There's More to These Caribbean Islands than Beaches
March 28, 2007. While planning our next luxury vacation rental, my wife and I had a debate about the Caribbean. She wanted to "do more than just lie on the beach." You see, my wife needs to be either exploring or shopping, with occasional breaks for meals and desserts. Well, you can do more than just lie on a beach on those wonderful islands. As proof, I dug up two recent articles on MSN.com.
The article "Dominica: Caribbean's 'Nature Island'" highlights some of the bizarre and beautiful sights of the Dominican Republic. Boiling Lake, "a bizarre cauldron of steaming-hot water, 200 feet across," rewards visitors at the end of a six-hour hike. The trail leads over the mountains, through the rain forest, and into the Valley of Desolation, so named for the destruction wrought by a volcano. That's just one of the many attractions on the island, which includes the 17,000-acre Morne Trois Pitons National Park.
Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, which juts into the Caribbean, has been nicknamed the Mayan Riviera for the confluence of Mayan and tourism culture. "The Real Yucatan, Beyond the Tourists" tells the story of one visitor who ventured beyond the beaches to witness the fascinating local culture. He visited seldom-seen locales such as Convento de San Bernardino, "a sprawling 1550s monastery" in the colonial city of Valladolid, and Tulum, a village beyond the resort towns that has some Mayan ruins.
