GypsySpirit 
If you’re ever in Las Terrenas make sure to do this tour. It’s a must if you feel about bike riding the way I do. It brings out my inner child. It also helps if you’re a nature lover.
Who doesn’t love nature? Unfortunately, I found out: a lot of people.
Georgina was so friendly and pleasant. She’s so passionate about the environment and making sure humans respect it. She won an innovation award for working with the government in Dominican Republic to protect the environment. While we were there, she was working on a ceiba tree that was thousands of years old, cleaning up the area around it to turn it into a little park area where people could hang out under the Ceiba tree.
It’s such important work to be very much respected. Currently in Las Terrenas they’re building a lot. The locals say it’s not what it used be. Lots of foreigners have been flocking like crazy and buying up land. A French family we stayed with has lived there 23 years. I did some reading and apparently the French began moving there in the 70s, then later the Italians followed.
From the locals I spoke to I gathered that the last decade brought in even more of foreigners to live. Land was cheap without a lot of regulations. Now the Americans and Canadians are flocking too.
At the moment, Georgina told us, there are 400 open projects in Las Terrenas alone. When an area experiences hyper growth like that, it’s challenging to maintain a sustainable environment. Sewage becomes an issue. I mean, where is it all going to go? It’s an island. And DR is only half an island.
Georgina pointed to three different beaches from the spot we were standing at. We were in Playa Bonita, could see where you could get to Playa Escondida (hidden beach because it really is hidden), and Playa Coson.
We rode our bikes to the beach and then took a nice walk through Playa Bonita.
We wanted to swim right then and there (as everyone does, said Georgina) but that wasn’t part of the tour. She gave us the history of the area and taught me that building lots of beachfront resorts, like they have here and in many other places, and removing the mangroves creates risk for the area to be destroyed by a hurricane. The mangroves and trees at the shore help prevent catastrophe because they protect everything behind it from the winds, etc. I had never thought about that. Never knew that even though I was born in an island myself and have been through two hurricanes.
The second part of the tour was going to the mangroves nearby. We walked through this area with beautiful trees. Sadly, a person was having their house built right there and they had knocked down a ton of trees even though they weren’t supposed to. Again, not much is enforced there when it comes to building.
I also learned from Georgina that if you keep cutting trees down in area it turns into desert. It thought of Treasure Beach, Jamaica. It was a desert environment even though it was green but there must have been lots more trees before they cut down. Super interesting. Super sad what we do to our environment.
We walked through the trees and touched them and Georgina told us lots about them. How only two components of the trees DNA is different from us. The rest is exactly the same. She also said if you sit and lean on the tree, you’re connecting to it through your spine. The trees can get things from us just as much as we do from them. There is something in our blood or spine that they can grab from us and we can get healing from them too. After all, they are alive. She said ask them for anything. I asked for my sinuses to clear.
They did.
For 2 weeks.
I wanted to lean against another tree when they were starting to act up again after the two weeks but I didn’t. My sinus issues will be taken care of soon enough.
When I lived in Sausalito and hiked regularly there were these humongous trees lined up on my walk. I would always say hello when I would walk by. I know some people will think I’m insane but I don’t care. Plants and trees are as much alive as we are. They’re energy just like us. They need our carbon dioxide and we need their oxygen. I mean if that’s not proof that we have such a creative creator and that he/she made this world in such perfect harmony, I don’t know what is.
So much we don’t know about the world around us. So little they teach us about the world around us. It still shocks me that people exist who don’t care about the environment around them. They must not know that the new findings prove that our environment has more of an effect on us than our genes. We can have genes that are detrimental to us, inherited from family, but will never get turned on if we’re in a nurturing and loving environment.
Think about that. This is why people who grow up in a toxic and violent environment usually become that.
We did a meditation and leaned against the trees for some time. It was relaxing and soothing and healing. Another fun fact that Georgina shared that I happened to know already but is still nice to be reminded- did you know that if a tree falls the other trees will send nutrients to it through the roots? It’s a network.
Our world is amazing!
Our experience wasn’t over. We went to a nearby cocoa bean plantation with a little cute bodega next to it. Georgina told us all about the cocoa beans and she even brought hot cocoa for us to drink. Apparently, we’re supposed to drink cocoa the way we drink coffee. It’s really beneficial to our health because the cocoa will know to give you what you need. If you drink it in the morning, it will give you energy. If you drink it an night it will help you fall asleep.
If you’re ever in the area here’s the link to sign up for this AirBnB experience. I’m not paid for this link. AirBnB removed their affiliate program long ago. I’m adding it here in case anyone reading decides to go to Las Terrenas and wants to do this beautiful excursion and helping Georgina conserve the beautiful environment that makes Las Terrenas a great place to be:
