The Dominican Republic

Capital City

• I arrived in the capital city of the Dominican Republic, it has beeautiful cobblestone paths and has the first cathedral.

Geography

• The DR(Dominican Republic) has varied terrain which consists of tropical forests, beaches, mountains, plains and even a saltwater Lake.
• DR shares an island with Haiti called the hispaniola island.

Climate

• I arrived in the DR during the rainy season (Jun-Nov). The forecast ssaid that there's an average 60 inches of rain.
• bad drainage

Climate

• With bad drainage in some regions of the DR, the news would show flooding.
• It was pretty hot with an average of 25 degrees celcius and colder in the mountain ranges.

Art

• The art in the DR isn't unique to the country although there are some renowned DR artists such as Ada Balcacer and Gilberto Hernandez Ortega.
• The Alcazar de Colon (Colombus' castle does have some art from renaissace time.
• Gilberto Hernandez Ortega

Music

• The music that defines the DR without hesitation is merengue. I heard that music everywhere, out of restaurants, shops and taxi cabs.
• popular
• Merengue festival
• @ Malecon

Music

• The people of DR love merengue music so much that they made a merengue music festival at the end of July which I attended. It was so lively and colourful.

Dance

• To merengue sometimes people dance a pasodoble which is a mix of spanish and african tom tom dances.

Food

• A popular breakfast meal was called Tres Golpes which means the three strikes because salami, fried cheese and plantain mash (mangu) is such a popular dish.
• A popular drink is Morir Sonando which means to die dreaming because the taste of milk and orange juice is so good.

Must Sees

• Keeping in mind all this DR culture, the Alcazar de colonis a must-see of the DR. It has beautiful architecture and sublime Renaissance art.
• Museum of Tainos Art

Must Sees

• The Museum of Amber, Puerto Plata has an impressive collection of amber incased insects.
• For more indegenous art, there is ths Museum of Tainos Art which has smooth, intricate sculptures.

Currency+Exchange rate

• No surprise, that the Dominican peso has less value than a Candaian $. In fact, 1$ CA would be 37.20 dominican pesos. A 10$ Ca postcard would be 372$ dominican pesos.

Bibliography

• Clara. “Dominican Foods You MUST Try.” Dominican Cooking, AN ELITE CAFEMEDIA FOOD PUBLISHER, 7 June 2017, www.dominicancooking.com/12535-10-must-try-dominican-foods-and-dishes.html
• Landed, S.L. Just. “Dominican Festivals.” Just Landed, Just Landed Blog, 3 Dec. 2014, www.justlanded.com/english/Dominican-Republic/Dominican-Republic-Guide/Cult....
• “Art and Culture.” Dominicanrepublic.com, www.dominicanrepublic.com/art-culture/.
• Foley, Erin, et al. Dominican Republic. Cavendish Square, 2016.