Before we docked in the Dominican Republic, I setup our time away from the ship to go on a walking tour of Puerto Plata. When you look at the brochure you see beautiful scenic views and smiling faces. If we ever do another cruise, I hope we never go on a walking tour that was as depressing as the one we went on.
Amber Cove has many beautiful beaches. I expected to see the grandeur of nature. Well…. Our walking tour consisted of a gentleman taking us in a van to were we can only think that he is getting kickbacks from the proprietor. He made crude jokes and showed us a picture of the size of his child’s penis because he drank mamajuana, a blend of alcohol, wine and herbs. We saw cable cars going up to the mountains, no we did not go in the cable car. We observed a man creating a cigar and asked if we wanted to smoke one; none of our group did. We were taken to a scenic fort and given 3 minutes to take pictures, not go into the fort or even told about the fort. But as we left the van to see the fort, we were accosted by men selling necklaces. Lunch was provided which included a meat soup with rice and water.
One of the last places that we saw on our tour was the public library. It was a place that the children of the area would be tutored and have classes. They do not have the facilities or equipment that we take for granted in the United States. The reading material that they used for reference was a bit out of date such as encyclopedias. I do not think a child in the United States knows what an encyclopedia is it or has used one for many years.
Most children from the area do not have WiFi in their homes, computers or cell phones. In the library they had one small room for learning to use a computer which was attached to the internet. I appreciate the tour guides sentiment but I wanted to see pretty museums and buildings. The nicest place we were taken was an ice cream parlor were my husband and I shared a citrus sorbet.
When we got back to the port, we purchased lanyards for our ID cards and a toothpick holder. These souvenir stores have duty free liquor, perfume and other objects to take back to the ship.
After a full day of walking in the heat the only thing I wanted to do is sit and watch the waves. We had another tasteless meal, had yet another drink and went to bed.