This first map provides a general location of the Dominican Republic relative to other places we've heard of. It shares the Island of Hispaniola with Haiti, a rather difficult neighbor to share a border with these days.
We'll be staying in three locations more-or-less equally over the three week trip: Santo Domingo, Boca Chica, and Juan Dolio. The latter two are little beach towns.
We're going to exchange this beautiful snowy backyard scene for ......
this.... 85 degrees (and humid), good breeze and pleasant.
JUAN DOLIO
8 February 2025
We got back into Fort Smith after midnight on the 6th (early morning Friday the 7th). Spending 12 hours or so in airports and on cramped planes is not my idea of a good time.
   Couple of more observations of Dominican Republic on our way out the door, so to speak.
1) Bakeries. It doesn't appear that DR as a culture is not a baking culture. I know, I know, what the heck does that mean. Mexico has small 'panaderias' (bakeries) in communities that make breads, cookies, pastries, cakes, etc. Love those places.
   We not only couldn't find even one retail bakery around, I'm not sure there is much demand for commercial ones making these varieties of breads and sweets. In grocery stores and convenience stores, we found a VERY limited supply and variety of choices in baked goods. We really missed that here.
2) Uber. Changing subjects completely, our experience in getting to the airport and into the terminal was a, uh, an experience. First there was the Uber driver who decided the price charged wasn't enough, so he accepts the ride, shows up and says he 'can't do the trip for that price'. Okay, so don't accept the trip. So, it turned out we were negotiating a taxi ride, which didn't really sink in until after the dirty deed was done and we paid well above the modest Uber price to get to the airport.
   When we did get to the airport, it was a zoo..... cars jammed in every which way, it was raining pretty seriously as well, and nobody controlling this mess with any earnestness. Literally, our driver finally just pulls in front first into a narrow space and we stop get out and unload.... all lanes of traffic just had to wait as we took up a lane and a half.
   Good grief.
3) Airports. When we did get to the airport, it was a zoo..... cars jammed in every which way, it was raining pretty seriously as well, and nobody controlling this mess with any earnestness. Literally, our driver finally just pulls in front first into a narrow space and we stop get out and unload.... all lanes of traffic just had to wait as we took up a lane and a half to unload.
    Then, part b, is when you get into the airport. I lost track of how many times we had to clear some passport control gateway. Had to be 3 or 4 times before we got on the plane. However, Miami was the worst of the trip. Dallas is pretty smooth relative to Miami. Stand in long lines only to get through and go stand in another long line. Thankful for just getting through the mess and to our departure gate with a few minutes to spare before boarding for Dallas.
  So, last thing before I wrap up this trip log. On our last full day in Juan Dolio, we got a wonderful rainbow. It was like a good omen for travels ahead and a good wish from the heavens. Picture is below. The rainbow comes out of the sea and arcs over the city. Sweet.
2 February 2025
We've been in Juan Dolio for a few days, so we have a clue as to what we have here. The image below is a shot from our spacious 16th floor condo. We're in the second row, so not on the beach.
   This beach line is quite different from the experience one gets in Boca Chica. First, the Boca Chica front row is dominated by the restaurant/bars. This results in more palm-covered beaches, umbrella and beach chairs with servers running around bringing food and drinks. In Juan Dolio, the resorts control the beach and provide many of these amenities to their guests... although I must say that I don't see much service to sunbathers.
   Beaches are public in Dominican Republic, so resorts can't close off a beach, so the front of the resort spaces are public beaches. The resorts clearly control indirectly what happens in front of their spaces, however, as few palm trees are planted and we could find no umbrellas or launch chairs for rent, which is real odd. And why I think the resorts are controlling these spaces to protect their property views.
   I've zoomed in a bit more in the next pic to highlight only 4 palm trees in the public beach area and no chairs or umbrellas (maybe one or two small private ones). To be fair, there are many more beaches than this, but this is representative, it seems.
    If you look closely, you see people huddled around the small shade from the front (public beach) palms. The sun is intense, with temps in the mid 80s, humidity the same, and UV levels in 8-9 out of 10. Thank heavens for a good breeze most times. Light skinned folks will cook like a lobster out there in 30 minutes to an hour without a solid base tan.
   [Today, we have managed to find a run down area with more restaurant-in-front beach area which we intend to spend some time on tomorrow. But, wow, it's pretty rough looking and a ways out to nowhere.]
   In the picture above, you can also see that the waves break on the coral reef back from the beach itself, so the water is pretty calm. The beach itself is decent size and flat for the most part but because the coral reef is so close, it is not the most tender-feet friendly.
  Second observation, there aren't many people here. It seems the weekends are the busiest and that isn't very busy, in my opinion. Many locals come to the beach but do not stay in the resorts, so no money flowing there. This is pretty prime season, I'd think, being end of January.
    This explains the severely run down nature of the town. Few people, limited money flowing. This town has reputation of being a bit more upscale than Boca Chica, but it is definitely hurting - many abandoned or run down buildings on the waterfront and row two main drag. Astonishing and sad.
   One more thing before I close this. One of the plants many of you will recognize is the philodendron plant, familiar in many of our green-thumb households. Actually, you don't have to have much of a green thumb for the philodendron as it is hardy vine-like plant and is hard to kill. Anyhow, check out a couple of shots of these 'giants' we came across. You'll note that they have both the smaller leaves along the ground we'd expect, but the vine can grow vines with stems about the size of my big finger and leaves in the 8"-10" range.
SANTO DOMINGO
29 January 2025
Tomorrow we will head to Juan Dolio for the last leg of our trip. The past three days we've been enjoying our more city center location. It's a typical high-density population and business district - perpetual noise. Traffic jams, constant car horn honking, and motor bikes.
   I'm reminded of a couple of important things about Santo Domingo city center:
1) Traffic jams don't care how expensive a ride you have. Vehicles ready for the junkyard are stuck in traffic the same as a Mercedes or Lexus.
2) Cars are not the greatest danger for pedestrians, motor bikes are. They zip in and out of traffic and between cars, often at high speeds, and don't hesitate to run lights or drive on sidewalks. You can actually book a bike on Uber. The operator wears a helmet, the passenger is, well, not.
3) Locals lean on their horns with considerable enthusiasm. It is constant. It doesn't help traffic move, but I guess the 'honker' feels proactive. It's called a traffic jam for a reason.
4) Police are pretty scarce here in terms of traffic control and visibility in general. And unlike Mexico City, where they not only were everywhere and exceedingly noisy (with sirens going all the #%&@ time), here they are relatively quiet.

Skyline view from our balcony (below).
   We had one experience the first night here, which took us a bit to figure out what was going on. What we heard what sounded like a large, cheering stadium crowd at what seemed some nearby sports event. I figured it was a national soccer game or some such. It sounded like thousands of people cheering frequently and loud horns blasting as teams did whatever got the crowd excited.
   Turns out it was beer garden hosting a game party of what had to be hundreds if not a thousand or so people jammed in the quarter block sized space across the street. The beer garden had at least two big, maybe three, screens playing/projecting championship Dominican National Major League Baseball final. The game was actually taking place in a stadium in Santo Domingo, but this was game party. Wow! Talk about a raucous crowd. The lot below is what it looked like the next morning. Presidente is a Dominican beer brand.
   If you're not big into ML baseball, Dominicans produce a fair number of US MLB players. Dominicans Juan Soto, Albert Pujols, Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz are a few names who did well in the major leagues.
   We ate at TGI Fridays last night and the food was sorta okay and we paid US prices for it. Then there is the 18% tax added on.

On to Juan Dolio, another beach town.... never been there before.
25 January 2025
We arrived to Santo Domingo this past Friday afternoon. It was a rainy/showery-type day, so moving from one place to another wasn't the best but we got'r done without getting soaked. We did endure a 50-minute Uber ride with a driver who picked his nose while watching some TV/video talk show with an occasional eye on the six lane (3 each way), wet and moderately trafficked highway. Oh, and with the need gas light lit the whole way.  That was a bit stressful but I'm here to write about it, so we're good.
                                                        SANTO DOMINGO
Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic. It has a population of about 3.5 million. Here's a couple of interesting details about the city taken from Copilot AI.
  • Oldest European City in the Americas: Founded in 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus (Christopher Columbus' younger brother), Santo Domingo is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the New World.
  • Colonial Capital: It served as the capital of the Spanish colony in the Americas and was the starting point for many Spanish expeditions of exploration and conquest.
  • Cultural Melting Pot: The city reflects a rich blend of Taino (indigenous people), Spanish, and African cultures, which is evident in its traditions, music, and cuisine.
At one time, Haiti controlled the DR, and there is no little amount of animosity between them, even though Haitians do much of the laboring/domestic tasks in DR. It is common among the reasonably well-to-do Dominicans to have Haitian nannies/maids for the kids or housework. Plus, with the disaster in Haiti in recent years, illegal immigration in DR is a front burner topic (sound familiar?).
Zona Colonial (Historical)
This is our first stop for three days in our Santo Domingo leg of this trip. Zona Colonial is an UNESCO World Heritage site. Spanish architecture is quite impressive about everywhere we've visited in Latin America, if it has been preserved. Much of it isn't being taken care of here, so the place can be a mixed bag of run down or collapsing structures beside recently upgraded ones.
   The image below is representative of unique stone used in a number of structures built in the 1500s or so. Copilot tells me this: "The rock you're referring to is called coralline limestone. This type of limestone is made up of the remains of coral reefs and other marine organisms that have been compacted and cemented over millions of years. The Spanish colonizers used this readily available material." This material gives these buildings a very distinctive look.
