Dominican Republic Day Six: A Short Walk Before The Rains And Another Morning In Paradise.
It is the hurricane and rainy season in the Dominican Republic. I found this out during my stay in Santo Domingo. It rained a few hours everyday. And just about anytime of the day. I was lucky during my stay at the Altos de Cano Hondo resort near the Los Haitises National Park. There was no rain my first two days. We had perfect weather. This ended on Monday afternoon. Some storms moved through early in the afternoon. I enjoyed the rain falling on the rooftop of my room as I edited my photos. The rains stopped late in the afternoon, but the sky still was threatening when I decided to try and get another hike in. 
I knew I shouldn’t hike far, I already walked over five miles in the morning, so I stayed close and roamed around the grounds around my resort and the lower resort Paraiso Cano Hondo. 
As I have written in my earlier blog posts, a lot of domestic animals roam freely on and near the grounds of the resorts. This horse somehow managed to climb the steep stone road to the my resort high on the hilltop. 
On the road leading into the resort I all kinds of chickens roaming along the road , 
and there was this mean pig. He was always snorting, grunting and chasing other animals out of his way,
as were this pair of geese, who honked loudly and chased anyone who approached them. 
A few drops of rain fell on my hike and I was able to get a little over a mile of walking in before it starting raining again. It poured and I had to take shelter under a building near the pool at the lower resort. The rain stopped, long enough for me to walk back to my lodge. After changing cloths I had a nice meal, there were a few other guests at the lodge that night, and enjoyed my evening editing photos and listening to the rain. I slept very peacefully again. Here is a link to a gallery with some more photographs from my evening hike. Dominican Republic Day Six evening hike October 26 2021. 
I awoke before dawn the next morning. The rain had stooped so I had my coffee, with some of the other guest who already were up, and headed out to watch the sunrise. I knew where and when it rose now. I love sunrises and sunsets and never saw one I didn’t like. I quickly walked over the now muddy access road to the entrance road to the Los Haitises National Park. 
Here I was able to watch the sun rise over the fields. It was a beautiful sunrise. And, as it does as you get nearer the equator, it rises quickly. 
There was also a waning gibbous moon still visible high in the western sky.
I continued my walk to the park entrance, 
and saw some now familiar birds like the many palmchats fluttering in the towering palm trees or bamboo like trees. 
I also saw many of the common yellow-faced grassquits ,
a few bananaquits, 
a northern mocking bird, 
and a kingbird.
I also saw this bird, which I am familiar with back in Northeastern Pennsylvania, a female common yellow throat warbler. 
At the park entrance, across the boat docks there are open fields where I saw many wet spider webs sparkling in the morning sun
.
The flowers I displayed in my previous blog post continued to bloom and I saw these pretty native blue porterweed flowers for the first time. 
The usual butterflies were attracted to the flowers including 
the tropical checkered skipper and,
my favorite the malachite butterfly. 
Once again the morning traffic to the park began so I walked back to the trail along the rice paddies. On the way I saw a few more Hispaniolan woodpeckers, 
this Greater Antillean grackle and this Hispaniolan Emerald hummingbird. 
I also saw this bull looking lovingly at the cows on the other side of the barbed wire fence. I am not sure where he came from but it sure was apparent where he wanted to go. 
I crossed the Cano Hondo river and was soon on the now familiar along thee rice paddies. Here I again saw the horse family who roam freely here. 
There were also some birds in the trees along the trail including this turkey vulture with outstretched wings, 
this prairie warbler, and 
northern parula. These would be the last birds I would see on my hike. Here is a link to a gallery with some more photographs of the birds I saw on my hike. Dominican Republic Day Seven morning hike birds October 26 2021. 
Walking back to the resort on the grass road between the cliffs of Los Haitises and the rice paddies, 
I also saw a few dragonflies darting about. 
I was soon at the steep stone road and climbed the hill to the hotel and finished my three mile hike. At breakfast I arranged for a guided tour later in the day. Here is a link to a gallery with some more photographs from my morning hike. Dominican Republic Day Seven. Morning hike October 26 2021. 
“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.”
―
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