Dominican Republic

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Overview | Culture | Sightseeing | History | Crime and Health Tips | Expenses | Support | Map

Overview:

Nestled amid Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico in the heart of the Caribbean archipelago, the island of Hispaniola (Little Spain) is divided between Haiti, on the western-most third of the island, and the Dominican Republic, which has a lush landmass about the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. The landscape is forested and mountainous, with valleys, plains and plateaus.

There are excellent beaches on the north, southeast and east coasts, rising up to the mountains. In the Dominican interior, the fertile Valley of Cibao (rich sugar-cane country) ends its upward sweep at Pico Duarte, the highest mountain peak in the West Indies, which soars to 10,250 feet.

Much of what Christopher Columbus first sighted in the late 15th-century still remains in a natural, unspoiled condition. One-third of the Dominican Republic's 869-mile coastline is devoted to beaches. The best are in Puerto Plata and La Romana, although Puerto Plata and other beaches on the Atlantic side of the island have dangerously strong currents at times. In the southwest part of the island you can find Lago Enriquillo, the largest lake in the Caribbean.

The combination of low prices and beautiful terrain has made the Dominican Republic one of the fastest-growing travel destinations in the Caribbean. The people of the Dominican Republic are among the friendliest in the Caribbean, and the hospitality here seems more genuine than in more commercialized Puerto Rico. And the Dominican Republic's white-sand beaches are among the finest in the Caribbean. Punta Cana/Bavaro, for example, is the longest strip of white sand in the entire region.

The old parts of the capital, Santo Domingo, have been carefully restored to retain their colonial charm. The modern areas contain a thriving port city with discotheques and casinos. A few miles east of the city is a remarkable cave complex, Los Tres Ojos de Agua (The Three Eyes of Water), containing three turquoise lagoons, fed by an underground river and surrounded by stalactites, stalagmites and lush vegetation. For nightlife, the choice varies from a Las Vegas-style revue, discotheques and casinos to a quiet cafe by the sea in Santo Domingo.

The weather is nearly perfect year-round, although hurricanes often threaten the island between June and November. The Dominican Republic has a primarily tropical climate, with more local variations in temperature than seasonal ones. August is muggy and hot, January a bit less so. There are two rainy seasons, October to May along the northern coast and May to October in the south. Dominican rain can last up to half a day and fall in the form of heavy downfalls.

Culture:

Often mistakenly referred to as "just a poor man's Puerto Rico," the Dominican Republic has its own distinct cuisine and cultural heritage. Its Latin flavor is a sharp contrast to the character of many nearby islands, especially the British- and French-influenced ones. Traditional Tamno foods and medicines are familiar today, and Tamno words - like hammock and tobacco - still pepper the language. Spanish settlers gave the country their language, the Roman Catholic faith and a deep strain of machismo. Africans brought here as slaves brought their own faith, inextricably bound in the dominant European offering, as well as art and music. Even US troops left their mark - Dominicans love baseball.

Music and dance is at the heart of Dominican culture. The most popular form is merengue, which will be blasted, full volume, almost anywhere you go in the country. A bit more pastoral is bachata, Dominican country music, with plenty of songs about heartbreak and loss. Salsa probably makes the third favorite musical type in the DR's holy trinity, though you'll find plenty of jazz, rock, hip-hop and just about anything else that'll keep your feet moving.

The Dominican art scene is also quite healthy, thanks in no small part to dictator Rafael Trujillo. He founded the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (National School of Fine Arts) in 1942, basically instituting the country's fine painting tradition. 'Primitive' art, which relies less on perspective and shading and more on color and action, is also popular. And to check out what's happening in edgier scenes, drop by the Museo de Arto Moderno in Santo Domingo.

Architecture is another important part of Dominican culture, from the well-preserved colonial Spanish buildings of Santo Domingo, the Americas' first European city, to the brightly colored farmhouses of the countryside. Color and style are ignored by no one in the DR, which makes for some very interesting sightseeing.

Native Dominican cooking combines Spanish influences with local produce. Local dishes include la bandera (comprising white rice, red beans, stewed meat, salad and fried plantain) and cassava (fried yucca). Locally produced beer and rum are relatively cheap.

Sightseeing:

Columbus sighted the DR's coral-edged Caribbean coastline on his first voyage to the New World and pronounced: "There is no more beautiful island in the world." The first permanent European settlement in the New World was on November 7, 1493, and its ruins still remain near Montecristi in the northeast part of the island.

