Blogs from Dominican Republic, Central America Caribbean - page 37

Since I make so many trips to the Dominican Republic, I am always on the lookout for budget priced hotels to stay at. My last few trips to Santiago I have stayed at Hotel Colonial on Cucurullo, near the corner of 30 de marzo. It is a decent sized hotel with 2 buildings. The rooms are very basic, and clean. They all have hot water and you can choose whether you want AC or not. I paid about 475 pesos per night with AC. That is a great deal. The hotel is in the downtown area of Santiago and a short walk to calle del Sol and other main shopping areas. Avenida 27 de febrero is 2 blocks away and one night I even walked to the monument area after a brief stop at McDonalds for ... read more

In the town of Puerto Plata on the north coast of the Dominican Republic they have a cable car or "teleferico" to the top of Mt. Isabel Del Torres. On top of the mountain you get a great view of the ocean as well as puerto plata below. If it is a cloudy day do not go to the teleferico as the view will be obstructed by clouds. There is also a botanical gardens at the top as well as a statue of Christ similar to the one in Rio, Brazil. We shot some video of the Puerto Plata Teleferico and posted it to www.dr-tourist.tv We are trying to giev tourists a reason to venture beyond the walls of their All Inclusive resort and explore the surrounding areas a bit. There are a bunch of things ... read more

Having been to Carnaval in La Vega Dominican Republic 2 times in 2002 and 2003, I decided to once again visit La Vega, but to also travel to Bonao to check out and video tape the Carnaval celebration in Bonao.Carnaval 2005 Bonao Video Clip I traveled to Bonao on a bus or as dominicans call it a "gua gua". I arrived in Bonao rather early and decided to walk around a bit. There was not much happening so I headed to Hotel Aquarius and had lunch. The lunch was pretty good and reasonably priced. I had pork chops with white rice and fries plus a frozen lemonade or two. Hotel Aquarius seemed very nice. Certainly the nicest hotel in Bonao. I then made my way to the park to check out the preparations for Carnaval. It ... read more

Well, Ièm sad to say that this is our last night, as we have to check out of our room at 5:45 a.m. tomorrow to fly home. This has been the best week and the worst week - yes, I have had some illness, but I have had a lot fo fun, too - especially in the past two days! We did the Coean World Catamaran Tour yesterday and had a blast, and last night we met a lot of young people and went to the disco (though I had to try to escape a guy who wanted to get with me, so I ducked out by saying I needed to go tot he bathroom - I kinda feel sorry now, but oh well!). Today we stayed by the pool the whole day, swimming, dancing, takign ... read more

Hi everyone - well, I'm doing much better after another whole day in bed! And, I did take the Cipro afterall, so hopefully it will kick in and I can start really enjoying my holiday. Yesterday we went into Sosua and did some shopping - it was great, though the vendors are very pushy...I did, however, get two boyfriends, a couple fo paintings and a wooden carving for a steal! And we ended up having a drink at the Checkpoint Bar, which is owned by some Canadians, and we ended up getting a cab back to the resort rather than taking the free shuttle - why? Well, the bus was so packed, and it was standing room only, so we paid the $10 and rode in comfort! We ate at teh Japanese restaurant last night, and ... read more