One other interesting aspect of DR is the gemstone called Larimar, apparently unique to the country. It's color intensity varies widely and thus can be made into quite different looking jewelry. Here's Wikipedia on this, and a pic from a storefront is below.
Back to the story: We've visited this area at least two or three times previously and generally enjoyed it for it's activity, restaurants and architecture. It has clearly degenerated since our pre-2020 visits. Many spaces vacant now and restaurants we frequented are gone. I suspect COVID did many businesses in, as it did around the world. I also notice foot traffic is definitely down from those earlier days. Our apartment sits right on the main pedestrian-only walk way.
   Another common feature here is infrastructure-related oddities - well, oddities to our western eyes. See pics below.
   You have to watch where you're going or you could disappear into a hole. The left picture reflects a business pouring a 5 inch concrete pad as extension of his shop, formed around utility access points (round metal plates), lays nice tile, but doesn't address the holes with any lid or ground level plating.
    The second picture reflects a gathering of electric and cabling lines for all the businesses and residences in any area. The more dense the population in an area the more messy the cabling. Related to this is that many lines may have come loose from above-ground moorings, including electrical lines, and end up at face level. Again, need to pay attention of surroundings when walking around.
We're off to the more modern and upscale neighborhoods of Piantini and Naco tomorrow for three days. That will wrap up the Santo Domingo leg of the trip.
   One last note before I sign off today is to say that living on an island is generally more expensive than larger land masses. Food and energy are largely imported and as such is expensive. The native food staple is the plantain, which is a fruit which is similar in appearance to bananas but definitely not sweet like bananas. The local dish is Mofongo, which is a mashed plantain dish. You can find offered in various forms and isn't my favorite food, for sure.
   The other food/drink item I think of is called mama juana, which is a pretty unpleasant tasting local alcoholic drink made from a mixture of rum, red wine, honey, tree bark and herbs.
   Till next time....
21 January 2025
We arrived to the Dominican Republic (DR) via the Las Americas international Airport (SDQ), which is the main air port of entry into the country, on 17 January. While we left Fort Smith on the 16th, we stayed overnight in Miami due to arriving after midnight.
   One of the reasons for doing this is that we aren't thrilled about arriving in to the country late at night for safety reasons, but mainly due to the fact that you never know what issues you'll encounter with access to the Airbnb unit at that time of the night. So, we generally opt for daytime arrivals.
    First, the money. The currency is the Dominican Peso, which trades for about 61 to USD1. I had about DOP4,000 from our last trip (always handy to have some local currency). However, since we hadn't been to the country for some 7 years or so, the money had lost about a third of its value since thin. Welcome to currency risk.
                                                               BOCA CHICA
Boca Chica is a low-rent beach town not far from the capital Santo Domingo. This is our first stop. It's only about 10-15 minutes from the airport. I will avoid for now describing the annoyance experienced with getting a taxi (vs Uber).
  Anyhow, I refer to it as low-rent not because it is necessarily cheap but rather as it is hardly a town to boast about in terms of how nice, clean and positive the vibes are. It isn't. One could say it's been a "seedy" town as long as we've been coming here over the past decade or so.
   It's a town that has seen better days, economically, for one, and two it's a town that draws people interested in prostitution, since it is legal here. So, you have a lot of run down buildings, bars and restaurants and hotels. There are high-end apartments/condos here but even they seem run down this time.
   So, why did we come here? Well, we came hear a decade or so ago and really enjoyed the beach, water and restaurants. The beach front is somewhat unique in that it is surrounded by a barrier that keeps the large ocean waves from crashing the shore (pic below). This results in generally calm, clear and shallow water experience (great for families, and me). Plus, over the years we got to know one of the servers name William who we had come to appreciate and look forward to seeing. Net result, we'd been there multiple times over the years, made an acquaintance or two, and enjoyed the short visits.
   However, with COVID as well as our other travels, we hadn't been to Boca Chica since around 2018. We doubted William was still there as he wasn't a young man back in then.
This Trip....
First, the town has really gone downhill, if that was possible. Turns out it is possible.
   The good news, William was there and he recognized us right away. We had a hug and chat and promised to lay out on the beach the next day and he'd have a front-row position set up for us. That was special.
   To sum up, Boca Chica has really slid even lower on the 'seedy' scale. Seems COVID really hurt this already fragile economy. Many businesses we'd come to appreciate are gone or changed ownership or just barely hanging on, and they look like it. Very sad to see. More closed shops, dirtier streets and fewer visitors, it seems.
   We're saddened by this visit and talk now of not returning. If you want to read an earlier post of mine on Boca Chica (and Santo Domingo) from 2017, it's HERE.