Antiguo Hotel Europa Santo Domingo

... seeing some beautiful Colonial Architecture. The Spanish settled here in 1496 - first named La Isabela after Queen Isabella I of Spain by Bartholomew Columbus - brother of Christopher - it was later names Santo Domingo in honor of Saint Dominic. Bartholomew accompanied Christopher on his last voyage to the Americas. We were able to walk on the grounds of the Cathedral Santa Maria La Menor - the first cathedral to ...

... is on the northern coast of the country and it took just about four hours to drive there with a couple of stops. It was an absolutely gorgeous drive through the mountains in the middle of the island. The mountains here are incredibly striking; they aren't very tall but they definitely have a majestic quality to them. They look like mini-Rockies draped with a carpet of very jungle-esque greenery. From Santo Domingo we traveled on nicely paved ...

... they were saying. Other speakers, however, were very understandable, and I was glad that I was able to follow what was happening. But, after 3 hours of concentrating so ******* listening that I felt like I was going to fall of the edge of my seat, I felt exhausted and was not able to focus anymore on what people were saying. At the end of the session, we took some pictures and mingled a little, and a few people gave me their emails ...

... town. It was sad and strange to say goodbye to all of the people who have been my friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers over the last two years. I am going to try my best not to be one of those Peace Corps volunteers who says that they are going to be back to visit and then disappears forever. Since then, I have been in the capital wrapping up all of the medical and administrative loose ends and spending time with my friends.

... of the cost. Come and visit us. See for yourself all of the beauty the Dominican Republic has to offer. Learn of the history that enriches it, enjoy the crystalline beaches that surround it, and experience the warmth of the Caribbean people that will make you feel right at home. At The Maison Gautreaux, we will do everything we can to make your stay a pleasant and unforgettable one. Our Hotel has 22 spacious ...

... on June 1, meeting up with the remainder of our group in concourse E of Miami International Airport. After a brief "get to know you" type of thing, we boarded the plane for Santo Domingo and left the United States. This was my first non-Canadian experience outside of the United States. We arrived in Santo Domingo late at night. The hot, humid and polluted air was a big shock to my asthmatic lungs and I spent a fair bit of the first few hours there wondering what I had gotten ...

Yay!! We received our sites last Monday, and I will be living the next two years in a pueblo/campo site about 10 mins outside of Santiago! It's a gorgeous area, very lush, green, and mountainous. The city is close, so I can get all of my shopping done and do whatever I need to do there, but I get to live in the tranquillo ...

... another family, but they are sweet. There is a doña and a don(so a husband and a wife), and they are probably in their 60´s maybe, and then their son lives with them and his daughter, who is 9 and is learning English...yay! His wife is studying in the capitol, so she is there only the weekends, with their son, who is 2, and we are now best buds after a day of playing outside, giving airplane spins, and then watching the Little Mermaid together. He is ...

... especially the men because they take dominos waayyy to SERIOUSLY. I mean, if they start losing...espeically against inexperienced me....they get so ****** off, start talking ****, and some even get physical....they are just very sore losers. So this diminishes the amount of fun I have when playing the game. Therefore, I´ve concluded that it is the most fun to play dominos with the old people...they remain calm, and enjoy playing no matter if they lose ...

... they assumed that I was cheating!! In general, the people here are very friendly. I also have a little story to tell, about an incident that happened to me, that would never happen to me in the US. Me and the other volunteers have to take a guagua, which is a public bus, to our training center. Well the dominicans wanted to be helpful, and when we told them where we needed to go, they started screaming the stop to the bus driver, so the bus driver stops in the middle of the highway ...