Jaunted

The town of Altos de Chavón was a Gulf and Western employee's extravagant birthday present to his 18-year-old daughter: A faux-Italian pile paved in cobblestones, it overlooks a gorgeous valley cut by the Chavón River and a wilderness that seems totally untouched by human life. One night we dined at the very good Italian restaurant La Piazzetta and found ourselves peering over a balustrade, lit by a gorgeous sunset. You could almost see what would have possessed Charles Bludhorn to import a Hollywood set designer to recreate a 16th-century village nowhere near one of the country's famous beaches.

Our interest piqued, we returned another sunny morning to find the city swamped with tour groups (potentially from nearby cruise dockings?) fresh off the boat, confused by the fact that the local museo made its presentations entirely in Spanish and that the boutiques inside weren't immediately evident from outside the town walls. The stillness of the square had been replaced by a flock of women in traditional colonial dress ready to first perform and then pose for pictures with the shoppers. No desire for a traditional stamped belt or a pound of Dominican coffee? How about a Cubs hat or some pearls? Suddenly it was a challenge to get a shot of the twisty alleys and graceful arches without a little modern reminder.

And yet... even though we skipped the shopping, we were kind of glad that we took a few hours off the beach to see Altos. The daughter to whom the city was given still lives there, so we were told, and we hope she's happy, even with the tourists on her back lawn.

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[Photo: ferfigheras]