The Dominican Republic has a population of 12 million with 4 million living in Santo Domingo.
Today we had a food tour with Francis. A lot of the restaurants don’t have many foods already prepared since it is a Saturday and most of the Dominican food places cater to weekday workers.
Francis speaks good English but has limited vocabulary. We are happy to practice our Spanish. A new word to him was “moat”, not that it would come up in his everyday conversation.
Colmado is a convenience store where you can get drinks, snacks, dance, and watch sports on TV.
Comedor is a small restaurant where meals are served.
In this neighborhood the colmado and comedor stores are near each other, and people travel from one to another based on needs. No competition; they work in concert.
Bougainvillea came from Spain in 1502. It grows in abundance in the city. If you try to take it to the rural areas, it doesn’t flourish. Yes, it is invasive, but they love it.
France and Spain divided the island of Hispaniola after much fighting.
The Dominican Republic can celebrate three independence days. The emergence of an independent state in 1821, the throwing off of the Haitian yoke in 1844 and finally the definitive capitulation of Spain in 1865.
February 27, 1844 started the war of independence and is celebrated every year. They listen to the leader of the country to learn where their money will go. There is much celebration as it is also Carnivale.
Francis took us to a cigar maker.
The dark tobacco leaves are stronger than the light ones. The less pretty ones are on the inside with a beautiful leaf with no defects in the final roll. Each cigar maker has a secret recipe.
Rob saw an advertised Rat Trap with Super Glue. Francis says that sometimes they only get one foot stuck, and it is comical to watch them drag a trap around.
We went to Chinatown where we will sample what Francis called pan al vapor. After one look, we said, “That is hum bao.” We asked the Chinese store keeper if it was hum bao. She nodded. We assumed that it has a different name in Spanish. H is silent in Spanish so it might be hard to say.
Regardless, “A hum bao by any other name would taste as good” (I am sure that Shakespeare would agree.)
On Sunday they shut down the street for a Chinese market and street fair. Many of these store owners are quite rich and live in other countries.
We sampled some chocolate tea. It was really good so I bought a bag. However, it looks like a bag of marijuana!!
We had a little food tour of our own and went to a popular pizza place called Curcio Pizza al Taglio. It was standing room only. That is a sure sign of good food.
We wanted to tour the inside of the famous cathedral but needed to cover our arms and legs so we went to our nearby hotel to change.
The Blessed Virgin of La Antigua is a 16th-century Spanish image of the Virgin Mary. The image is a replica of the original Virgin of Antigua housed in the Cathedral of Seville, Spain.
According to early Spanish colonial history, captain Francisco Vara found this painting floating in the Caribbean Sea, as it was the only object retrieved from his shipwreck. In 1523, it was placed in The Basilica Cathedral of Santa Maria la Menor.
It was our last night in Santo Domingo. We went to a 4D movie. Popcorn was the big draw.
The ticket taker was the concession stand operator and the projectionist.
The triple header was about the Taíno, Sir Francis Drake, and riding a bike on the Great Wall of China. During the movie we were sprayed, tilted from side to side and punched in the back. It only cost $10, but the $140 massage that I needed afterwards made for an expensive finale.
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