Santo Domingo

It's the capital of the Dominican Republic and the first European city in the 'New World'. It's also a vibrant, exciting, polluted, sometimes dangerous and always interesting Caribbean city with more to do and see than you might think.

Sights to take in include the Zona Colonial, the ground zero of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the arrival point for settlers and conquistadors, and an administrative centre once helmed by Christopher Columbus' son, Diego.

Amber Coast

The northern coast of the Dominican Republic gets its name from the world's richest deposits of amber found in the hills near here. Its reputation is squarely based on the string of beautiful beaches stretching east of Puerto Plata.

It's the most developed stretch of the island, much of it geared toward the desires of package tourists, although there are some small towns where the laidback atmosphere of palm-thatched restaurants and local guesthouses still prevails over the concrete box architecture of the resorts.

Constanza

If you want to explore the island's interior, there's no prettier place to do it from than the small town of Constanza, 4000 feet up in the Cordillera Central. The town is home to a small community of Japanese families, who moved here to kick-start the area's market gardens.

Surrounded by fruit orchards, commercial flower gardens and forests, Constanza can also boast an invigorating climate, making it both a productive agricultural centre and a favoured hill station resort for Dominicans escaping the heat of the coast.

Parques Nacionales Armando Bermzdez & Josi del Carmen Rammrez

The Dominican Republic established this national park in 1956, hoping to avoid the reckless deforestation that was occurring in neighboring Haiti. It proved a wise move; the Cordillera Central, home to the highest peaks in the Caribbean, attracts hikers from around the world. Twelve of the country's major rivers flow from these mountains, including the DR's only whitewater river, the Rmo Yaque del Norte.

Santiago

The Dominican Republic's second city officially goes by the grandiose name of Santiago de los Caballeros (Santiago of the Gentlemen), and Santiago is indeed an aristocratic, if somewhat provincial, city. It is the commercial hub of the Valle del Cibao, the nation's breadbasket.

Factories here process raw sugar and tobacco into excellent rum and cigars. Santiago boasts a thriving industrial sector and one of the finest universities in the country, but its leisurely, refined tempo is a pleasant surprise to the few travelers who make their way this far.

History:

The earliest known inhabitants of the Dominican Republic reached the island around 2600 BC, using dugout canoes that allowed them to ride the current from South America throughout the Antilles. They were primarily nomadic hunter-gatherers who used stone tools and left little behind. A second group, often referred to as the Salanoids or ancient Arawaks, landed on Hispaniola around 250 BC.

A third migration, from Venezuela, swept through the Antilles about 2000 years ago, and by 700 AD occupied the Dominican Republic and most of the surrounding islands. This society's complex hierarchical structure allowed for specialization in fishing, worship, art and farming. They called themselves the Tamno (friendly people), and an estimated 400,000 of them lived on Hispanola when Christopher Columbus arrived in search of gold.

Columbus named the island Hispaniola ('Little Spain') and returned with a thousand colonists the following year. Naturally it was the Tamno who were set to work to build this vision, and within six years of Columbus' arrival they had been thoroughly decimated by cruel working conditions and European diseases. Though some independent communities survived in hard-to-reach areas of the island, much of the original culture was lost.

The original Spanish settlement near Isabela was abandoned after just a few years and settlers shifted to the present site of Santo Domingo. Hispaniola ran out of gold rather quickly, and Santo Domingo soon lost prominence when gold and silver were discovered in Mexico and Peru. Pirates ransacked Spanish settlements, particularly in what's now Haiti, and Spain finally gave up on the western third of the island and ceded it to France in 1697 - a decision it no doubt came to rue as the French turned what became known as Haiti into the world's richest sugar cane producer.

The slave rebellion in Haiti was initially supported by the Spaniards, but their politicking backfired when revolutionary leader Toussaint L'Ouverture invaded the eastern part of Hispaniola, took Santo Domingo and freed the island's 40,000 slaves. This prompted much of the Spanish elite to relocate to neighboring islands like Puerto Rico and Cuba.

Toussaint was eventually driven back to the formerly French territories, and Haiti declared independence in 1804. Then, they invaded the eastern half of the island again in 1821. This time they stayed for 23 years, looting the country, freeing the slaves (again) and bringing economic activity to a standstill. A nascent Dominican nationalist movement formed during the occupation and beat the Haitians back to the eastern side of the island in 1844, led by Juan Pablo Duarte, now hailed as the father of the Dominican Republic.

