Blogs from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Central America Caribbean

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

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

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

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