Dominican Rpb: Infiltration attempt at 27 Waterfalls

Paying for entrance to a site of interest isn't only annoying, sometimes it's expensive, too. But how about not paying? This is where things get complicated...

^{View from the hill, mentioned in previous story}

People come to Puerto Plata mostly to visit the 27 Waterfalls (27 Charcos) National Park. However, even without a tour there, you are required to pay 10$ for entrance, wear a safety jacket and helmet. Then you and a bunch of other tourists will be herded by a guide through a beaten path, going where you're told to go, doing what you're told to do.

Sounds attractive? Not for me.
I wouldn't do it even for free and Florian had some trouble with cashing out his money (feel for you bro, been there so many times...) so we decided to try and sneak into the park without paying.

And took Alexis with us, who weren't exactly glad how things are turning out, but went with us anyways.
So at first we forded a river and soon after found ourselves in a village Damajagua.

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There, we asked a farmer for directions to the waterfalls. Our collective Spanish skill was barely enough to grasp the key moments of his description.
At first our path took us to a bit swamped fields divided by barbed wire fences with rough gates which we knew we should pass a few times.

^Alexis

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^Florian

Then we were tearing through bushes and hanging vines on some cattle trails which eventually led us to the main tourist trail.

While we were walking through the jungle I entertained my companions with tales of venomous snakes, spiders, flesh-eating maggots and the nasty flies that lay their eggs under your skin, and many more nice things. I'm not sure if they liked it much.

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When we finally made it to the "highway" by which the crowds of tourists were being led. So after some debate we decided to wedge between the groups, which would be a valid plan, provided the groups advance with more-or-less same speed.

Sounds good? Reality proved the plan to be invalid as at the key points of the trail they had supervisors who caught and showed us out. A pathetic failure, of course, but it was worth trying anyway.

In the end, Alexis, who was complaining all the while and played a major role in our disclosure, bought tickets for himself and Florian. In they went again and I returned back to hostel unruffled.
In a couple of hours they came back without much rapture from the tour.

And very soon I would leave for Haiti, which was a blast, but there will be a separate post about it.

To be continued...

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Check out my travel blog:
Dominican Republic: 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
Turkey: 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
Iran: 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20