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Looking at the Map, we see three major towns and
airports as reference point in the East of the
Dominican Republic:
1) Airport
Pt. Cana near the
beaches of Bavaro and Pt. Cana
2) Airport
La Romana, at the
southeastern tip of the island.
3) Airport
Las Americas, (between
the capital St. Domingo and Boca Chica),
If you know a
little Spanish, you may want to "dive-in" into the
Dominican Republic's daily life and start to
discover its public transportation system, which we
think is a perfect way for "Eco-Tourists", since
this way you can learn about the local peoples,
their habits, life-style, etc.
As explained,
transportation on the road is no problem. All main
roads in the East of the R.D. are in a fairly good
condition and allow normal driving as elsewhere in
the world. For visitors who don't have their own car
or don't want to rent a vehicle, let's describe the
common way of transportation, as used by most of all
Dominicans.
Public
transportation is the most economic way of
traveling, buses of all size (called "Quaqua")
connect the cities and villages, whereas all the
"sidesteps" into remotely situated places is done on
motorcycles (called "moto") waiting at the bus
stops. They will also find a way to handle any
baggage you may have, don't you worry, they make
their honest living out of it….
Travelling
around in the Dominican Republic turns out to be
very easy, even without any knowledge of Spanish.
The buses
have no fixed stopping places, but are simply
flagged down at the roadside with a wave of the
hand. In smaller buses (Van-type), you pay the
driver directly. Bigger buses have a 'cobrador'
responsible for collecting the fares; tell him where
you want to go before you get on. Most of the bigger
buses also have a destination sign in front.
Arriving from Punta Cana airport:
The route from Pt. Cana airport to Pedro Sanchez or
Miches takes you via Higuey until El Seybo. The
buses leave approx. 200 meters outside the airport
terminal, just across the exit hall and at the other
side of the big parking. Take a bus to Higuey
(arriving about every 20 minutes) which will take
you to the catherdal. There, you change to another
bus for direction of El Seybo, which leaves just
beyond the southern gate parking lot entrance for
the Basilica. In El Seybo you leave the bus at the
roundabout near the gas station, and there you
continue with a small bus into direction of Miches,
passing "Vista del Valle" in Pedro Sanchez, where
you can step out at the front door..
Arriving from La Romana airport:
The procedure
is about the same as described above when coming
from Pt. Cana, except that the buses run from La
Romana to Higuey and from there to El Seybo. Once
you have arrived in El Seybo, you have to walk from
the bigger bus stop (which looks like a big garage)
until another stop for smaller busses at the big
road crossing with a gas station further downtown.
There you find small buses leaving into direction of
Miches. The small buses between El Seybo and Miches
are daily shuttling in half hour sequences.
Arriving from Las Americas airport:
From Las
Americas take a waiting taxi from the airport
arrival area to bring you until the Highway about
one mile away. Let him drop you at the next
available bus stop where you can take a "Quaqua"
towards San Pedro de Macoris. From there you can
choose to continue by a bigger bus towards Hato
Mayor and then further to El Seybo, or you make a
longer bus trip via La Romana and Higuey to finally
arrive in El Seybo.
Once you have arrived in El Seybo by a bigger bus, with El
Seybo as final destination, you have to find a small
bus leaving to Miches via Pedro Sanchez, as
described above.
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