Dominican Republic (9)
Puerto Plata is one of the Dominican Republic’s most amazing tourist destinations (if not its most). It has white and golden sandy beaches, Victorian houses, a historic area, the Isabel de Torres mountain and its cable car, but what's more, if adventures are your thing, you can enjoy the 27 waterfalls or cascades of Damajagua.
Damajagua is a geological fault where the waters form a canyon several kilometers in length, with parallel waterfalls above eleven meters. It is located 10 kilometers fr
Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism
The Dominican Republic is one of those Caribbean countries that truly offers the proverbial something for almost everyone (OK, admittedly, skiers are out of luck). On this blog we’ll be covering them one by one. But to kick things off, here’s an overview:
Santo Domingo History & Culture
The DR’s capital (top) is the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the Americas, founded in 1498 by Bartolomé Colón, brother of Cristóbal (better known to
Dominican Republic Tourism
by Marita Acosta
In a country where resort zones such as Punta Cana and Puerto Plata have become household names to holidaymakers in the Americas, Europe, and beyond, the new frontier in exotic, sunsplashed getaways is also starting to make a name for itself. Samaná Peninsula, here we come.
Also its own province, this L-shaped territory astride the eastern half of the DR’s northern coast is a largely wild and natural region where rather than big all-inclusive resorts, i
Few cultural forms are more associated with the Dominican Republic than merengue music and the brisk, shuffling, hip-wagging dance that goes with it (no one’s exactly sure where the name comes from – sweet, frothy beaten egg whites or the “mareng” or “méringue” music of neighboring Haiti). Going back more than 150 years, like tango in Argentina it once scandalized the prim and proper because of its ribald lyrics and sexy moves. Well, that’s sure as heck a thing of the past – see
I have to admit, I’m not real big on bling – aka precious metals and stones. I recognize their beauty and value, but it’s just not me. For my taste, I prefer materials such as, say, turquoise, jade, and amber, which share a singular earthy beauty no matter how they’re cut.
Amber, in particular, is a fascinating substance. The ancient Greeks called it elektron (this word wasn’t applied to electricity till the late 19th century), and this fossilized tree sap has been used for adornment for at l
If you find should yourself spending New Year’s Eve in a Spanish-speaking country, you may notice that the locals have an interesting tradition of their own for this special night. As the big moment nears, participants will suspend clusters of grapes over their mouths (or have a loose handful of them) and eat one with each clock strike of midnight. These are “las doce uvas de la suerte” (the twelve grapes of fortune), which of course is what everyone wishes themselves and others f
As I travel around the Caribbean (and to some extent this is true in Latin America, too), I find nearly every island has some kind of homegrown hooch (often rum-based) that purports to be “medicinal” (and sometimes certainly tastes the part), often including revitalizing, curative, and even aphrodisiac qualities. And if you visit the Dominican Republic, you may well come across the Dominican variation on this type of esteemed elixir.
The name mamajuana (Spanish for “Mama Jane”) is t
Mstyslav Chernov
When Christopher Columbus and his merry band dropped anchor for the first time in the “New World” in 1492, they found the the Taínos and Arawaks of Hispaniola (now two-thirds occupied by the Dominican Republic) smoking some funny kinda dried brown leaves. And the DR has been a tobacco producer ever since – yet for much of that time, for reasons of history and economics, cigarwise it’s been overshadowed by Cuba, turning out mostly fodder for cigarettes.
Th
