The Dominican Republic! Wow, what a beautiful place. And what a beautiful people! Our family decided over the summer that this would be the Christmas vacation of choice this year, and after booking a house for a week in Punta Cana, generously asked us if we’d like to tag along. The answer was obviously “duh” so we spent our Christmas in a tropical paradise.

Did Seth and I feel incredibly #blessed and lucky for a fantastic opportunity to head to this gorgeous white sand beach, sippin’ on margaritas and indulging in some books for a week in a new place? Yes. Were we stoked for some hard-core relaxation, rum consumption, and a break from the East Tennessee cold spell? Obviously. But our inner history-adventure geeks really tingled at the thought of going to Santo Domingo, the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the Western hemisphere. So on December 27th, we woke up at 5AM to catch the 7AM Expreso Bávaro bus which would take us directly to the city center in the historic Santo Domingo. We were escorted off the bus at 10AM in the city center by an eager taxi driver who was happy to take our money to get us to the hotel* where dropped off our stuff, and headed out into the “new world” for some exploring (!!! see what I did there?).

*It wasn’t technically this easy; we actually walked into 3 different buildings, got stuck inside a residential garage, and talked to 4 different people before realizing we had passed the hotel 5 times. The oblivious level was high.

Initial impressions

Wow, what a beautiful people! The Dominican people are a blend of African, European, and some Native American (Taíno) heritage. Depending on where you go in the country, you’ll find the pendulum swinging toward one side of the other in terms of more black or more white, but I’ve been in few other places with such a mix of beautiful people of all colors of the rainbow. And the people were so warm! Much like our experience in Puerto Rico, the people were kind, welcoming, and helpful. Also: lots of big ol’ booties. I blended right in! Thanks for making us feel so welcome, DR. It helps that we were tourists, and the country depends on its tourism dollars for sustenance, but we were never without someone there to help us when we got lost (especially when we were looking for the damn hotel). Finally, the Dominicans liked a good time. Everywhere we went, there was usually some music within earshot if it was after noon. Just people chillin in an open-air bar or restaurant with their friends, playing music. Sometimes, they were dancing. Here’s a restaurant we went to at night, where some of the servers also happened to double as amateur dancers:

For the History Nerds

Columbus made 4 trips across the Atlantic, and each time managed to stop by the island he called Hispañola, or what we now know as Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The third time was when he parked in Santo Domingo for a bit, where his son and family would set up and inhabit a castle through the early 14^th century. On his 4^th trip in 1506, he died from heart failure at age 55 before he could make it back to Europe. But not before he could initiate a genocide! When Columbus arrived to Hispañola, there were approximately 3 million Taínos in 5 major nations across the island. By 1500, they were pretty much eliminated. (Eight years! It took him 8 years.) Here’s a picture of his routes, which light up in the Museo de las Casas Reales (Museum of the Royal Houses) in Santo Domingo.

Just a few more little-baby highlights: Santo Domingo was established in 1496 by Diego Colon, Christopher’s younger brother. Once the potential Native American slaves were wiped out, African slaves were shipped in. Hispañola, where there were major Spanish and French settlements, got a lot of them. A couple centuries later, in the first successful slave rebellion in the new world (1791-1804), the slaves in Haiti gained freedom, and many Africans from the Dominican crossed the border into the promise land. (This little historical nugget gives us the answer as to why 95% of the Haitian population is of predominantly African descent, whereas Dominicans are mostly “mulatto”.) But THEN, in 1822, Haiti took over the whole island, freeing the slaves in the Dominican, too. Jose Pablo Duarte, whose likelihood can be found in various statues and memorials across the historic center, is like the George Washington of the DR and helped the Dominicans declare independence from the French in 1844 (#nutshell).

Finally, one can’t discuss the history of Santo Domingo without mentioning Rafael Trujillo, the president of the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961. This guy had some serious cojones. Nicknamed “el jefe,” from what I understand, Trujillo was an asshole — a kind of national leader not uncommon in the ’30s. While he’s credited with bringing advancements to the country’s infrastructure and economy, he also took a lot of the country’s money for his family, and committed some serious human rights violations, like by torturing and murdering his opposition. He also renamed Santo Domingo into “Trujillo City” at one point (like I said: big balls), which was reversed after his assassination in 1961, and his family was sent into exile. One thing Trujillo spent his money on, however, was a massive collection of military artifacts, which can now be found in the Royal Houses Museum (Museo de las Casas Reales) just off the Plaza España. We’re talking 6^th century chainmail, of which each small piece of metal is inscribed with Aramaic script. Actual samurai swords, medieval armor, treasure from ships that sunk off the coast, and Taíno artifacts are on display in this beautiful 16^th century colonial-style building. I’m really glad we went to this museum – when we entered, we were told that they had run out of audio guides, so we got a live guide instead, which is always better! Here are some pics of the crazy stuff we saw:

