Come Fly With Me: Tres!

This blog post is another in a series of my trip Westward in Dec 2011. (You can check out post 1 and post 2 too). Also, some of the photos were taken by my sister, Farhana.

Up until this point we had mostly been busy with getting the final preparations for my cousin's wedding sorted. Yes we'd done a little exploring and acquainted ourselves with everyday life, but it was only after the wedding when the "real" holiday began.

We hired an 7-seater SUV and managed to load it up with a few bags, my parents, my 3 siblings, my cousin, my aunt, my uncle, and myself of course (total amount of passenger: 9. Just BTW), and made our way to Santo Domingo, the capital of La República Dominicana.

And we're off to the capital, Santo Domingo!

A quick stop on a random part of the highway to drop off my uncle where he was going to visit some old friends. Note: the man in the photo is not my uncle.
Total  amount of passengers: 8

Tractor, what are you doing there? You belong on a farm, silly.

Presidente, basically the country's 'national' beer.

About 40 minutes of driving and only 56Km to go!

So sexy.

Welcome to Guayigo. Not 2 minutes later, we'd completely driven passed the city.

And we'd arrived in the capital! This was on the entrance to a mall there.

Even small-time security guards are armed.

Fortunately for us my mother (and my father from his days as a student there) has many old friends from her past still living in SD, who were more than willing to open up their homes to us.

Really, the people in Dominican Republic are very kind and generous, and go out of their way to make you feel welcomed.

An old village neighbour friend of my mother owns a (not so tiny) apartment in SD. She stays in this apartment with her daughter, Yomaira, and 2 other ladies that help her to cook & clean, and together they provide meals for the local university students that they have living there.

With my other cousin Mariela joining us in SD (having taken one of those mini bus "taxi's" to get there, bringing our current total amount of passengers up to 9), I was concerned that there wouldn't be enough place for all of us to sleep in what appeared to be 3 bedroomed apartment.

That place has 4 "areas" (lounge, kitchen, dining room, & study zone). It had about 6 or 7 make-shift bedrooms. But. There are more than 30 beds available because she has many double and bunk beds squeezed into every possible nook and cranny available.

Let's just say that accommodation was NOT a problem in Santo Domingo.

My mother's other brother, tio Dioni, lives in Santo Domingo with his wife and two kids, and his wife brought the kids to the apartment so that we could meet our two little cousins for the first time.

My little cousin, Dio Carlos showing us how a real man drinks his coffee. Note: he is NOT drinking coffee. Please don't send hate mail about this.

Little Diana is so adorable.

"Como se 'HUH?'"

"Well MTV, this is how I makes ma bubblz".

"And this is my impersonation of Robert De Niro".

When he gives the ladies 'the look'.

The best part about knowing someone in a foreign place is that you get your own personal tour guide to the city. Thanks so much, Yomaira!

With Yomaira in the car, our total amount of passengers was: 10

El Obelisco. It was erected to commemorate the name change from Trujillo to Santo Domingo in 1936. It also serves as a reminder to people who lost their lives during Hurricane San Zenon, the September 3, 1930.

Off to the airport to drop my Aunt off who went back to Miami. Thanks for the extra camera battery, Tia!
Total amount of passengers: 9

Off to go check out the nearest beach, Boca Chica ('Small Mouth').

Why doesn't Camps Bay have this??

Would love to have gone diving there.

'I <3 Boca Chica, the Beautiful Island'.

I had to take a photo of this to show people. Who would believe me??

We took a drive to go see some other beaches, but those beaches are private areas, owned by the beach resorts there. Luckily, just like a scene taken straight out of a horror movie, we managed to sneak in through a broken-down abandoned hotel to wander the deserted beaches at sundown.

L.O.V.E

I <3 CT

A bar literally at the end of the city, just outside the hotel resorts.

'The Concon'. You know at that crispy part of the rice at the bottom of the pot? That's what 'Concon' is, and it's something Dominicans, just like my mother, love to cook and enjoy eating. However, because this is near the beach, it might also be in reference to the Concon beach in Chile.

After a long day of driving and exploring, we headed back to the apartment, and were greeted with some AMAZING food. Seriously. Those people know how to COOK.

I should warn you, this next part is going to be little bit of a History lesson.

The next day, we went to a very historically famous place in Santo Domingo called 'Ciudad Colonial' ('Colonial City'), or as it is locally known 'Zona Colonial' (Colonial Zone).

