La Cumbre

The mountains above the valley of Santiago are home to the largest system of amber mines in the world. It was the setting, and supposedly inspiration for the movie Jurassic Park to give you an idea of the scenery. Last weekend we took a trip up to see the amber mines and a coffee farm.

Going up into the mountains takes you to a different world. The roads still have potholes and the people all speak Spanish but it is lush and green and beautiful. A get away from the city is so easy and so refreshing. It was so needed. From such an…well not so pretty city, to amazingly beautiful country side, it is easy to be taken back. The weather was cool (cool being the perfect 75 degrees at mid-day) and there was a breeze. The irregularly peaked mountains are covered with tropical greenery.

We walked a little ways on some really muddy trails to get to some small independent mines. The walk down hill in the mud was an even in itself. We had planned on going to a much bigger impressive site but it is still filled in with water from Tropical Storm Noel. Still at this smaller site we saw 3 or 4 different mine entries. The workers took a break so we could one by one climb down in to them. One by one because that was all that would fit. It was so incredible small. You crawl in on your stomach with a candle for your only light source. There isn’t even enough room to get onto your hands and knees. We could see how it turns and goes even deeper. I could hear someone working what sounded like a ways away working with a pick. I can not imagine working like that. The guys work every day and only get paid if they find amber. Crazy. We got to see several raw chunks of amber. It was beautiful and impressive. Some even has preserved fossils, usually branches or mosquitoes. Amber takes thousands of years to form and Dominican amber is the youngest found in the world. I wish I remembered the exact numbers but it’s the youngest at something like 28,000 years old.

After the amber mine we went to a coffee farm located on one of Trujillo’s (an old brutal Dominican dictators) old estates. I don’t think I’ve ever seen coffee plans before. You can eat the fruit that is around the coffee bean. Always good to go back to the roots of how something you use/eat/drink everyday comes into your hands the way it does.

Just a quick day trip with some friends out of the city. It was a needed get away as we move into finals. Two very Dominican products, coffee and amber.