Blogs from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Central America Caribbean


mon bon icon
mon bon
March 27th 2012

Hello all! It's been a few weeks and a busy time in the office, but I snuck out for 4 days to go to the D.R. for their 2nd Intl. Bachata Festival the weekend before last. After an 8 hour busride I was in Santo Domingo for an incredible first trip to other country that shares this island. Not only was the contrast in city infrastructure striking between Haiti and the D.R., but even on the busride over there was a notable difference in the agriculture: organized fields, tools, tractors, irrigation systems for rice fields, etc. (another convo about international investment and country histories would be great to have here, but I can't do it justice now...). Anyways... It was the first time I've ever paid for a hotel in my adult life (granted I shared ... read more




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Cumbia
March 26th 2012

The Dominican Republic was awesome. I was in Santo Domingo mostly but took a day trip to Santiago de los Caballeros. Santiago de los Caballeros is about 2.5hrs by bus from Santo Domingo and the city is very rich in Arts and Culture. I visited lots of Arts Exhibitions. In Santo Domingo, I stayed 10mins walking distance from the zona colonial and again I enjoyed being close to the colonial zone. My host was great and I felt like a part of the family. I didn’t do lots of touristy stuff here; I just hung out with the locals and immersed myself in the culture. This meant that I attended classes with my host at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), I took the guagua (public transport) and went to a local discoteca. One of ... read more




ATLManiac icon
ATLManiac
March 15th 2012

Sorry for the long delay between posts, but I had something written down before leaving for my volunteer visit, but the power went out and my work just wasn’t saved. And of course, I was lazy in trying to write it again cause it was late and well, I was tired. Okay so back onto my story to grandma’s house. So we pick up the story, where the dashing protagonist has left his quiet, safe, and lawful home to aid a fellow knight in his battle against the evil dark lord in the lawless town of La Barrera. Before arriving to give aid, he proceeded to have a long journey. This first started with a meetup with a fellow trainee, Jeff, and eventually , this dashing, roguish protagonist, (you would think I should put Tal here, ... read more




ATLManiac icon
ATLManiac
March 9th 2012

So I got my phone today! My number is 809-723-2761. All calls and text messages that anyone makes to me is completely free so you can always do that! Of course I will be getting a calling card soon to talk to you guys out of the DR! Also, I know that there are ways to call abroad for very little or free! Talk to Maria she is super jewy! Got to go now!... read more




ATLManiac icon
ATLManiac
March 8th 2012

Okay, I want to start off by saying that in 2 days I will be getting a cell phone so you guys and girls will be able to call and text me! So far, it feels like I have been shackled because we are not allowed to leave the city or even go downtown. All of us are in the surrounding neighboorhoods outside the city, but tomorrow we start to learn more about public transportation by taking different public transports. I have talked about the carro publicos, but now we will be taking the guagua. It is like a full size van and of course like the carro publico, they stuff as many people into that van as possible so if there are like 12 real seats there will probably be like 16 people. I have ... read more






ATLManiac icon
ATLManiac
March 4th 2012

Okay so lets write another entry! Sorry but I would have written another one, but everytime I have been online to write one Maria has been on gmail and well, she has taken all of my time online! I will not even try to explain everything that has happened since I packed all of my belongings and moved to the DR. I will just tell you of some highlights of the past couple of whirlwind days. After basically being up for like 48 hrs in DC and then arriving in country, I finally got a little sleep at this place an hour outside Santo Domingo. That night is probably going to be my last night of hot water for a LONG time. Thank god it´s hot here! On thursday we arrived at the Center in the ... read more




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TheEternalWanderer
March 10th 2011

This has been a long years wait to come back here, this time on the southside of the island! I managed to catch my flight on time from San Jose despite my driver getting into an accident on the way to get me in the morning, I hopped in a cab and to the Airport I went. I was a little worried that the "new" law had kicked in for expired visas, but my friends Debb and Ryan just crossed over by land to Nicaragua and Ryan told me not even a second look as he was over by a month, I would be over almost 2 and at the airport....So I get out of the cab, spark up a kool and look one last time at the Mountains surrounding San Jose I head in to ... read more




DominicanZ icon
DominicanZ
February 11th 2011

Greetings to all. I wish to tell about our trip to the Dominican Zoo. It is in capital Dominikany a city of Santo-Domingo. In the park beginning there is a children's playground and a steam locomotive on which it is possible to make excursion. Open-air cages for animals very spacious, pure and beautiful. img=http://www.dominicana.cc/alb... read more




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Keeeeith
June 10th 2010

In 2003, I lived just outside of Florence, Italy. At that time, I wasn’t ready to take in all that living in a big city really meant. And it was similar to my experience in Wisconsin where I lived 45 minutes from the nearest big city. So I was excited when I decided to move in the heart of Santo Domingo, a city of 3 million people. In this blog, I’ll try to describe, from my gringo perspective, the characteristics of Santo Domingo, some of my experiences, and give traveler descriptions of places to see. In the fall of 2009, after living here for six months, I got a call from a local language institute (3 months after handing in my resume). As a native English speaker with an English Literature degree, I was gladly hired. ... read more




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coreydotcom
April 24th 2010

Our trip to the DR actually started at 11:30 pm on the night of April 23rd, 2010. We decided to leave from Syracuse, NY, because the plane tickets from Syracuse were half the price on Jet Blue of the tickets from Montreal (where we live). We had a 6am flight from Syracuse so we left Montreal at 11:30 pm because we weren't sure how long it would take. Anyways, we got there at around 3:30 am (we took a while because we stopped quite long for a meal/snack). I drove all the way until 20 minutes before getting there but I had to give up because I was falling asleep. Uneventful connection at JFK and we were on the ground in the DR for noon. It was hot! I had read you couldn't really negotiate the ... read more









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