#BordeandoRD: Day 3. Today we go through the border with Haiti from south to north.

Almost without fear of making a mistake, this was the hardest day of the whole journey. In addition to the many kilometers traveled, in the route Barahona - San Juan de la Maguana, we found the road closed by a spontaneous strike, which caused us a delay in the route and having to put in action a plan B to be able to continue with the schedule. We had to return to Barahona, then reach the 15 of Azua, to be able to direct us to San Juan de la Maguana (this delay resulted in an additional 250 kilometers drive and about 3 hours).

In this way we could resume our route to Las Matas de Farfán, continuing our journey through Pedro Santana. At this point it was mandatory to stop at the Army Fortress to be granted permission to travel the International Highway. That permit is given to guards just before crossing the Artibonito River (the one we heard when we learned history in our school days).

Regarding the International Highway we had many questions since the beginning, and in addition to researching a lot, almost nobody we asked had traveled, and those who oriented us told us that we better go by another route, and more if we were with small children. That it was dangerous, that the road was in a very bad condition, besides that what we would see there in terms of extreme poverty, would be very impressive for everyone, especially for the children. Today we can say that we did not feel any danger during the time on the International Highway, however we were very surprised for the many precipices that we saw during a great part of the journey.

On the other hand, it is true that the road is in bad condition, but for any high vehicle it does not represent any problem. The most certain thing that they alerted us was about that level of poverty. The children from the are run alongside the few cars that pass by looking to be benefited with some tip. The truth is painful, and it was shocking for the children. However, it is important to see that life is not the same for many, and that there are those who live marginalized. Also for some it is normal to have shoes, and for others, perhaps they do not know anything other than walking barefoot.

Something that caught our attention was to see during the road, those small wooden houses, with a solar panel on the roof, as their source of energy. Also, see the contrasts in terms of mountains with an intense greenness, but also see mountains completely devastated and dry. Once we have passed the International Highway section, we continue our route until we pass through Restauracion, and then arrive to where some friends were expecting us to have lunch together (worth mentioning that we arrived almost for dinner). Those friends are from Loma de Cabrera, who little by little, are building a small ecotourism project of about 4 rooms. The food, sweet milk with coconut as a dessert, but above all, the human warmth with which they welcomed us, make us want to return soon. Our visit in Loma de Cabrera included knowing Capotillo, but due to the unexpected delay on the route early in the day, we did not have time. Today we had the stretch Loma de Cabrera - Montecristi. That town where El Morro is located and its beautiful boardwalk, owner of one of the best sunsets on the north coast of our country.