Cabarete Beachside Vacation Getaways at Vecinos in Dominican Republic

Owners response: Eugene + Sonia + teenagers were great guests who are welcome to come back to stay with us anytime! They're well traveled, so very flexible when dealing with any challenges that can come up unexpectedly. It was great to see them enjoy our place, making themselves right at home, making good use of the pool and spoiling our pets with their affection!

They took full advantage of our proximity to the beach and often set off in the morning on family walks, returning before dark, tanned, sandy and happy - great to see them take advantage of our Cabarete area and all it has to offer, so close by.

They're great at maximizing their vacation time - by spending minimum time cleaning our easily maintained condo - and maximum time enjoying relaxing by the pool, reading for hours, and exploring our vicinity at length.

It was wonderful to see them bonding with our pets and treating them like their own. Our 2 dogs and 3 cats accepted them and made them feel right at home.......then checked out their door after they left, as if to say, "When are they coming back?"

When our land power went off and the back-up inverter ran out of battery power, we had to start up our generator. They were fine with the sound of it running, and glad to have electricity again. We so appreciate guests with that understanding attitude and they make our job so much easier.

They made the best of whatever weather came along - rain or shine - they carried on with their family outings and activities and had a great time regardless of a bit of rain.

With something to do for everyone, it was nice to see Dad take the kids out to give Mom some "me-time" relaxing by the pool or whiling away the hours with a book.

All in all, they were a real joy to have as guests, and we'd love to see them come back to stay with us anytime !

Owners response: Thanks for the kind comments Martha, Jon, and Jr.[couldn't quit get my tongue around his name]. You were our first guests to come from Iceland, and it was great to have you stay with us. We're glad you enjoyed meeting some real Dominican people and although these people live in a one room shack with a dirt floor and are quite poor, they are the most open-hearted and honest people you can meet as they are usually not involved with any tourists and are happy just to show you the plants they use, and how they live. They are happy just to have visitors up in the hills, and show them their home. I was fortunate to run into them a few years back on one of my motor cycle adventures and they always welcome any guests I take up to see them. The coconuts that they climbed up to get were by far the largest I've ever seen [must have been 10 pounders] and I was surprised to see them bounce 8 feet in the air after they dropped 60 feet.
The swim into the back part of the caves was also a first time adventure for me and I was glad to have you along to share it. That whole area is full of caves that few tourists have ever seen as it's definitely "off the beaten path".
I enjoy sharing these unusual "non-touristy" tours with our guests, who invariably return with memories of a unique adventure. Each trip is different, so the new experiences interest me as much as you find them informative - a good win on both sides - fun :)
We really appreciate the accolades we get from our guests - and welcome the friends + family they send our way to enjoy a stay with us at Vecinos!

Owners response: The best part of running Vecinos is the great variety of people we meet + your family was especially fun. I remember you arrived right in the middle of Saturday Market but made yourselves at home right away.
Thanks to lax driving rules, you can still put 4 or 5 people in the back of a jeep + drive down the highway while standing in the back. My tours are definitely not touristy. It's great to see an adventurous family that enjoys bouncing down some potholed secondary roads to find an out of the way, true Dominican bar, that just happens to have a small stream running next to it where you can climb the muddy banks + drop 10 feet into the river......I think the biggest kid in the water was your husband...showing your sons how to flail their legs in a water fight ...something I'd never seen but he used to do it growing up in the DR. I'm not sure how impressed your kids were when the locals started cooking an enormous cauldron of sancocho [Excellent Dominican soup]...+ they saw several chickens which had just been relieved of their heads..you just don't get see that in New York...haha..
Living in Cabarete, Lynda + I don't get to see much of OUR grandkids, so it's a treat for us to hear kids [+ adults] splashing, laughing, + playing in the pool. As we only rent 4 condos, even if we're full, our pool feels like your own. Since you were here I've completed the second water feature which is a cascading 20' waterfall behind the pool which goes well with the three pools connected by the babbling brook we added last year.
Glad you enjoyed the bananas, guavas, + chinola that were ready, as well as the coconuts that Sammy picked + opened for you...there's nothing like fresh coconut water right off the tree. You did miss avocado season, which began this week + it's "raining" aquacates so there'll be lots of guacamole for awhile.....
I'm sure all the pets miss you too. I'm always surprised how many people seem to bond with the cats + 2 dogs...(actually 3 now) as we found a 6 wk old starving perrita that someone must have thrown into our yard a week back. Now we have Vida, Muerte, + Bitsi [like ITBIS]...translation - Life, Death, + Taxes! I still haven't found where the naked neck chicken is laying her eggs but I'm sure we'll see a clutch of them come out shortly. Several pairs of lovebirds continue to sit on eggs but so far there are no new babies.
Thanks again for the excellent review . Pleasure to meet you and your family - come back + see us again, anytime.