The Dominican Republic

To celebrate our 10 year anniversary we booked a trip to the Dominican Republic.  We were in desperate need of seeing a beach.  Moving from Florida has done a doozy on us. We were gone a whole week without the kids.  Gigi came and played mom/grandma in Arizona.  We were so grateful for her.  This trip was much needed.  We flew into Punta Cana and took a taxi to our resort Barcello.  We had an all inclusive stay and I took advantage of the non stop Diet Coke.  The buffets were just ok but the sit down restaurants were actually really good.  Our favorite was the Japanese restaurant.  One night we sat by some Russians and I think one of them really wanted to practice his English.  He was non stop trying to talk to us and the language barrier was incredibly hard until we said we were from Salt Lake City.  Then he was like "oh…! Mormon?"  So funny.  Since it was December everywhere did their best to make it festive for Christmas.  The desk clerk told us he upgraded our room to the newest wing.  I find that hard to believe since our view was of the Casino sign.  It didn't matter cuz we enjoyed being on the beach more.  

  

  Friday we booked a tour to Santo Domingo.  It was 100$ per person with the bus ride, tour guide and a nice lunch.  The bus ride was supposed to take 2 hours but was more like 4 when it took forever to leave and our bus broke down in the middle of nowhere.  We apparently ran out of gas, but no one was ever really sure what had happened.  We had a variety of cultures on our bus and all conflicting languages.  Some from Sweden, Austria, Venezuela, Dominican and US.  We actually got to do the whole trip and returned home at like midnight.  That was one of the longest days of my life.  It was fun seeing the sites on the way from the bus.  We saw a variety of churches, cathedrals, historic landmarks, farm land, a cave and a lighthouse.  We knew we had to do this trip since we didn't know if we would ever make it back to the Dominican.  My only sad moment was when I realized how close we were to the Santo Domingo Temple and couldn't leave the group to go visit. 

 Cathedral of Santa María la Menor

is the oldest cathedral in the Americas, begun in 1512 and completed in 1540. The church combines elements of both Gothic and Baroque. There are twelve side chapels. One was decorated with a Nativity scene for Christmas.  The remains of Christopher Columbus were once housed at the cathedral, before their final resting place in the Faro a Colon.

 The Museo de las Casas Reales is one of the important cultural monuments built during the colonial era in Hispanola, now the Dominican Republic. It is located in the Colonial district of Santo Domingo. The building dates back to the sixteenth century, and was built to house the administrative offices of the Spanish colonies in the Americas. We didn't get to see this museum inside but they had some cannons overlooking the Port of Santo Domingo that we were able to check out.

 This is the oldest street in Santo Domingo.  In the background is the Alcázar de Colón. It was built under Diego Colón, the son of Christopher Columbus; when he became Viceroy of La Española and the Indies in 1509, he ordered the construction of a family home and governor’s mansion between 1510 and 1512.  Inside we saw many artifacts of what you would have seen in this time frame.  The inside was so beautiful and I especially loved the wood beams in the ceilings and the spiral staircase which seemed to be for midgets. Our tour guide did the whole tour in English.  His voice was close to what an Oompa Loompa would sound like, but I give him credit for memorizing the whole thing in English.

 On our drive out of the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo we stopped to take a peek at this.  The Columbus Lighthouse.  This monument was dedicated to Christopher Columbus and build in 1986.  The monument's lighthouse-style features projecting beams of light, forming a cross shape, which are so powerful they can be seen from neighboring Puerto Rico.  They claim they have the remains of Christopher Columbus inside, but Spain claims they have them too. The fight remains.

The Cave of the Three Eyes (Cueva de los Tres Ojos) is a collapsed cave featuring three small pools located on the outskirts of Santo Domingo. It was formed centuries ago when some underground caves collapsed, forming a bowl-shaped depression. It was really cool down there but oh soooo humid.  We were so sweaty.  After the cave we started our long trek back to Punta Cana.  Of course we were the last ones dropped off at our hotel.  Sigh...

Back home on the beach we enjoyed the waves and the Europeans.  From women striking a pose to men in there speedos it was a great sight.  I loved seeing these three older couples playing in the water. 

It was fun.  Til next time!