The Other Side of Paradise: A Journey through rural Punta Cana

I stayed in a resort in Punta Cana, the kind with the endless buffets, swim-up bars, and postcard beaches. It was beautiful, no doubt. But I didn’t come all the way here just to stay in a curated version of paradise. So I left the resort for a day. Rode a four-wheeler through the backroads. Visited a public beach. Saw what life looked like outside the gates and that’s where the real stories started to show themselves.

Riding a four-wheeler through the backroads, away from the polished hotel zones, I found a different kind of beauty raw, quiet, and alive. Women sitting under trees selling juice in reused jugs. Children outside playing waving like they’ve done it a thousand times before. A mother balancing her child and a bunch of fruit with equal care, standing in the middle of a dirt road like it’s nothing.

There’s a rhythm to the land here that doesn’t ask for attention it just is. Green everywhere. Fences made from tree limbs. Faces that hold stories. It reminded me that life doesn’t always need to shout to be seen. And it reminded me why I photograph.

Not for the brochure, but for the truth.”

Braided at Noon

Under the weight of the midday sun, hands move patiently twisting strands into memory while the scent of ripe mango drifts through the shade.

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Jamaica