It's always fun to rent a car and tour the islands. Today's mission required more than Touring though, it required Provisioning !!

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Even though we'd provisioned well in Puerto Rico, we seem since then to have gotten stuck here in the Dominican Republic for a little longer than we'd hoped, and as such, seem to have eaten our way through some most of our stores of food, well, freezer food that is.

We'd taken one side trip to Samanà earlier last week, and the fresh fruits and vegetables helped to replenish some of our daily wants and desires, however it was the supply of carne (meat, en español, that is) that has failed short.

"Our freezer is looking rather empty" I mumbled to Dave, nose deep in the depths of coldness, as I did my habitual cleanup, inspection and re-organization of supplies what was left.

We'd been doing some online research, and along with dockside chats with fellow cruisers who, coincidentally were also stuck and running out of food, Las Terranes might just be THE place to go for some decent grocery stores.

Las Terrenas is a town on the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic, in the province of Samanà, with a rather large expat population that includes French, Italian, Dutch, German et al. So you would think that with such excellent international type of palates, there would be good food to be had??

Samanà was a slave trade port in the early seventeenth century, and the name Las Terrenas originates from the French "la terrine" which could mean landlord.

Our research found that there were two grocery stores here, Lindo Supermarket and the newest shop on the block, Pola.

"Let's go" we said. We rented a car from the Puerto Bahia Marina, and armed with shopping bags, we began our Adventures.

Dealing with noisy chaotic pell-mell type of street nonsense was a bit of a cultural experience at first, and trying to fill our gas tank was a bit of a song and dance, but once done, we followed the streets with no names or numbers quite easily,









and within an hour we were at the beachfront town of Las Terrenas.



The fishermen at this beach selling their shells and funky fish on rickety tables with flies buzzing all around,



and the sound of the surf pounding the shoreline,



and once in the heart of town we were instantly overwhelmed once again by the hustle and bustle of people everywhere, motorcycles weaving their way in and out of everything and everyone, one way directions that circles around town, and keeping eyes wide open trying to find what we needed.

We opted to do a RECCE of both stores to figure out what was what. LINDO seemed to have more of an international & french influence as our noses instantly breathed the smells of freshly made (and still warm) baguettes and the selection of cheeses had us drooling.



POLA, the other grocery store, was a tad larger and had a better selection of everything.



Armed with this information we took a breather as we exited the craziness of walking through the aisles, armed with calculators, and figuring out what was what.

"Never shop on an empty stomach", we said and we walked the beachfront trying to find a spot, and settled at



where the way of displaying menus on transportable blackboards that arrive at your table as you're seated, instantly brought us back to the French way of life.

The menu looked good, the prices even better !!

The choices were SeaFood Pasta for Dave and Gwen,



Jamón and Cheese pasta for Guillaume



and Fish with Vegetables for me,



along with a healthy basket of delicious artisan type of bread to mop up all the flavourful juices.



Every single mouthful was a Feast, although both Gwen and Dave agreed that the Seafood shells were a little trying and small to pick through,



and we just had to help Guillaume with the buttery cheese excesses.

The owners were Fun & French,



the food splendid,



and the whole experience Formidable !!

Now that we were overwhelmingly full, and some of us energized in a dozey-state due to the carb overload we headed back to the grocery stores.

Lindo first for the French Goodies, followed by a longer visit to Pola for everything else,





We loaded up the small car, with bags'o'stuff on our laps and at our feet, and somehow we made it all fit. We arrived back at the Marina by 5 p.m., and then the fun of unpacking and storing started, and consumed, most of our evening hours.

What a Fun Day, Fun and full of Feastings, Banyan's Cupboards once again are overflowing, lots to be thankful for!

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Note: A special thanks to Guillaume, The Navigator, and taker of some of these photos as zigged and zagged all crazy like around these streets, with Gwen happily singing the theme song to Frogger as Dave swerved this way and that way so as not to hit the horses or roosters crossing the road.