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There were actual writings from Columbus (seen before we realized we could take pictures!). Also this amazing map was drawn by someone in the 1500s — not bad for a first try:

Touring

Once we stumbled outside our hotel and into the Colonial Zone without a map, we wandered around for a grand total of 8 minutes before a dude approached us, asking if we’d like a guided tour. After we talked him down to about 55% of his asking price (a pretty normal number to shoot for here), he took us on a whirlwind explanation marathon. I wish I could remember his name, but he loaded us with information so fast that there was no way to get a word in edgewise to ask him to repeat it. (I took down a lot of the information he threw at us on a “notes” app on my phone immediately after the tour, which is where a lot of this entry comes from.)

The main tourist area of the city, the Colonial Zone (la Zona Colonial, if you prefer), is a UNESCO world heritage site and a perfect blend of old-school Spanish architecture, ruins, and Caribbean flare. We strolled down the main pedestrian Street, Calle el Conde. It was souvenir central!

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There is an important park on either side of Calle el Conde: Independence Park (Parque Independencia) on one end and the Columbus Park at the other. With a wink, our guide warned us not to take “massages” from those offering them on this street. Once we got to to Columbus Park, we picked up a free tourist map in the old Haitian administrative headquarters from in the 19^th century. Also in Columbus Park is a huge statue of Christopher Columbus, pointing toward the Northwest – the first spot where he landed in Hispañola. There are 4 ships on the corners of the statue’s base, symbolizing the four trips he took to the island. Suspended on this side in mid-climb is a Taíno woman, apparently trying to reach him (based on real person — he killed her, too!). The guide, and pretty much everyone we talked to about Columbus, treated him as a neutral figure in history. Here are the facts: Columbus landed here, here, here, and here; his family lived here, he’s buried there, etc. etc. He initiated the African slave trade, had slaves, yadda yadda. I mean, without Columbus, the DR wouldn’t exist as we know it. So I guess it’s complicated. Anyway here’s his statue:

Near Columbus Park is the enormous Plaza España. From there, you can look out and see the Columbus “Lighthouse” — the Faro a Colón, which is not actually a lighthouse (gotcha!) but rather a large boxy monument built as a tribute to Columbus, as his remains are inside. Also in the Plaza España, this beautiful historic square surrounded by history and culture, was an enormous, obnoxious Coca-Cola Christmas tree. I guess, because tourism and rum are so big in the DR, and because coke and rum go together so well, the relationship between Coke and the Dominican is probably important. But still, geez. It was really quite an eyesore.

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We were walking around the Colonial Zone looking for Chinatown when we stumbled across these really cool ruins. We took some pictures and moved on, then after some investigation later realized that they’re some of the most important ruins in the city. The building turned out to be the Monastery of Saint Francis, established in 1508 and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was the first monastery in the western world! Possibly even more interesting, Sir Francis Drake himself actually sacked the place in 1586. Then it was a mental asylum in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries! Now it’s used for public events. And has been pretty devastated by a few hurricanes.

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We also did find Chinatown, although I wouldn’t really say there was much to write home about, besides this one lion statue:

Another super important site in the Zona Colonial was the Western Hemisphere’s first cathedral. We did not go inside (mostly because we forgot about it after our very fast tour), but it was still pretty cool to see from the outside very briefly.

The most important thing

Well, if you’ve made it this far, I have to say I’m impressed! I don’t know if I would have made it this far. Usually, my travel adventure blogs are a few days packed into one, but this entry about one day goes to show how much learning and seeing can get left out in an effort to be concise. I will leave with a bit of food: first, we did make it to a grocery store. This is one of my favorite things to do in a new setting, because I get to see the different kinds of foods people eat!

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Also in Chinatown, we saw some guys selling actual sugar cane! Did you know you need 5 feet of this stuff for ONE can of coke? Makes ya think!

OK, that’s all, folks! My next travel blog SHOULD be from Asia (please dear sweet baby Jesus). We’re currently about to finish step 1 of the Chinese visa process, so wish me luck! Until next time.