El Choco National Park

On a long weekend trip up to Cabarete, I had the exciting experience of touring El Choco National Park... while I am pretty sure we got scammed on the way in, the tour was worth it! There are very few rules in the Dominican when touring caves, in fact the only 2 were: watch you head and don't touch the tip of the stalagmites. If you like caves, and have ever felt confined on a US cave tour by the jeep or path you were limited to, visit the DR. We could explore the cave as we wished, touch anything, and take all the pictures we wanted! 

Hiking into the park with our Canadian friends, Yve and Loni, our tour guide,
and our two unofficial tour guides we picked up on the road outside the park.

Before the cave we got to tour a very small portion of the 77 square km park. We learned about many of the fruits, vegetables, and medicinal plants in the DR and several very interesting uses and home remedies! Unfortunately  its not harvest season for anything here so there were no avocados or mangoes to snack on, though we did try some fresh almonds! Fun fact: you can eat the inside (nut) and the outside (fruit) of the almond.

Coco grows out of the trunk, who knew!

El Choco National Park use to have a restaurant and bar in the middle of the park. While I am sure it wasn't great for the plants and animals, it would have been an unique restaurant to enjoy! We played a little pretend instead!

Bartenders Loni and Julio

The restaurant's old kitchen! Completely made of stone!

A pool outside that leads into the caves;
divers discovered that the caves were all connected in the 90s.

Next we headed down into two caves, in the first we were able to swim in a freezing pool of fresh water. The water was about 15 feet deep and you could see the bottom with a flashlight, but the water and the cave were VERY dark. Yve swam into a opening into the next cave... but the girls were a little too scared of the dark for that!

The Canadians thought the water was refreshing, I found it freezing... which led to the refusal of the Dominican boys to get into the water!

Very steep and narrow steps in and out of the cave!

The second cave was a gem of stalagmites and stalactites. Our guide said there are many stories to go along with the shapes... he encouraged imagination of new legends! He also showed us how you can make songs and melodies by "playing" the stalagmites.

View into the 2nd cave.

"Woman"

"A family"

As we went down into the first cave there was a "stage" looking area. Our guide said that in the 80s a Voodoo group set up this area for a celebration and religious ceremony. Voodoo is not widespead in the Dominican but it has become more popular through the migration of Haitians into the DR. Voodoo in Haiti and the Dominican is an adaptation of ancient African religion that was brought here in Columbus' era by captured slaves.

The Queen's viewing chair.

The Stage.