La mano arriba, Cintura sola: Mi viaje a la Republica Dominicana!

First stop on my summer trip through the Caribbean was... the Dominican Republic (June 23-30)!  I was super excited to visit Hispaniola for the first time, and see my Fulbrighter friends - Hank, Anna, and Gerald!

Day 1 - Santo Domingo, the Capital and largest city in the DR.

The Colonial Zone, by the waterfront

My first impression?  The DR is not really similar to Jamaica.  Racially, it was more diverse and mixed, everyone drives on the left, everything is in Spanish (obviously, since the DR was colonized by Spain), and billboards tend to be less tacky / more political than in JA.  But upon closer examination, I did see more similarities to Jamaica!  For example... Celine Dion was playing in many places, I saw men selling shrimp on the streetside, and there were definitely signs of poverty alongside wealth (such as in the Colonial Zone).  More insight to come...

I spent the first 2 days in the Colonial Zone, a beautiful area of Santo Domingo filled with restaurants and bars as well as historical ruins.  Santo Domingo was the oldest European settlement in the Americas, founded in 1496!  It houses many old ruins, including the oldest church in the Americas (1516, first brick laid by the one and only Christopher Columbus).  I first met my friend Hank and his wife Sabine, who gave me a quick tour of the area.  It was so great to connect once again with another Fulbrighter, who is so well-informed of the history of the country.  The perfect tour guide :)

Julie, Marissa, Jake and me by the historic gate

Next, I met with a group of interns working with my Fulbrighter friend Gerald - Marissa, Jake and Julie.  The four of us wandered through the Colonial Zone, sat by the waterfront and got some delicious frozen yogurt to counter the intense summer heat.  In my hostel - which was situated right across an ancient church with a view of the city, I met a fellow traveler: Samuel from Sweden!  He was traveling throughout the Caribbean, hitting 10 countries in 3 months!  We exchanged stories about our impressions of the different countries and he told me all about life in Sweden.  Then the entire crew (along with few other friends of friends from NYC and the DR) had a big dinner together on the Conde - the main street in the Colonial Zone.  It was certainly a random mix of people who only sort of knew one another, but this made for some pretty awesome company and a great exchange of stories and experiences :)

Day 2 - Santo Domingo
I had a very local breakfast (yuca, fried eggs, batata) with Hank and Sabine, at a delicious joint (Santana's window shop).  Yum!

Santana's!

Samuel, with the local beer and some plantains!

Next, we all attended a conference organized by Gerald at the local university on the relationship between Haiti and the DR.  Despite being neighbors, the two countries have always had heavy tensions due to the various outside influences.  This has led to different languages, customs, etc, creating two very distinct countries.  I only attended for the morning session, but found it really interesting!   I especially enjoyed the panel of young adults from the countryside, who spoke to their experience living near the border and facing issues of identifying with either country.  As the entire conference was in pure Spanish - which was a little intense for me, given that I have not spoken Spanish in years - I left to meet my Swedish friend for a day of touristy stuff.

Oldest Church!

First, Samuel and I had a yummy lunch of fresh seafood,  then went to the oldest church in the Caribbean (1516!) en La Plaza de Colon, then went to El Museo de Las Casas Reales (royal houses) and saw lots of ancient artifacts from the 1500s when the Spanish first arrived in the DR.  Last, we went to El Forte de Ozama, a huge stone fort on the ozama river, near the oceanfront.  It was extremely hot but offered very beautiful views of the city.

That evening, Samuel and I had some yummy BBQ outside of our hostel while we drank El Presidente (the local beer) and listened to some local music.  After, my Fulbrighter friend Anna took us out dancing!  We went to a local bar with a much older crowd, who was very experienced in merengue and bachata and salsa - the various local dance types.  I found it extremely difficult, but it was fun to try... and definitely fun to watch :)

Forte de Ozama

Day 3 - Santiago
I took the bus with Anna to Santiago, a smaller city in central DR where Anna is based.  The ride was beautiful, except... it started to rain!  Even inside the bus :(  Santiago is a very cute city - smaller than Santo Domingo, but very clean and seemingly more developed.  That day, Anna and I first went to El Centro de Leon, a performance house.  We watched folk dancers organize games for younger kids, which was quite entertaining, then had amazing jugo natural (natural juice) with carrot, YUM!  Next, we went to a dance center and I got my own mini salsa-lesson!  It was hard, but super fun - especially as Anna is a great teacher :)

Me, Hipolito, Anna, and Maria Luz at El Monumento!

