West from Punta Rucia, the roads deteriorate even further and the only sensible way to make for the Haiti border is to turn south back onto the C-1 at Villa Elisa . The further west you go, the more the landscape transforms itself - gone are the swaying palms and grassy pastures, replaced by scrubby cactus plants and dusty dry soil inhabited mainly by goats. The carretera terminates at the westernmost outpost of the Silver Coast, Monte Cristi , founded in 1501 and at one point one of the country's most important ports. These days it resembles a dusty frontier town bearing only the occasional tarnished remnant of its opulent past along wide, American-style boulevards. Most visitors are here to use the town as a base from which to explore the local beaches and the Parque Nacional Monte Cristi , an expanse that protects a towering mesa named El Morro and an enormous river delta. To reach the park, take the beach road north of the city towards Playa Juan de Bolaños , the area's most popular beach but quite disappointing in comparison to others on this coast. Once past the restaurants that clutter the beach's entrance, the road arrives at the entrance to the eastern half of the park, which is divided in two by Monte Cristi's beaches. Its eastern section is often referred to as Parque El Morro, after the flat-topped mesa El Morro that takes up a good chunk of it. Climbing the mesa is a lot easier these days as the park office has built a set of steps up from the road's highest point (RD$50 entrance fee). At the foot of El Morro's eastern slope is a lovely and unpopulated beach accessible by parking at the end of the road and continuing down on foot. The western half of the national park encompasses a dense mangrove coast dotted with small lagoons; informal tours are led from the Los Jardines hotel (from RD$300 per person), on which you'll see several river deltas thick with mangroves and perhaps even a couple of crocodiles.