It is the first settlement made by Christopher Columbus and the Spanish explorers, and is therefore the oldest permanent settlement of the New World and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Near the area of Zona Colonial stands a statue of Friar Antonio de Montesinos (<--click link for more in-depth info than that of below):

Friar Antonio de Montesinos delivering his sermon.

According to Wikipedia, the Friar "preached against the enslavement and harsh treatment of the Indigenous peoples of the Island". He proclaimed that the Spanish on the island "are all in mortal sin and live and die in it, because of the cruelty and tyranny they practice among these innocent peoples" something which angered the conquistadors (Spanish & Portuguese explorer-soldiers), including Diego Columbus, the son of Christopher Columbus. The locals say that his statue now stands facing the sea as a reminder to visitors against the mistakes of the islands' forefathers.

'Monument restoration of Friar Antonio de Montesinos'.

Montesinos' sermon was heard by, and subsequently had a formative impact upon, Bartolomé de las Casas, who is often seen as one of the first advocates for universal Human Rights.

An entrance to Fort Ozama from the road. It was named this because it was built on the banks of the Ozama River, which empties into the Caribbean Sea.

Another entrance to Fort Ozama.

The Gate of San Diego. The old entrance to Santo Domingo from the city's port.

The Cane Monument, depicting the hard work done by labourers settlers.

Juan Alejandro Acosta, founder of the Dominican Navy. Jose Prudence Padilla, a Columbian military leader.

Cathedral Museum. A museum which houses numerous pieces brought to Santo Domingo by famous pilgrims.

Parque Colon (Columbus Park), named after Christopher Columbus, which shows the Catedral de Santa Maria la Menor, and the statue of Columbus.

Wiki says: "In 1542, the remains of Christopher Columbus were transferred to the Zona Colonial, before eventually being transferred again to Seville, Spain. However, a lead box bearing an inscription identifying 'Don Christopher Columbus' and containing bone fragments and a bullet was discovered at Santo Domingo in 1877. DNA analyses has led researchers to conclude that the remains found in Seville belonged to Christopher Columbus. The authorities in Santo Domingo have never allowed the remains there to be exhumed, so it is unknown if any of those remains could be from Columbus's body as well. The location of the Dominican remains are in Faro a Colon ('The Colombus Lighthouse'), in Santo Domingo."

Faro a Colon at night (Image taken from the internet).

Side entrance to Catedral de Santa Maria la Menor, the oldest cathedral in the Americans. The remains of Christopher Columbus were once housed at the Cathedral, before their final resting place in the Faro a Colon.

Front entrance to the Cathedral (Image taken from the internet).

Interior of the Cathedral (Image taken from the internet).

Statue of Christopher Columbus in Parque Colon. The side of the Cathedral can be seen in the background.

AH MAH GAHD. Facing directly opposite the Columbus statue: Hard Rock Cafe. I freaked out a bit when I saw this.

Shakira memorabilia.

MJ

A copy of the marriage license.

Madonna's cone bra outfit! MADONNA TOUCHED THIS. 

A hand-written letter by The Beatles' guitarist, George Harrison!

DIE.
DEATH.
I'M GONE.

Jagger got his swagger on in them pants right thurrrr!

Someone is a fan.

Guns 'n Roses.

Bono got his fringe on.

The plaque reads 'hand-painted celluloid from the 1968 movie, Yellow Submarine'.

After our little excursion to the Hard Rock Cafe, we took a stroll through the famous old world streets of 'Calle Isabel La Catolica', and 'Calle de Las Damas'.

Christmas decorations set up in Plaza de España, which was one of the first commercial centres in the Americas.

'Share the magic'.

Mariela's sexy face.

Alcázar de Colón, the oldest viceregal residence in America, and was the family home of Diego Colon, son of Christopher Columbus. It now serves as a museum.

Literally holding on to history.

Some sculptures seen outside the Museo de las Casas Reales (Museum of the Royal Houses):

We walked by what appeared to be the filming of a TV ad.

The building in the background is the Museo de las Casas Reales. It dates back to the 16th Century, and was built to house the administrative offices of the Spanish colonies in the Americas. It became a museum to highlight the history, life, and customs of the inhabitants of the Spanish colony.

Pantheon Nacional. It was originally built as a Jesuit church, before being used as a tobacco house, and then as a theatre. It now stands as a national symbol of the Dominican Republic, and serves as the final resting place of the Republic's most honoured citizens.

