Santo Domingo and the Cibao

The DR group has entered into a routine of morning language study at ENTRENA and afternoon lectures at UNPHU, intermixed with a few field trips. Here, an always entertaining Puro Blanco lectures on "The Dominican Soul". Other lectures in the past two weeks included "Social Problems in the D.R.", "Race Relations in the D.R.", "The Dominican Family" and "Being Cross-Cultural".

Colonial Santo Domingo

On Friday Sept 7th, we had a field trip to the Zona Colonial--Santo Domingo's substantial colonial district, with dozens of wonderful old buildings and a dramatic settings right on the river Ozama. The city was founded in 1496 and many monumental stone constructions from the early 1500's still remain today. In the photo at right--the home of Diego Columbus (Christopher's son) has not survived intact, but was rebuilt in the 1950's to resemble the original building as much as is known. The group also visited the first Christian Church in the Americas which was build between 1521 and 1540 and the Ozama Fortress. The Ozama Fortress (build in 1502) is set on a steep bank over the mouth of the Ozama River and was the departure point for the Spanish conquests to Cuba, Colombia, Jamaica, Peru and Mexico. It was finally decommissioned after the American invasion of 1965.

Dominicans and New York

The group heard about the events of September 11th mid-morning at language school. They followed Dominican T.V. coverage of the event and at noon went to the Goshen House and followed CNN coverage there for the rest of the afternoon.

All the Dominicans we have spoken with since the event have expressed deep sorrow and concern. This event is felt very strongly here since over one million Dominicans live in the United States--overwhelming in New York. (Eight million more live here on the Island). It is estimated that 90% of Dominicans here have at least one relative or know someone personally who lives in New York. A movie in the late 1990's, Nueva Yol, dramatized the situation of Dominican immigrants in New York.

The Cibao

On Thursday September 13th, the group took off for a two day field trip to the Cibao Valley in the central region of the country. Cibao is the name the Taino Indians, the native inhabitants of the island called this extremely fertile valley.

The first stop in Los Dajaos was at an organic farm. Our host, Don Jose shows a sweet organic tomato which grows on a small tree. Over the course of the next two days, the students had the opportunity to taste sweet tomatoes, mini-cabbages, sweet lemons, raspberries, passion fruit, coffee beans and "cocoa" beans (from which chocolate is made) both raw and after being dried and baked in the sun. We also visited the laboratory where strawberry plants are grown in sterile jars and then raised in a nursery.

After a very hot day at the organic farm, we were able to enjoy some R&R at Baiguate falls. The hike to the falls was invigorating as was the very cool and clear water.

On Friday, we hiked through the Loma Quita Espuela, a virgin rain forest preserve set on the side of a tall mountain. Our guide, Feliciano, also showed us the tree nursery (Mohagamy, Cedar and some other Dominican varieties), and shows here a vine from which a Dominican fruit is grown which is "very rich and very good for juice". The group also hiked through the rain forest.

The final stop on the trip, was to the museum of the three Mirabal sisters who were killed by orders of the dictator Trujillo on November 25th 1960. The sisters were part of an underground movement seeking to overthrow Trujillo's vicious regime (1930-1961). Trujillo himself was killed in May of 1961 by some of his own generals. The killing of the Mirabal sisters was the "straw" which finally brought down the dictator.