Around Santo Domingo

May 7 -- Students spent a three-day weekend with families due to last week's May Day holiday (Labor Day is May 1, but was observed on Monday, April 30). They eagerly shared their experiences with us and each other when we met last Tuesday morning. Weekend activities ranged from attending a large book fair to going to the beach or river to accompanying family members to church, grocery stores, and visits to other family members.

Language classes at Entrena began Tuesday morning, and afternoon lectures during the week included Dominican history, common family structures, and racial identity. Unlike many Latin American countries, the indigenous Taino population here was wiped out within about 50 years of the Spaniards' arrival, and therefore there is little evidence of Indian ethnicity in the Dominican population. While there are a few areas of Dominican life affected by Taino culture (names, food, words), most aspects and bloodlines come from the Spanish and African influences (religion, language, music, food, and much more).

On Wednesday, students gathered at Casa Goshen and enjoyed relaxing, playing cards, eating, and visiting. They were introduced to Helados Bon ("que buenos son" - their tag line), a family-owned company that makes juice, jam, and the BEST ice cream around! In a few weeks, the president of the company will be talking with us about their business and their efforts to work on environmental issues. We're all hoping he brings more ice cream samples for us to taste.

Friday we set out for the Zona Colonial and a walking tour of the Santo Domingo's colonial heart, the first city of the Americas. During the morning we visited:

• Fortaleza Ozama, the oldest military building complex in the Americas; the main building is the Tower of Homage (see the group on the steps), built in 1505, which is reminiscent of Spanish castles and Moorish influence.
• Casa de Bastidas, the 16th century home of Rodrigo de Bastidas, the city's royal tax collector and subsequent governor. He also explored and settled what is now Colombia. The house has a large central courtyard filled with huge rubber trees.
• Alcazar Palace, built between 1511 and 1515 as a residence for Diego Columbus (Christopher's son) and his wife, Maria de Toledo; this building has been restored and currently provides one of the best examples of architectural unity in colonial architecture; the building contains many windows, with seats where Maria and her court ladies watched and waited for their men to return from distant expeditions (see--Hannah and Anne at the window).
  
• Ruins of San Francisco, the oldest monastery in the New World, built in 1508 (at right).
• Hospital de San Nicolas de Bari, first hospital in the New World--one of many buildings looted by Sir Francis Drake in the early 1800s, but there are still visible examples of semicircular, basket-handle and Moorish arches.
• Cathedral of Santo Domingo, the oldest church in the Americas. Because construction was slow (from 1520 to 1540) and various architects were involved, the structure features Gothic and Spanish Renaissance facades with Baroque ornamentation, with the result that each door features a different style
  
  

On Saturday, we took a field trip to Los Tres Ojos and Playa Guayacanes, and Tonia's and Marliese's sisters joined us for the day.Los Tres Ojos (The Three Eyes) is a cave where there are three different sections with pools of water. A good part of the cave is open to the sky which allows a variety of vegetation to grow. Our beach picnic lunch of peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches sure hit the spot, but unfortunately there was more wind than sun. Of course, resourceful Goshen College students still find a way to enjoy themselves... [reading and building sand castles].