Dominican Republic
Travel Blogs from Dominican Republic
HODR does Gonaives
The strange oasis of MINUSTAHs peace keeping mission campus in Gonaives is slowly becoming less and less appealing. To me that is a good sign that I am beginning to feel comfortable on the streets in Gonaives. A sweltering 20 minute walk through the ...
A right turn in the wrong direction
Hello all, this update is kind of special since we are now in the Dominican Republic and have surprised everyone at my sister's wedding! We've been plotting the surprise for two months. Much to my family's dismay and my sister's utter disappointment, we ...
Kitesurfing Capital of the Carribean
Caberete is a touristy town that has developed around the wind. Since the wind here is very strong and fairly consistent, it has developed into a haven for windsurfing and kitesurfing enthusiasts. Since the 1980s, the town has hosted both ...
Tour of Laguna Grigri and Playa Grande
Casa Goerthe organized a ˝ day trip to nearby Laguna Grigri, Playa Caleton, and Playa Grande after class. After a quick bus ride to Laguna Grigri, we got into a small boat for a tour through the mangrove forests. The boat ride through the ...
Los Diablos Cojuelos en La Vega Carnaval
... gave away our reservation, and we had to wait another half an hour to eat lunch. The lunch was great. A typical Dominican meal of roasted chicken, rice and beans. But by the time our huge group got our meals, we only had 5-10 minutes ...
Comienzo la escuela de espanol hoy
... German. Since Frank is also taking his kite-surfing class at a German-run company, we joked that we came to the Dominican Republic to take a "German vacation." I was placed in a class with 3 other girls, one from D.C., a ...
A Statement of Hope
Skepticism, fear, anxiety and distrust have left my conscious, but not to be forgotten as a reminder to myself that I will never cease to be an American, and I'll always be influenced by the cultural norms, and societal influences of my home. As I find ...
Santo Domingo Carnaval 2008
Wow, what a way to end our stay in the Dominican Republic! Today was our last day in the DR and we checked out the Santo Domingo Carnaval (Carnival) Parade. Check out video here. When we arrived in Santo Domingo around noon, we ...
Hola! Welcome to the Domincan Republic
We're not done yet! After our short stopover in LA, we headed towards our next destination, the Dominican Republic. We didn't get into Santo Domingo until 1am, so we're so glad we arranged airport pickup to another free hotel, The Courtyard ...
Sunshiny Days
I've backpacked before. And I'll be backpacking next week. But I am not a backpacking snob that can't appreciate an all inclusive resort. My friends and I are having a blast. Most of them have never been any further than the US. And to have free food ...
Shari's Birthday and Whale Watching
... that come here every winter to mate and breed. The humpback whales that come to Samana migrate between the Dominican Republic, Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, and the coast of New England in the US. The Victoria II is a relatively ...
no speaky the spanish!!
... a little bit more well kept.. but not too much. One whole day was spent looking for a guidebook soley for the dominican republic and hopefully the little lonely planet phrasebook that has got me through french, portugese and spanish countries before. I ...
Starting to speak espanol
I quit the hooker town of boca chica and left for another one called sosua in the north.. Getting from boca chica to santo domingo was a pain, i had to get one bus which is free to the main westbound bus terminal in san andreas which i was told at my ...
absolutely nada..
Tomorrow I'm heading off to Haiti, the last 7 days I've achieved very little. I completed my Spanish course, I'm not sure if my language skills have improved, i decided for definite over the weekend that I'd be going to the french/creole speaking ...
Pickpocted by prostitutes
... provided a small meal and i managed to get some good pics of the lakes around the border and also a few hours sleep. They dominican customs got everyone off the bus to check their luggage the haitien got checked hard, i told them i was from england and i ...
rockys bar rules ok
firstly i apologise for the lame title of this entry. The past week i've been chilling out in sosua and getting some spanish lessons from my friend gralia, i've found my flight i want to get to jamaica, i couldn't find a direct route but i'll now go via ...
Travel day
My plans to set out early were scuttled by a night of Presidente, i managed to head out from sosua to cross the country at midday. The well used phrase of 'it's not the destination, it's the getting there' came in to effect today, it took 5 legs to get ...
parc national haitises
I've always been interested in the culture and the life of the local people who were here in the caribbean before christopher columbus came and started off the wipe out that followed. I read that the los haitises had some caves where the tainos used to ...
party with locals
I spent one quality fun filled night here with the hot girl and her cool family, i was fed some food when we arrived shown and spare room and offered some more beer.. Hato Mayor is a nice small town but with a square that holds many pubs and clubs for ...
testing, testing.. 1,2,3 testing
after a discussion in the forum i just wanted to test out the hits i getting and if they are different with each of the urls ie registered with clustrmaps the first one is the original i registered last year, but is registered with ...
Sidetrips and Holidays
... to add the rest of our trips (for posterity) to my travelogue. Some are quite recent but others are memories of halcyon days. Dominican Republic: In 1997 I had started work as a junior doctor and after a couple of months I was totally ready for a break. ...
Home Sweet Dominican Republic
... . . if you haven't made your vacation plans for 2007, come on down and get a personal guide to show you the wonders of the Dominican Republic :) Once Paula takes off it is back to work for me. This month I have a water filter workshop at the ...
House-haggling, Strange new illnesses
Well, not to scare anyone, but it seems as if that wheel of fun volunteer diseases and maladies was spun again, with my immune system recieving a prize of antigens to keep it busy. I actually have become quite proud of my diseases, figuring that only the ...
Weekend at the Beach
... an amazing family. 4 adults, 7 kids, 2 sea kayaks, and 1 dog piled into a van and after a 4 hours on windy Dominican roads we arrived at a picture-perfect beautiful beach. The pictures speak for themselves. Ross will follow with some wrap up on ...
Anteprime a Boca Chica, Santo Domingo
Prime ancjemo di parti pal ver viaz di Sgarfefurlans, O ai fat une anteprime a Santo Domingo. Mi soi cjatat a sedi a Santo Domingo cun dai furlans che e stavin viarzint al fogolar furlan. Prin di dut mi soi cjatat cun Mauro Tonasso, originari di Varian ...
Last post from Santo Domingo
... staff members), Marla and her boyfriend. Baseball is huge here. Scores of Major League Baseball players have come from the Dominican Republic, with Sammy Sosa and David Ortiz as just a small example. There are six national teams, two of which ...
HODR initiation
There's no better way to learn about a place than to get out in it. Yesterday I ate a light breakfast in anticipation of a 3.5 hour SUV ride on horrendous roads from PaP to Gonaives, my home for the next 8 weeks. All three of us newbies, Lea, ...
Week one of my new surroundings.
... to it by now! ha So now that I Have been here almost a week, I have broken down the intresting aspects of my Dominican life: Lifestyle: I take two baths per day because it is so blasted HOT! THese baths consist of "bucket baths" because you have ...
Carneval....I just don't get it
... . I have no idea. But then again, I am not Dominican, and that's just the way they celebrate Carnaval in the Dominican Republic..... Our tale begins when some friends of mine in Pimentel invited me to go with them for 100 pesos on a bus they had ...


