The trip on the way to Cabarete (Part 2 of the beach backwards)

The day before we went surfing we drove from Jarabacoa thru Moca to Cabarete. The drive is amazing. Moca itself is not that exciting - just a typical horrible traffic, chaotic Dominican city, but the drive up the mountains out of the valley on the way to the North coast is gorgeous. Santiago, La Vega & Moca lie in a valley between two huge mountain ridges. Jarabacoa is in the southern of these two. The beaches (Cabarete, Sosua, Puerto Plata, etc.) lie on the other side of the northern mountains. We stop at a little restaurant, El Molino de la Cumbre, to visit the 'facilities' and enjoy the view. Wow, you walk out onto their terrace and it is breathtaking. You can see the whole valley spread out before you. Taking a picture of it is kind of like taking a picture of the Grand Canyon (ok, maybe not quite that grand, but it is still startling.) I could see all the way over to the southern range where Jarabacoa sits nestled in some mountainous nook, but I don't think the pictures do the view justice. Anyway, here are my feeble attempts. (you can click on the images to see a larger version.)