The entrance hall.

Among others, buried in the National Pantheon is Eugenio Maria de Hostos, aka
"El Ciudadano de América" (The Citizen of the Americas).

Casa de Ovando: Said to be the house of Hernán Cortés. It is now the French Embassy.

Just a few steps away is the Casa de Bastidas, the former house of the King's tax collector, which now serves a trampoline museum:

A plaque about Christopher Columbus' history.

'The ladies' street'. The first ever cobblestone street built in the New World.

Actual ladies in the actual street. IRONY.

The street 'Calle Las Damas' runs from the Fortaleza Ozama to the Alcazar de Colon. When Diego Colon came to Santo Domingo, he brought with him members of important Spanish families, among whom were 30 ladies of the court. These ladies used to walk down this street from the Alcazar de Colon in order to attend mass at the Cathedral and they were also in the habit of strolling up and down the street in their free time. It was for this reason that the street then became known as “Calle de las Damas.”

The police travel in style.

My cousin, Mariela, and I wandered off as we looked for a bathroom. Luck should have it that we walked into a very historic fort to go and make a wee wee.

What is seen inside Fortaleza Ozama (the Ozama Fortress), the oldest formal military construction still standing in America.
On the right is the Torre del Homenaje (Tower of Homage), named as such to glorify the Spanish conquistadors. It was built from coral rock, and the nature of the construction is that it continues compacting making it stronger with the passage of time. Even though it is more than 500 years old it is considered safer and longer lasting than many modern buildings.
Diego Colón and his wife María de Toledo, temporarily lived in the Torre del Homenaje for 2 years.

It is from this fort that many famous expeditions of conquest began, specifically: Hernán Cortés in México; Diego Velásquez in Cuba; Francisco Pizarro in Peru; Alonso de Hojeda in Venezuela; Pazco Núñez Balboa’s in Panamá; and Ponce de León in of Puerto Rico.

A terrible photo of the statue of Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo. He was sent from Spain to Santo Domingo to occupy the position of captain of the fort and warden of the prison there. He apparently took his position as warden of the prison seriously. After spending 25 years at his post, he died at the entrance to the fort. He was still holding the keys to the prison clutched in his hand, and it is said that even in death, it was extremely difficult to take the keys away from him.

A little fact about Dominican Republic: The country has a water-shortage problem. In poorer areas and non-hotel establishments, the water pressure is too low to do most things. As such there is not enough water to do simple everyday things that we take for granted, like brushing one's teeth, showering, and flushing the toilet.

What we had to do at my cousin's place in Santiago was leave a large bucket under the shower head all day and let it drip full. Then when we wanted to 'shower', we would take some water out of this bucket and heat it up on the stove, then we would bathe, French-style. Needless to say washing my hair was SUCH a mission.

Anyway, as you can imagine, going to the toilet was quite an experience. Because the water pressure is too low to flush toilet paper, one has to toss the TP in a bin. As unaccustomed to this as I was, when we used the toilet in Fort Ozama, it got even worse. The toilets there are not connected to any sewage-removal systems, so essentially they're just seats over a holes in the ground.

Yay, a toilet! *Cough*.

Near the entrance of Fort Ozama.

A plaque mentioning how the King & Queen of Spain visited Fort Ozama and inaugurated the monumental Colonial City during his visit to the Dominican Republic.

'House of Leon'. It was once the home of Ponce de Leon, the famous 15th-century European explorer and Dominican governor.

Some of the cars being used for the TV ad.

Then we headed to El Condo is a street closed off to vehicular traffic and the entire street is lined with stores, shops, markets, restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels and sidewalk vendors of crafts, tourist related items and fresh fruits and juices.has also been called the 'Calle de la Separacion' (the Street of Separation), because it divided the city in two halves with the upper classes living on one side and the lower classes on the other.

Baskin & Robbins ice-cream. YUM.

Flava flav.

'Enjoy the magic'.

Thoroughly enjoyed my time in Zona Colonial. If you ever go to Dominican Republic, you have to go take a stroll there. The sense of history and culture is very much alive in that historic city.

Christmas decorations throughout the city.

"...And on Earth, Peace to Men of Good Will".

Just before we headed home, we stopped by a beach-side park and got to see how people my age spend their nights, dancing and hanging out by the beach parks.

Not grumpy, just tired after a long, interesting day of walking.

Kid's Park near the beach.