party workout, or the party itself.
An ordinary Cabarete Day
A lot can happen in a single day when you’re living in Cabarete. With so much to be offered in a 20min radius, all you need is a “get up and go” mentality and everything folds out in front of you. As I write this I’m sitting on the Trapeze lawn at the eXtreme Hotel watching the morning swings of the Circus Art fiends. “Back! Forward! Forward! Back! Up!” is being cued in the background under Tracy the kickboxing Coach’s even louder instructions from inside the gym next door. “Jab! Cross! Slip!” -and it’s only 10:15am. ::sigh:: being at the eXtreme Hotel is always exciting. But anyway I was telling you about my ordinary day: So I woke up and wasn’t sure what was up with surf but put my suit on anyway and went down to the surf beach Encuentro. The trip there, whether on bike or moto is always beautiful in the morning because of the long windy roads littered with grazing horses, chickens, and sun beams thru lots of trees leaving cool shadows on the road. When you’re on bicycle it’s even nicer because most of the way down to Encuentro is downhill, although after a surf session the trip back up isn’t something I particularly look forward to. The waves were clean and maybe waist high with occasional head high swells so basically PERFECT but I was more in the mood to drink some coffee and talk shit with the other lazy surfers on the beach. They have all morning to get in and ride some waves but I was wanting to be at Yoga in 20 minutes so I said bye to the usual suspects, hopped on the Gringo Sanky (my friend’s moto) and rode 5 minutes to eXtreme on Kite Beach. Practicing at The Yoga Loft is always my favorite morning activity, and Yoga with Molly on a Friday is always a challenge. Her TGIF means Thank God I’m FUERTE so I was sweating within 10 mins. I love how Friday Yoga is always the day I do something I didn’t know I could do. An entire practice looking at the ocean in a studio with no walls makes me feel so close to nature as I move through the asanas. Morning Yoga makes me feel accomplished for treating my body to healing, my mind to peace, and my spirit to health. Awwww que cute. Walking down from the Yoga Loft I came upon 9 or 10 Aerialists practicing in our half pipe. Sweet Retreats, a group of Circus Artists on an intensive training vacation, was having their morning Silks class which meant toned persons binding themselves up their silks and cascading down in different ways. It’s kind of like watching the Olympics; there’s a mixture of being amazed by what a human body can do and also feeling completely dissatisfied with your own body. Oh well, there’s Abiu from Taino Farm in the kitchen I can get in on some of that. After watching the circus freaks for a bit I managed to bring the rest of the eXtreme team to slack off a bit and go for a swim in Kite Beach.. We convinced ourselves we were still being productive since I brought my underwater camera and was going to include a section in my blog about our frolicking in the ocean. Then of course we got back to work… Later in the day I was itching to have some kind of ocean activity so since there was no wind I went to Encuentro for an afternoon session. That’s the best thing about Cab, whether you want wind or waves, there’s usually always one or both. The waves were smaller than in the morning but I still had a great time catching them and very easily getting back out to the set. Bryan, one of our Farm woofers who is learning to surf, loved that he could get a lot of ride time with no real wipe outs. The trick to having lots of fun on smaller waves is not being picky, ride them all! Around dusk, a bunch of Cabarete ladies were getting together for sangria and to cut up old t-shirts into new ones and it was a great turn out! We ate more chips and salsa than was necessary, but At least I got 3 new tops! The highlight of the night for me was at sunset when my friend was coming in with the paddleboard and I ran out and had myself a sunset ride. The sunset on the water reflects shades of pink and orange onto the water to the west, and the clouds to the east, nothing is more beautiful or important when it’s just you in the water basking in the sunset. The waves outside of extreme are such a fun ride, especially with the Paddle board. When you’re on SUP you don’t really need waves because just being on top of the water by yourself with the clouds and horizon and green clear ocean underneath you is pretty satisfying, but if you see a swell go out and ride a few, totally thrilling and there’s a nice relaxing paddle back to the shore to catch your breath. The best part of this particular Friday was that this was just an ordinary Cabarete Day. The night closed with dinner at Casa Mami’s, and a nice early night to be well rested for Saturday’s surf, Yoga, and Flea market. Cabarete can fill your day with all kinds of life experiences and introspective moments but being a small town it’s filed with lots of socializing too. Adventurous days, lazy days, it’s all good in Cab.
Road Trip To Punta Russia
Road Trip to Punta Russia Punta Russia is located 160 km West of the surf town of Cabarete along the North Coast of the Island of Hispanola. This Saturday, Monica and I had some free time, so we decided to road trip there with our new friend Bryan. Richard from GoKite rents his SUV out to anyone who needs a car while in Cabarete, so I figured I’d pay this handsome man for the use of a safe vehicle. After getting work all completed and packing up my bikini, pillow and my saved up pesos, we were off on our adventure. We left at 3pm, so we arrived in Punta Russian just as the sun was setting. We checked into Villa Manatee (yes that’s right, manatees are the second biggest tourist attraction in this area) and shared some rum before heading down to the party beach. At La Playa Ensenada, or as we liked to call it “ Playa Ensalada” there was a strip of restaurants all selling their best fried fish, tostones, yuka, rice and beans, and other seafood goodies. We picked the busiest one and walked through the metal gates into a large area that included a small stage, a bar, a bbq area and hundreds of plastic chairs. We ordered a big plate of conch salad, some tostones and two fish dishes. Everything tasted delicious, especially with some Brugal on the rocks. Later in the evening, a band came and played some Moringa and Bachata – in no time the small dance floor was filled with neon leggings and shined loafers. Hips were swaying, booties were grinding. It was like a National Geographic show. After a sufficient amount of rum, we called it a night and went back for a good night’s sleep at our Manatee casa. The next morning we headed down to Punta Russia and found a beautiful little French restaurant called la table d’arno for breakfast. We were completely spoiled! Fresh bread, cheese, Tamarin jam, butter, fried eggs, coffee and oj. Official princesses status on this one! What was even more amazing was how we were overlooking the most beautiful turquoise water and white sand. After breakfast we lounged on the beach, read our books, and applied and reapplied our sunscreen. For lunch we beach walked to Salad Beach ;) and enjoyed some fresh oysters, cold beer and another feast of fried fish, conch salad and tostones. Sunday is a pretty big deal in the DR. Our restaurant was one of many what were packed full of families enjoying their day off together. Mothers, brothers, aunts, babies, and the neighborhood dog spent the day relaxing and playing in the water, laughing and enjoying the local music. On the way home, we stayed refreshed with coco frios, and coconut treats. We were sad to miss the beautiful sunset at Punta Russia, but were very pleased with our adventures. It was really the perfect overnight get away.