The Puerto Plata Excellent Adventure

After being cooped up inside our fancy American-type marina, we decided a family adventure was needed and decided to make our own way into nearby Puerto Plata. We could have taken the taxis lined up at the marina who would take us on a round trip to town for a meager $50 US which we were clearly told did not include an expected tip. Instead we hiked the 1.5 miles to the main highway and Tom negotiated (in Spanish) an acceptable rate after talking to 2 other cabs that wanted to charge the tourista rate. We all climbed into the sedan for 100 pesos ($2.85 US) direct to our first stop on the other side of town. Not a bad start for our adventure and that included the tip!

Puerto Plata is located on the north side of the island (which is also known as the Amber Coast - Costa de Ambar). Christopher Columbus was first to sight the port in 1493 and named it "Port of Silver" because of the silver color the sea cast along the coast at sunset. In 1496, Columbus' brother Bartholomew officially founded the city and renamed it San Felipe de Puerto Plata.

Our first stop was the Brugal Rum factory. Today, Brugal has become the world’s third largest producer of rum behind the Puerto Rican brands Bacardi and Captain Morgan. Brugal, however, is the largest producer of traditionally made rum, aged in 120,000 American white oak barrels onsite in Puerto Plata. In 2002 the Brugal company produced 4.3 million 24-bottle cases of the rum. It produces 75,000 liters of rum every 24 hours and boasts an 80% market share of the rum market in the Dominican Republic.


Brugal is entirely produced in the Dominican Republic. Sugar cane is cut from plantations across the countryside and its juice is produced into molasses. These sugar cane fields are largely worked by Haitian immigrants or poor Dominican workers who get paid very little for the cane cutting. This helps to keep the costs of producing the rum fairly low.

The Brugal Company produces several different kinds of rum. After introducing its dark rum into the market in 1888, Brugal added its Carta Dorado and Blanco rums in 1920. The clear, white or “blanco” rum that Brugal produces is considered the purest among the white rums produced in the Dominican Republic. The Brugal Carta Dorado is a dark rum and is aged 3 years. The Brugal anejo, also a dark rum, is more expensive and is aged for 5 years. This rum began being produced in 1952. Then there is the Brugal extra Viejo, a dark rum which is aged 8 years and the most expensive of this group. After drinking several complimentary drinks, we added 3 bottles of extra Viejo and 1 bottle of Blanco rum to our backpack and moved on to our next stop.


We went through the cab negotiation game again and headed for the Cathedral of San Felipe in the center of Puerto Plata. There was a mass being held for a large group of young marching band members. They were warm and friendly, but rather than intrude in their ceremony, we moved on by foot to Fort San Felipe, the oldest fort in the New World.

Philip II of Spain ordered its construction in 1564, a task that took 33 years to complete. Built with 2m-thick (6 1/2-ft.) walls, the fort was virtually impenetrable, and the moat surrounding it was treacherous -- the Spaniards sharpened swords and embedded them in coral below the surface of the water. In place of the new walkway shown in the picture, they had a special bridge over the moat. When the enemy was partway across the bridge, it could be tipped and the enemy would fall into the moat and be impaled on the spikes hidden in the murky water. The doors of the fort are only 1m (3 1/4 ft.) high, another deterrent to swift passage. The doors were designed to cause the invaders to bow and enter the room head first. The defenders stood on either side of the doorway with machetes and would behead the invaders as they tried to enter. Very effective and they had actual machetes on display. It was a quick tour, but offered nice views of the bay and North coast.

We wanted to see things that are truly unique to the island and our next stop certainly filled that desire. We walked to the Museum of Dominican Amber and learned a lot about what amber is.

Amber, a fossil resin, is one of the few substances aside from diamond, pearl and ivory that is considered a gem but is not a mineral. It was formed when sap emitted from trees dried up and hardened. The sap could have come out of the tree bark in a single drip, a large amount could have flowed out at one time or it could have come out several drips, one after another. The later method of multiple drops is known as shlaubs and generally has more fossil inclusions because the initial drops would catch the insects or animals and the subsequent drops would naturally cover them.

Nowhere in the world can it be found with the variety of colors and density as in the Dominican Republic. Actually, a large percentage of the amber used in commercial jewelry production comes from the Dominican Republic. Due to the year round warm climate, the amber found in the Dominican Republic also has a higher concentration of fossils and insects than anywhere else in the world. This makes it highly sought after by collectors and scientists alike.

Diaries of Christopher Columbus contain the first documentation in the New World. It is said that when Columbus landed in Hispaniola, a Taino Indian offered him a pair of shoes decorated in amber in exchange for a necklace that Columbus had offered him. Archeological digs have uncovered Taino burial sites that have been filled with decorative amber.

Amber has been traded since earliest times and was considered a mystic and religious material. Over the "amber routes" it was distributed throughout Europe and all of the known ancient world. Already the Phoenicians traded amber as a prime commodity with the ancient Baltic peoples. Since about 3000 B.C., Baltic amber was exchanged for goods from southern Europe and there were even 'highways' or trade routes crossing Europe and leading into the Far East.

For thousands of years amber was regarded as a precious substance, and for its mysterious origin considered as a divine protection from harm to the bearer of amber jewelry. As such, it also became to be used as an ingredient in medicines and for religious purposes by "pagans" and "Christians". Around 58 A.D., the Roman Emperor Nero sent a Roman knight on a search for this "Gold of the North" and brought hundreds of pounds of amber to Rome.

Another stone that is unique to the DR is Larimar which is a pectolite. Pectolite is an acid silicate hydrate of calcium and sodium and is found in The United States (Michigan, Arkansas, New Jersey, California), Canada, England (Scotland), India, Austria (Tyrolia), among others. It is a result of volcanic activity, many million years ago. Its color is a creamy white.

Nevertheless, there is one extinguished volcano complex where BLUE pectolite is found, on one square kilometer of land, the only place on the whole planet. There, this rare stone has been named "Larimar". Blue pectolite is much more rare than diamonds, which compared with it, exist in "rich" abundance. This blue color, distinct from that of other pectolites, is the result of cobalt substitution for calcium.

It was not until 1974 when at the foot of the Bahoruco mountains in the DR, a flash of blue in the beach sand caught the attention of Miguel Méndez and a Peace Corps volunteer and they scooped down to discover larimar. Natives, who believed the stone came from the sea, called the gem Blue Stone. Miguel promptly took his young daughter's name Larissa and the Spanish word for the sea (mar) and formed Larimar, by the colors of the water of the Caribbean Sea, where it was found. As it turns out, the few stones they found were sediment, washed into the sea by the Bahoruco River. An upstream search revealed the mineral in the mountain range and before long the Los Chupaderos mine tapped the only known larimar outcropping in the world.

On part of the tour, there was a woman making hand rolled cigars which was cool to watch. They had several flavored leaves that could be added to give the cigar a slight cinnamon or apple flavor. We passed on buying any cigars. Tom did negotiate for a pair of earrings for the Admiral that each have two stones of larimar and one piece of amber wrapped in 24K gold and the adventure continued.

We found our way to the fruit and vegetable market, but found no suitable fare for lunch. We asked a few of the friendly merchants (who spoke no English) for directions and found our way to a roadside cart serving up warm pastries filled with beef, pork or egg, We all had one or two and they were great. We are also happy to report that we are still well and healthy. We are confirming that people everywhere must eat…they just may not eat exactly what we are used to.

With full bellies and tired feet, we made our way back to the resort and our boat (home). It felt good to experience some of the country without tour guides and their outrageous fees.

Tom