Blogs from Dominican Republic, Central America Caribbean - page 14

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

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

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

Though the shutters were drawn and our room was dark, there could be no doubt that it was early morning, as a cacophony of roosters competed for air time in a deafening chorus outside of our apartment. I opened my eyes, and took a second to remember where I was. I quietly rolled out of bed so as not to wake Dennie, threw on a shirt and some sandals, and snuck out into the streets of the village. The town was bathed in a golden light. A boisterous women in the small square down the street from our place began to prepare the batter at her empanada stand, just as an older man rolled a wheel burrow of oranges and pineapples towards her. Stray dogs sprawled out on the interlocking brick that paved the square, enjoying ... read more

Click on the video above for sample music. ^^^ For 14 years jazz fans from all over the world have come to the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival to hear top-of-the-line Latin jazz musicians from the Caribbean, Central and South America in the tropical towns of Cabarete and Sosua on the Dominican Republic’s north shore. Part of what makes this festival different from others is that during its four days and three nights it wanders from venue to venue so attendees listen to the dulcet tones in different physical surroundings and different acoustical settings—most of them outdoors. Free The festival is free for all but one of the sessions. “We did this,” says Jennifer Kirkman, one of the founders and coordinators of the festival, “because we wanted as many people as possible to have exposure to jazz ... read more