We're back from Cabarete
 

We got back from Cabarete on Monday after spending 8 days there. We had 7 days of wind and 4 of those days it was blowing well over 20mph. We mostly rode in front of LEK http://www.laureleastmankiteboarding.com/ Laurel is as nice as they come and I would recommend checking her out if you plan on going to Cabarete. I will try to post pics and video when I have some time.

-Chris

Scenic Lookout in Cabarete!
http://a213.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...63a53f6ae4.jpg

Hell, yeah, brah!

Can you give a run down of the costs to go there? Food, lodging, drinks, airfare, etc..

I know Ebone went last year and from what i remember him saying it was dirt cheap.

I need to go on a kite trip .

Well It was pretty Cheap. We hooked up with a Canadian couple that had posted on my MySpace Page that they were renting out the other half of there time share for $350.00 for 8 days. Since it was short notice the plane tickets were not that cheap, about $600.00 round trip per person.

Once there the food and transportation is pretty cheap. I took all my gear and didn't have to pay extra for over sized. I used a board bag for my boards and a suitcase for my Kites. I used another suitcase for the harnesses and other gear like Bar, lines, pumps, inflatable sheep. ;)

The dollar is a little low right now, $1.00 = 32 pesos.

The average dinner cost us for 4 people was around 1200 Pesos that included a lot of drinks and food. We did venture out a few times for some local food and it cost us 500 Pesos for 5 people.

The way people drive out there is a little crazy and they love to use the horn.

I will write more later when I have time.
-Chris

Yeah I just got back from there too. I spent two weeks over there in Dec-Jan and had a great time traveling the country. I think Cabarete is a shithole though, it has very nice beaches but if you're not on the beach....you're in the shit. Wind was always 20knots+ when I was there, and laureleastmans is an awesome place to go hang out and ride. You should never pay more than 20 pesos for a motoconcho to get you around in Cabarete. They will charge you 50 or so because you don't know any better...but 20 is the going rate. Oh yeah, and those bastards drive very crazy. I saw one motoconcho run into a european girl and break her nose/arm! Food is not all that cheap..ESPECIALLY in Cabarete. I found myself spending as much or more as I would in the states for a meal with few drinks. If you want to eat cheap, you gotta find where the locals go....150pesos was considered a cheap dinner. Overall, Cabarete is an awesome place to kite, but from what some other tourists said..."it's just not what it used to be." I wish I would have kited in Las Tarrenas....beautiful over there and not touristy.

Yeah man. I was wonderin where you have been. You have been missing some good wind around here, but it has been cold on some of the days. Can't wait to kite in some board shorts and be comfortable.

Looking forward to the pics and vid.

My Cabarete experience...some of it is off topic but hey, there is no wind anyway!!!
 

The most annoying thing to me there is the old "hey sir, come and look at my store." There are "stores" for as far as you can see along the beach, little canvas shacks selling a bunch of crap for a ripoff. One of the guys even gave me his phone # and address so I could call him and sell his paintings of Bob Marley for him in the States. You definitely have to watch yourself there.

What I will add is that yes, there is TONS of poverty there, it is sad, even the horses are so thin that their ribs are showing. I also saw a puppy run up to a little boy who was walking down the street with his Father. The puppy came up behind the boy and put his nose on the boy's calf. When the kid felt the wet nose of the puppy, he turned around, took the dog by its rear leg and tossed it into the woods down an approximate 10 foot drop like it was an apple core he was done with or something. The Father didn't even flinch.

The people there are SUPER honest though, at least in my experience. When I was there, my Mother left her beach bag which had her wallet with like $500 in Pesos on our first day there at the beach and when I came rushing back to the beach just knowing it would be long gone, nobody had laid a finger on it, the guys at the local surf shop just pointed to it to show me where it was and refused a reward.

In my experience, the food was great. And pretty affordable too. I guess we just lucked out. If you go, you have to try the Mamajuana shots. That stuff will mess you UP!!! A few of those and we were trashed...

One more Cabarete story while there is no wind:

We got two 2 bedroom condos when we went there (time share). The 'rents stayed in one (My Mom, Dad, Uncle and 2 Aunts) and the "kids" stayed in the other (Me, My brother Todd, his Wife Sydney, My Cousin Kristy and her Husband Tommy). The first night there we decided to play Asshole with the local beer, Presidente "tall boys" 40 ounce bottles. Sydney was tired (and pregnant) so she went to bed. I was the asshole almost all night long (what's new) until I finally beat Tommy putting him in the Asshole chair.

Now I could finally tell someone to drink so I jumped right in and told Tommy to drink. Tommy then told me that I could not tell him to drink and that only the president (Todd at the time) could tell him to drink. We all explained the rules of asshole (again) to Tommy and then Todd said "just for that back-talk, drink twice HEAVILY!!!" Tommy took his lumps in stride and started to swig away. As soon as he was done, you could tell something was not right. Tommy just stared at us for a couple of seconds before EXPLODING with a burst of puke all over the WICKER coffee table and all of Todd's Genworth (the company he works for) playing cards.

Kristy, Todd and I just looked at each other in amazement, then at Tommy and busted out laughing (at 2am no doubt with the windows open in a condo complex). Tommy then started to laugh, then shot up another dose of puke all over the coffee table. Todd and I were laughing so hard at this point uncontrollably that we both started crying.

Kristy saw that Tommy had puked again and went to stand up to help Tommy. When she stood up though, she busted out the loudest fart that I have ever heard escape from any woman! Tommy, Todd and I stopped laughing, looked at each other then at Kristy and literally fell on the floor laughing. Kristy bolted for her bedroom out of embarassment while the 3 of us laughed for another 10 minutes until security came and told us to shut up. Sydney never woke up during this whole escapade even though her door was open a bit...

Tommy topped off the night by finishing his beer before going to bed, what a trooper. And that was just the first day of my trip to Cabarete...I wasn't kiting when I was there but I did see kiters.

Cabarete is a great place, just look out for the Sea Urchins, they are plentiful and hurt like hell when you step on them!!!

[QUOTE=Steve-O;16887]Can't wait to kite in some board shorts and be comfortable.
QUOTE]

Off-Topic...... How often can you actually kite with our warm-weather winds?? Looking forward to some warm days but will the winds roll around here often?

last spring was off the hook..

seriously had sessions 2 or 3 times per week in blazing hot weather riding my 12m waroo (i weigh about 200lbs)..

it lasted for MONTHS AND MONTHS and was pretty much a rare thing.

perfect for me as I was just getting the hang of the sport and it also got me to appreciate light wind kiting..

hoping this spring will be memorable as well..

Can't wait to ride with you guys again. I will be out of town this weekend so I am not going to check the forcast. I will be up for riding come Monday. See you chumps then.

-C