Charlie Thompson's Paradise

A blog post by Adam. Charlie Thompson, the same Oregonian Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) that stocked our kitchen when he left the country, also left us with the key to the end of our five day adventure with Jorge and Mina: Sereno de la Montaña.

Although it was Charlie's favorite place in the entire country we had to admit we were a little skeptical. Charlie was incredibly generous and kind, but like many PCVs he lived comfortably with seemingly few material comforts. He slept on a mattress on the floor with no bed frame. He constructed his kitchen table from an abandoned piece of plywood. He appeared happy to eat anything placed in front of him. We figured his favorite place would be beautiful (being from the Northwest he had to know beauty when he saw it) but we also wondered if this forest getaway would feel more like camping than hoteling.

Well, Charlie, we never should have doubted you. We think we too have now found our favorite place in the DR. Sereno de la Montaña was incredible. It was simple, but comfortable and clean. From our deck we had an amazing view into the forest. 

The view at sunset.

The food was incredible, from Dominican standbys like yucca and beans and rice to more inventive fare including fried eggplant sandwiches. And then there were the excursions...a two hour inner tubing adventure down the river and a hike to a waterfall with an incredible swimming hole below.

Jumping into the swimming hole.

On top of all that we even got a mini dancing lesson from our guide, Angelica. And to everyone's surprise Jorge rose to the occasion, out-dancing all of us.

Jorge teaching Mina a few dance moves.

We had an amazing time and it was, without a doubt, the highlight of our trip. But that wasn't the only reason I was so impressed with Sereno de la Montaña. It was also impressive because its owners, managers, and employees were from the very small community where it was located. While we there, in fact, the community members held a meeting to determine the process of buying shares in the project. Too often we have seen just the opposite - foreign owned hotels with a few local service staff. This was something completely different. It was how we would hope tourism might be, good for the community and good for the tourist. Thank you, Charlie, for leading us to this paradise.