Dominican Republic here we come!

We arrived in the Dominican Republic in a bit of a mood. Our itinerary changes had resulted in an extended 10-day stay and we were concerned that there wouldn't be enough to explore in DR and we were wasting time. That was a strange ‘place’ to be when some people dream of such a destination.

It was quickly solved; we would learn to scuba dive here, rather than in Thailand, and that would take four days of our time. We would visit the Capital, some two hours drive away, then do a bit of relaxing and local exploring. Our beach-based hotel included our own Butler, Carlos, and it was all-inclusive. That sounded like it would definitely help. The Jacuzzi bath on our balcony would also be a bonus as would the 8-9 different restaurants on-site.

Punta Cana, it turned out, was used by holiday companies to describe a rather long stretch of coastline rather than the actual town, which sat 20 km away where most of the nightlife lived. We only ventured out there once, mainly due to the stitched-up tourist taxi rate and the lack of anything going on. Covid, it seems, had seen off most visitors and we were still a rarity. Even the new, purpose-built shopping arcade targeted at tourists was quiet, to the point we thought it had just opened and people didn't know about it.

We were mostly struck by the beaches, the sea, and the curvy palm trees. They were exactly like in the photos; white clean sand, warm sea, with tree-lined beaches swaying gently in the warm breeze. Every day our hotel hosted weddings on its beaches, with white linen-lined arches and smartly dressed guests sweating profusely in the sun. We met an American lady who was quite annoyed with her husband as she'd wanted to get married there and he said it would be too expensive.

We’ve written up our diving experience separately; suffice to say it was challenging and very rewarding. We also found our trip to its capital, Santo Domingo, equally very rewarding and a chance, given the two-hour drive, to really see the island. Bananas were its most obvious agricultural crop, they were everywhere, making them the 8th largest producer in the world, growing and exporting 1.2 million tons. Sugar cane was also omnipresent, visibly being manually cut down by men with large knives, sweltering in the sun. Men, who we'd seen in the mornings hanging around what must have been specific pick-up points for casual labourers. For us this was sadly reminiscent of the trade (250 years before) which was built on the back of 100,000 slaves brought to the island, mainly by the British. They also have the largest gold mine in Latin America and have a growing medical equipment industry, both of which we did not see.

Our guide was keen to remind us that Santo Domingo is the longest permanently inhabited European settlement in the Americas and the first seat of rule by the Spanish. We visited its very centre, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Pride of place The Alcázar de Colón, or Columbus Alcazar, the first fortified European palace built in the Americas, former residence of a member of the Christopher Columbus family in the New World, his first-born son Diego Columbus. Its colonial Cathedral Santa Maria, the oldest in the Americas, was typically spectacular, sitting just off a large square, and near local shopping. Our tour was typically designed for tourists, including some local food and dancing, which Martin joined in.

Our only purchase before leaving were two cigars, tobacco, being another local crop and production. One was for prosperity, and the other smoked in our jacuzzi with beer, just for the hell of it.

There we quite a few trips out which we didn’t bother with, but there was plenty to do if you didn’t mind travelling about.

We finished our days relaxing and soaking in the glory of our new PADI open water certificate (see other blog), before a very long flight to Seattle, via Boston. We were about to go to the opposite extreme of climate, touring Alaskan ice fields (By sheer coincidence bottled local water in DR was called 'Alaska').

Our overall impression was good for a hot easy-going holiday, it was more difficult to conclude its ranking as a more serious traveller bucket list destination unless you are going diving, then that was spectacular.

Oh, and the Jacuzzi was good for washing our clothes

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Finally, we must mention the airport. Ignoring the open ventilation and therefore lack of air conditioning, it was like no other. It was designed to look like Caribbean huts, an impression impressively pulled off; have a look on-line.

M&J