Tal

Firstly, I was just blown away by the scenery and the beauty of the area.  It is the nicest place I have ever seen.  I spent a few days in the capital after and I saw a quote from Christopher Columbus (who made the DR his home) and he said “the most beautiful land that human eyes have ever sighted” – and he was referring to Santo Domingo.  I wonder what he would have said if he saw Cabrera ;).

Then the food is what I really enjoyed.  All my stomach issues were gone within the first day.  It is amazing, and I have to say freaked me out to see how different my body reacted to real food.  As well I stayed in a house with 4 cats and had no allergies when my cat allergies are quite severe.  I don’t know if this sounds believable, but this was my experience.  Barry even said he wasn’t surprised as he had heard that from many others.

I’ll just say lastly that the best part of the experience were the people and the network that Barry has put together.  The people are genuine, honest and sincere.  Barry’s partner Julian (Willie) was so friendly and helpful I cannot even begin to describe it – he even made sure that I was taken care of by some of his friends is Santo Domingo when I went there, and he took the trip with me.  We also had a nice get together at Barry’s with several locals as well as expats, and it was a great time.  The main feeling I had was I had found like minded people.  Obviously the expats would likely have similar thoughts as they went this way, but also the locals in Cabrera really understood the things that were important, and I just thought these are the types of people I would like to associate with.

Another incident that comes to mind, is many of the people do not have much, but one man who we passed every day and of course gave our greetings to, flagged down Barry and gave him 2 fresh Avocados as they were coming into season and wanted to share his wealth.  Anyone that thinks these people would be violent really is coming from a place of ignorance and is dead wrong.

So to me this became more than just an escape plan, but somewhere I would prefer to be – period.  It is a real place, with real food, real beauty, real people and real freedom.  I urge anyone who is truly serious about looking at options to take a look at Cabrera.  It may not be right for you, but honestly I wouldn’t be able to understand that.  My experience was life changing.

I could go on and on and I just spent a few days there.

Tal