Cultural Experience It Was Not

Sadly a disappointment

The marketing was there…I was sold 100%. It sounded great…just like the company motto “Let’s Have a Blast“. But, it was not what I expected. Maybe I am being a party pooper, cause there was one woman that was walking around declaring how awesome this was and how well organized and fun it was and she was grinning from ear to ear, but I have a different opinion. So while I don’t want to poo poo the tour entirely, I can only share that I was sold something different than what I got.

I was told by the tour person at the resort selling the tours that if it was a cultural experience that I wanted, then this was the tour for me. I am big on culture, I need an authentic experience to truly feel like It Was Worth It, and while there were components of culture with this tour….it was HIGHLY commercialized for Tourism.

This was the Nighttime Tour where we were to explore magical nature and culture in a unique way. 

ATVing in the Countryside

We were to ride ATVs (dune buggies) through the magnificent countryside: “driving on our adventure track with lots of muddy holes” they said. Respectfully this was the dry season now so the ‘muddy holes’ were man-made…totally fair, nothing they can do about that. But the countryside was literally a dirt road track surrounded by fields. This was the best part of the tour to be clear. I let my daughter drive which she enjoyed, and the sunset over the wide open fields was stunning. Be sure to bring your bug spray though…you are literally in the middle of nowhere and the bugs were abundant. Luckily, I brought mine! 

Learn about Coffee, Chocolate and Cigars

This is where the tour went downhill. We were supposed to learn about the culture and history of the country while enjoying fresh traditionally made coffee and cacao. I was sold on this tour to learn about coffee and cigars and there was NONE of that…we were all herded into a room where things were set up but the guide only told us about all the products they had for sale. That was it. This was 100% focused on selling selling selling. 

Taino Tribe Village and Cultural Dance

Then we were herded down another path to an area where we all sat to watch a show. I was stoked about this…I thought it was going to be spectacular. It lasted maybe 5 minutes. It was cool, the Taino tribe welcoming us with a traditional dance, but I guess I just expected a “show”, not an intermission as were shoved off to the next thing. This is where it went really bad for me…the path was soooo dark, I tripped on a HUGE rock and fell on the dirt path and cut up my knees and hand. Scrapes and blood, not fun. Note to the team there…put some lights on that path. Because of this, I couldn’t go in the cenote and also meant I couldn’t swim in the pool at the resort for the last 2 days. UGH!

Cenote

The next stop was to swim in the cave with over a million years of age. The cenote is cool, I will give you that…but the waterfall was man made. It is highly likely that if I wasn’t already disappointed, I would have loved this, but all authenticity was lost at this point. They had speakers set up and played party music which sounded amazing in the cave and the lights created a cool reflection on the water. But again, I just felt like this was all so manufactured. People appeared to be loving it, but I just wasn’t feeling it. 

Food and a Carnival

And to end it all we had a buffet dinner which was ok and then we continued on to the next part which was a carnival party in the open air side of the cave. We actually opted to sit that out and went and found a quiet area to relax while we waited out the rest of the tour. Apparently at the party you learned how to dance bachata and met the famous Roba la Gallina, one of the most colorful and popular characters in the Dominican carnival. By this time, we just wanted to head back to the hotel. 

Don’t do this is you truly wanted an authentic cultural experience…but if you just want a little fun that is soaked in tourism then this tour is for you.

We should have done the ATVing at the other tour and saved ourselves a few hundred dollars. If they could alter the tour to be more authentic and less touristy it would have been worth it….scrapped knees and all.