On my recent trip to the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, one of my favorite adventures was a jungle trek on horseback to the Salto El Limón. The 170-foot cascade is right in the middle of the Samaná Peninsula, and the horseback voyage winds through the jungle, across the Río Limón, along a ridge and down to a rest stop near the waterfall.
At the stop, some men sat playing dominoes. I don’t know if Caribbean games differ from other regions, but the loud slap that rings through the air when a participant plays his domino by slamming it down on the table is one of my favorite sound memories of Caribbean countries.
Most visitors make the trip on horseback from local paradas (translated as “stops,” but in this case, the word refers to horseback tour outfitters) located along the road that cuts across the peninsula. I stopped at Parada Basilio y Ramona, and after the trek, Ramona had made a tipico Dominican lunch: chicken rice, beans, salad, tostones (smashed, fried plantains), yucca and cold Presidente beer.
I’m not the horse-crazy kid I used to be, and the last time I rode anywhere on the back of a horse was more than 10 years ago (in Copán, Honduras). But this trip, along with the refreshing plunge into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall, is easily something I would do again.
I was in the Dominican Republic as a guest of the Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism, but the opinions in this article are my own.