Los Tres Ojos

An excursion to Parque Nacional Los Tres Ojos, an open-air limestone cave located in the Mirador del Este park, in the Santo Domingo Este municipality of the Dominican Republic. A series of three lakes, or ojos, the site is currently one of the most visited tourist attractions in the country.

The site was created centuries ago as a result of tectonic fractures when caves collapsed, forming a bowl-shaped depression which subsequently filled with water. Initially, the cave was used by the indigenous Taíno Indians for religious rituals and fertility rites. The Taíno were the first inhabitants of the Hispaniola island. The three lakes are called "Lago de Azufre" (discovered in 1916), "La Nevera" and "El Lago de las Damas". Some of the lakes also have openings on the outside. A staircase cut into the rock gives access to the first cave. A boat pulls visitors across the second lake to give access to a fourth lake called "Los Zaramagullones," not considered one of the three "eyes" or main lakes since it has an opening to the outside.

The temperature of the lagoons varies between 20 °C to 29 °C, depending on the site, and their various depths give rise to different colored reflections, blue, green, and sometimes yellow. The depth of the shallowest lagoon, Lago de las Damas, is 8 feet. The deepest, Los Zaramagullones, is 25 feet.

The fauna is also very varied and includes fish, bats and turtles. Surrounding vegetation is lush and abundant.

Then we take the road towards the mountains and the capital of bachata - Bonao.