Finally, we went to... EL MONUMENTO!  This was a giant monument in the center of the city, perched on a hill with seating all around.  It offered a great view of the city!  We spent hours with her friends, Maria Luz, Felix and Hipolito, chatting about various social norms in the DR.  It was definitely frustrating for me to not be the best at Spanish... I could follow but I found it so hard to participate!  But Anna's friends  were great about talking slowly with me and repeating things so I could follow :)  More than anything, I learned so much about the DR... there are very similar themes about skin color in the DR, appearance, etc; it is crazy how these themes are not just in JA!  We finished the night by having a yummy dinner of pasta and eggplant (and caipirinhas!!) at La Plaza del Sol.  We listened to all types of merengue and reggaeton while watching baseball on TV (Dominicans LOVE baseball).  A great first night in Santiago!

Day 4 - Santiago

The boys at the beach!

LA PLAYA!  Anna and I went to the beach with her friends William and Hipolito.  The drive itself was beautiful, traveling through the mountains with so much greenery.  It definitely resembled JA, but the biggest difference was how nice and developed the roads were!  The ocean was gorgeous... super calm (though the north is usually known for the rough waves, popular with kite surfing) and a million shades of blue.  We spent the whole afternoon wading in the water and talking.. about dance styles, India, politics, etc.  Her friends once again were sweet to talk slowly in Spanish with me and use their (pretty good) English when I didn't understand.  Also, we had a yummy lunch of fish fillet with friend banana slices!  I can't say it comes close to fish from Hellshire Beach in jamaica, but it was yummy :)

Anna y Anita!

The north coast!

Still filled with energy when we got home, Anna and I went out to a dance party!  It was really intimidating for me, because everyone was much older and very talented dancers... but several were nice enough to try and teach me how to dance "son" (similar to salsa) and merengue!

Day 5- Esperanza
I traveled with Marissa - an intern working with my friend Gerald - from Santiago to Esperanza, a small town in the countryside where he works.  Gerald and his three interns live in a cute little house with their naughty puppy, Cherie.  Marissa and I then took a motorcycle taxi (yes, this is what is popular around the countryside ) to the bateys, where Gerald works.  Essentially, these bateys are poor, very underdeveloped communities where both Haitians and Dominicans live together.  He's been working with Batey Libertad in particular for several years, helping with their latrines, scholarship programs, and most recently, doing microenterprise projects to get the women in the community to work together and raise funds.

rice, rice, rice!

We spent the rest of the day in the batey.  I had lunch and dinner at Marissa's host family's home, a yummy meal of salads and fresh fruits.  After, we made a quick stop to the rice factory - where the rice produced in Esperanza/Batey Libertad is refined.  It was my first time in such a factory, and definitely overwhelming!

Gerald also took me on a motorcycle ride (yes, he has a moto!) through the rice and tobacco fields, so I saw the entire town :)  It was absolutely breathtaking...

On Gerald's Bike!

The fields near Esperanza

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with all the children - from duck duck goose ("pato pato ganzo") to just talking to them in my broken Spanish (and trying to figure out their Spanish/creole mix).  They were soooo adorable!  In the evening, we had... a dance party! All the youth in the community came to the big pool hall and Gerald played all the top bachata, merengue, reggaeton and dembo hits! Everyone was so sweet to take turns teaching me how to properly dance :) It was definitely an awesome experience.

Day 6 - Esperanza/Mao

Hiking to the waterfall

We left eaaaaarly in the morning to take all the kids in the community to a nearby waterfall.  The entire group - accompanied by around 20 children -  hiked through the river and over lots of rocks and finally made it to the beautiful waterfall, hidden away in the forest. We spent the morning playing in the water, warming up by the fire, and hanging out with all the kids.  It was beautiful!

Geraldo and me by the waterfall!

That night, Gerald and his interns and I headed out to Mao, a bigger town nearby for a yummy dinner at a cute little outdoor restaurant. The rest of the night, we hung out with some "Presidentes" in the nearby park, followed by some brief dancing at the club nearby.  It was an "epic" night out in Mao :)

Day 7 - Mao/Santo Domingo
In the morning, the group headed to Mao for a morning of relaxation - as in, we hit up a very nice spa! I definitely enjoyed my (affordable) Dominican massage :)

After, Gerald and I began the longest journey back to the Capital. Unfortunately, the air conditioning and general functioning of the bus stopped... So we had to stop and switch buses (which is clearly a process). Then the AC in the second bus stopped working as well.  Somehow, 5 hours later, we made it to Santo Domingo, where I met up with Anna and proceeded to pass out since I was leaving the next day to... Trinidad!!

Overall, I definitely enjoyed my week in the DR!  It was wonderful to catch up with Hank, Anna and Gerald, who were the most amazing and hospitable tour guides.  I'm so glad I got to see the natural beauty of the country (from the beaches to the waterfalls), get a taste of the music (some reggaeton and merengue and bachata), and work on my Spanish!  Gracias, mis amigos!!!