"Dominican Republic" Dominican Republic by skatzcatz

The country of the Dominican Republic situated on the right half of the island if Hispaniola is truely a place of delight that is often forgotten amongst the other Caribbean destinations. With a warm although sometimes wet climate and a very friendly people i found this destination a delight after the time i'd spent in New York, Paris and London before. There is a begger like atmosphere that may seem intimidating to those not experienced, however once accustomed to this you realise the majority of the people are friendly and helpful.

It was also a pleasure to visit a small country that had rugged mountains, gorgeous beaches, flowing waterfalls, cities and ancient ruins all within a day or two's travel.

Would be nicer if it was a little closer to home, although as part of a round the world ticket its possible to visit destinations like this without it being to expensive.

No Habla Espanol,

for those like myself who have little knowledge of spanish that means i don't understand spanish which for the 3 days i spent on the Dom Republic was pretty much what i mostly said besides se, non, gratias etc. And for those unawares the dom republic is the better half of the island of Hispanola with Haiti which sadly is a little war ravaged at this time. Anyways besides chris columbus discoverying the area way back when my parents where just kids there aint much history i'm prepared to say (sorry mum/dad - lil joke there) anyways the 3 days in the Dom republic was awesome, did too much shoppin, caught some gwaua gwau's which are like the vans of kenya - mattatu's for those that remember and did some bike rides on the local motorbikes called motoconcho's. Anyways from the beginning arrived and first thought riding in the taxi to Santo Dominingo this place reminded me so much of africa, which sort of was right but also not the same. Found our backpackers - el refugio de pirates, which translated to refuge for the pirates so with memory in tact i went back to july last year when phil and i at council (darwin city council) did the pirate talk all day for 'talk like a pirate day'. from here then wandered about the town a little, found the mall, got harrassed by the local touts and shoe shiners, i got 1 shoe polished for free after saying non, but they still polished it the protested but ever the jew i wasnt prepared to part with my 5 peso's or about 10 american cents. Decided also that night to next day head off too the north and Santiago then onto Porto Plata. next day caught a stingy bus but for 200 peso's or about 5usd wasnt complaining about a 45 hr bus ride, the bargain of the century. Porto platta ended up being a real interesting city of 200000 ppl ansd ended up catcvhing a motoconchro p to the mountain nearby and a ride up the chailift to the mountain. atop was a statue like that in rio - jesus. but with the rain setting in decided to walk about the botanical gardens and do some local shopping. from there wandered back down to porto platta and found a bar to drink in to the ealry hours. ened up having local beers - el presidente for about 100pesos a bottle or rum punches - yum. next day headed further east towards ummm my memories fading... cerantes or something, i'm not exactly right but this place was a mecca of tourists and a wind/kite surfers paradise. sadly the rain had set in and with my cold now over 2 weeks old i decided to shop. shop is kind of an understatement, ended up buying 4 shirts from 10usd - 24usd. also had a fire in oiur hotle so ended up having no power that night. next day went back to dominningo and had 1 exciting thing happen where we where walking along and an election parade was on. i as always forwarded liked their hats so asked for 1. also decided to save walking would ask for a lift, so we ended up riding in the back of a ute part of the election parade for 6 blocks. ended up being funny dominicans llooking at white ppl cheering for their future president.

• Pros:culture, history, friendly people
• Cons:Spanish
• In a nutshell:less touched then more popular Caribbean destinations