The poorly armed Dominican population fought Spanish troops so well that on March 3, 1865, the queen of Spain annulled all claims to the island. The DR has been fully independent ever since. Much damage had been done to urban infrastructure and the agrarian economy in the course of the war, however, and things weren't looking good.

The neighboring United States saw trouble in the Caribbean as opportunity for expansion, and in 1916, US troops moved in. Like the Spanish, who lost interest when the gold ran out, however, the USA became bored with the island when it became clear that the Germans probably weren't going to attack the Panama Canal after all, making the DR a bit less strategically important. In 1924, they stepped back, and President Horacio Vasquez stepped up.

The new president built roads and schools, initiated irrigation programs and got the economy hopping. However, Army chief Rafael Leonidas Trujillo got jealous of all that power he didn't have and forced Vasquez to resign. From 1930 to 1947, repression, murder and torture went side by side with building, land reform and economic success during the Trujillo administration.

The resumption of free elections pitted the usual suspects against one another: reform-minded liberals, military men and wealthy families all fought for the brass ring. The Dominican Republic continued to diversify its economy, build schools and slowly move forward almost in spite of its leadership (not to mention the increasingly regular rolling blackouts caused by increasingly run-down infrastructure and inadequate power plants).

The long rein of Joaquin Balaguer finally ended in 1996 in a cloud of corruption. Leonel Fernandez Reyna, of the leftist Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), won the subsequent election, but the PRD returned to power in 2000 with Hipolito Mejia at the helm.

Civic life in recent years has been punctuated by the devastation wreaked by the hurricanes that pass across the island seasonally and by the death of Balaguer in 2002 at the age of 95. He'd dominated political life for a half-century. Civil unrest has become more common in recent years in response to the government's economic policies, particularly in regard to increasing prices and power cuts. President Mejia was defeated in May 2004; he was replaced by former head of state Leonel Fernandez.

Crime and Health Tips:

Health

Typhoid may be a risk in rural areas. Vaccination against typhoid and polio is recommended.

Malaria risk exists throughout the year in rural areas of the western provinces of Castaquelas, Hondo Valle and Pepillo Salcedo. Chloroquine is the recommended prophylaxis.

All water should be regarded as being potentially contaminated and sterilization should be considered essential. Water used for drinking, brushing teeth or making ice should be boiled or otherwise sterilized.

Safety

Safety is a concern in the Dominican Republic, but it shouldn't dissuade you from planning a trip here. Crime consists primarily of theft, robberies, and muggings, and most of it is limited to Santo Domingo (although the north coast resorts around Puerto Plata and Playa Dorada are not as safe as they should be). There is a low incidence of violent crime against tourists, however. Follow some simple common-sense rules, and you'll be fine. A few points to remember:

• Don't get into an unmarked street taxi. Many visitors, particularly in Santo Domingo, have been assaulted and robbed by doing just that.
• Beware of pickpockets wherever you go, but especially on large buses.

Expenses:

The best foreign currency to carry in the Dominican Republic is US dollars. Credit cards and traveler's checks will get you by in Santo Domingo but aren't much use in rural areas you'll have to carry cash, preferably in small denominations, when traveling off the beaten track. Avoid changing money on the black market.

A tip of 5-10% on a meal is appreciated, but not required. Likewise, taxi drivers and hotel porters won't complain if they're rewarded for their service.

Publicos are un-metered multi-passenger taxis that travel along main thoroughfares, stopping often to pick up people waving from the side of the street. A publico is marked by a white seal on the front door. You must tell the driver your destination when you're picked up to make sure the publico is going there.

The minimum public car fare is approximately 46 cents in U.S. currency. This price is based on one ride and may change depending on the distance traveled. A taxi within Santo Domingo is usually RD$90.00 to RD$120.00 dominican pesos ($2.76-$3.70). These prices are estimates based off the current exchange rate.

Public buses, often in the form of minivans or panel trucks, are called guaguas (pronounced gwa-gwas). For about the same price, they provide the same service as publicos, but they're generally more crowded. Larger buses provide service outside the towns.

There are two kinds of publi cars (conchos): the public car with the yellow top and the other with a green top. For safety reasons, do not ride in a public car that does not have a painted top.

Support During Your Placement:

We will be available to give you any support, advice, or guidance you may need with any issues. There will always be an emergency number for you to contact. Our aim is to ensure that you have a happy and successful experience during your stay in Dominican Republic.