Feb 25 – Aside from the beach, the other claim to fame here at Río San Juan is Laguna Gri Gri, a small lake surrounded by gri gri trees. Gri gri is either a reference to a mangrove or a black olive tree, both of which are known for their big roots. Wikipedia has no opinion on this subject, so this is the opinion of blogs I consulted.

According to the travel sites, a visit to Laguna Gri Gri is a fine diversion for those tired of the resort beaches of Puerto Plata, about 60 miles away. For us, it is just one block away, so off we went to explore.

The lagoon has lots of little boats, waiting to take folks out on tour, but the boatmen are not pushy. We walked all around the lake on foot, marveling at the still waters and the elevated roots.

Lots of birdsong. Here’s a little crab sunning herself on a rock.

The tour boats take tourists out to the ocean, but we couldn’t see a trail from here that would take us to the beach.

The restaurants surrounding the lagoon had lots of fine wall art, though.

More mosaic tile work and wall art on the walk home.

We returned to our apartment for a swim in the rooftop pool. Here’s a picture of the exterior of our place.

Now here’s a shot of the place next door. Yes, this is a very poor country, and has no resort nearby, so the folks we meet are not much involved with tourists.

Our pool is not Olympic size, but fine for cooling off.

The view from our rooftop. See the beach?

So here we are for a week of eat, walk, swim, croissants, swim, eat. Jim is serving up super delicious meals, and has made a friend of the grocer nearby. I’ll check back in if anything exciting happens…