March 17, 2001 -- A Day Tour of Santo Domingo

Today, bright and early at 6:00 AM AST, we headed for the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. We planned to do a true tour of the city, and visit the various monuments, museum and historic district. Just after 8:00 AM, we stopped at the D.R. equivalent of a truck stop to sample some of the 'typico' breakfast food. Overall, it was quite good, though I don't recommend the doughnuts there. After breakfast, we piled back in the van and made a quick stop at the War memorial in Santiago. Then it was off to Santo Domingo. The first place we stopped at in Santo Domingo was the Columbus museum. It was absolutely enormous. It covered not only the history of the Dominican Republic during Columbus' time, it also covered all of that period in history of all of the major countries and newly discovered lands. There was information there about the Chinese, Japanese, India, Native Americans, Incans, Mayans, as well as much of Europe. It was truly a fascinating place. Next, we headed towards the old section of Santo Domingo where we had lunch at Betty's. Betty is an expatriate who has found a comfortable home in the Dominican Republic. She runs a Bed and Breakfast as well as a restaurant there in the historic section of Santo Domingo. After a fine lunch, Sue, Leon and Sandra went on a tour of the oldest Cathedral in the new world. Mike and I opted to wander around the city central square. On our way back to the Cathedral entrance, a man asked if we needed a taxi. After we turned him down, he asked if we needed a clean room and a good woman! Again, we politely turned him down. We met up with everyone, and proceeded down the Avenue of Dames. The street became famous because the Governor's wife and her friends would dress up in their finery and parade down the street between the Governor's mansion and the Fort that doubled as the City Civic Center. It was definitely a place to see and be seen back then. We stopped in and toured the old fort, before walking up Dames St. towards some of the other historic mansions and churches that have been converted into museums and memorials. We stopped at one war memorial that turned out to be a mausoleum containing the bodies and bones of various historic generals of the Dominican Republic. Mike had to pull his shorts down to cover his knees! Unfortunately, if it wasn't for his long shirt, then the bulk of his butt would have been showing as it was just half of it was showing! Which was fine as long as his knees were not. We wandered around a few more old houses that had been converted into museums before finally calling it quits and hitting a bar for Presidentes. Presidente is a locally brewed beer that is one of the few beers that I (Bryan) will actually drink. You have to keep in mind that you only drink the Grande version at 24 ounces, the 12 ounce one they export and also sell here in a few places are not as good, as at twice the alcohol as US beer one gets you nicely blurred. We headed back to the van and then started back for Luperon. On the way, we stopped at the enormous grocery store and department store in Santiago. This place makes a Super Walmart look small. It was great! We returned home, tired and sore and fell asleep quickly.