Bienvenidos Republica Dominica

We arrived in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic yesterday after an unexpectedly long travel day. (It seems like all my first day adventures start like that at this point!) we had a four hour travel delay in Miami that lead to us de-planing and then re-planing. So instead of a bright and hot afternoon we entered into DR just as the sun was setting over the Carribean Sea. Upon arrival at the hotel we had just enough time to get to our rooms and freshen up before a group dinner at the Museo de la Gastronómica. Our hotel, the Gran Europa, is in the colonial part of Santo Domingo. The streets here are narrow and stone with limestone sidewalks. The buildings feature beautiful ironwork on the windows and doors. 

On our way!

The pedestrian only street in Santo Domingo

A painting on the wall of the restaurant that looks suspiciously like my mother. 

  

This morning we had a chance to explore the colonial area of the city with a tour guide who talked about the history of the area. According to our guide there is only one square kilometer of walking area in the old city. I didn’t get to hear much of the history because, during the advisor meeting, I had volunteered to be the caboose on our train of approximately 30 individuals. And if you’ve ever been a chaperone of a group of middle school and high school students then you’ll know it’s a bit like herding cats. No one EVER stays together. 

Statue outside of Choco Pick chocolate factory and store

We started with the remnants of the first colonial city, which was built in America in 1602. Parts of the San Francisco convent and church are still standing. This was the first church built in the Americas and has an aqueduct behind it. We also saw the first hospital and the first university that were built in the Americas. The original buildings of the old city were made of limestone, which was plentiful, but the limestone had mostly been covered over with cement as buildings have been restored and renovated to make them suitable for modern living. The buildings now feature colorful facades with very individual doors. 

San Francisco convent and church in colonial Santo Domingo

Some of the brick of the original structure is deliberately left exposed

                          

During the tour I learned that the national dances are merengue and bachata and that the national tree is the mahogany tree. The bougainvillea tree is known as the trinity and also holds a special place in Dominican history. It has something to do with the expelling of the Spanish in 1821 and later the Africans from Haiti, but I missed most of this portion of the talk trying to herd the cats. 

We walk down a pedestrian only street that was once upon a time only for VIPs. And then we come to the Calle Las Damas. The military building on this street was where the Spanish conquistadores came before they went out and subjugated indigenous people in other parts of the Spanish “empire”. 

After lunch at El Conde Restaurant we checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus for a harrowing thirty minute ride through city traffic to get to Parque National de Tres Ojos. These are underground lakes inside of caverns that opened up during an earthquake over 100 years ago. Everything in the caves is carved from natural materials. Millions of years ago this area was underwater and there is a lot of dead coral reef down here. Our guide says it took twelve years to carve the stairs from the coral reef. There are also a lot of stalactites and stalagmites which you are not supposed to touch because it could interrupt their growth. The original people of the island, the Taino, used these caves, but the Taino were killed by Spanish conquistadors and the caves disappeared from human knowledge until a collapse caused by the earthquake opened them up again. The three lakes are Los Azules, Los Nevera, and Los Damas, and they are all actually clear lakes. Los Azules appears blue at times and green at times but that is because it reflects the light that comes through the trees. Los Nevera doesn’t get any natural light and appears black. The water in Los Nevera gets down to 20° Celsius in the winter. There is a boat ride that you can take across the lake that is operated by a pulley system. They don’t allow any motorboats. 

  

We got back on the bus to take the three and a half hour trip to Jarabacoa, which is in the mountainous northern part of. Once out of the city the drive was scenic. We stopped about halfway through for a break and I had a refreshing piña colada. Upon arriving in Jaracoboa we
check into the beautiful Hotel Pinar Dorado for the night.