Day 2: Zona Colonial District

I left Orlando at 8:30am and landed in Santo Domingo at around 11:00am. Upon arrival, I quickly noticed that very few people spoke english and I lept at the opportunity to start practicing speaking spanish so I asked for a taxi and asked how much it would cost to take me to my hostel in the Zona Colonial district in Santo Domingo.  The weather was very hot and humid as expected and I took a taxi to my hostel which costed $40US! I found out later I could have taken a series of busses (called guaguas) for a fraction of the price compared to a taxi but I'm new in the country so 40$ was a good investment to arrive quickly and safely to my hostel. 

The ride to Zona Colonial district in Santo Domingo was a very relaxing ride as we travelled along the south coast overlooking the Caribbean Sea. 

I´m staying at "Betty´s Guest House" in the Zona Colonial district in Santo Domingo. I´ll be here until Monday when I will leave to head north to Las Terrenas. The hostel is located in the center of the Zona Colonial district on the street named Calle Isabelle la Catolica. Its a very good bargain for 20$/nite! The area is somewhat touristy and there are many restaurants, clubs and parks in the area. It´s very hot and humid here and I don´t have air conditioning in my hostel and there is no hot water for showers. With the heat, I don't need hot water. The hostel is a heritage house and has a very traditional. flair to it.  The ceiling must be about 15 feet high and the accomodations can fit an army of about 15 people; there are about 15 or so beds in 3 rooms. It has a kitchen and a foyer and everything I need to rest, sleep and eat. 

The Zona Colonial district is one of the most historic areas in Santo Domingo. The spaniards used this as the landing point to conquer other Caribbean islands and some of the American mainland.  I spent the majority of the day walking around and getting used to the city. In the afternoon, I walked around to many of the heritage sights including La Casa de Diego Columbus and the Cathedral of Santa María la Menor which is the oldest church in the Americas built in the 1500´s.  I also walked along Calle de Conde, which is the main touristy street with a lot of market shops street vendors, restaurants and cafes including a Hard Rock cafe. The shops were OK and other than the myriad of street vendors selling art paintings there was really nothing else interesting.  While walking around, I was harassed by tour guides and shop people wanting my business. Sadly, I felt like a tourist so I changed to wear my sandals and a white tshirt to look as plain as day; that helped a little bit.

For dinner I had a cachapa.  Its made of corn and it looks like a folded pancake and it had mashed up corn and pollo (chicken) inside.  I found out its actually a Venezuelan dish and not from the DR.

In the late evening around 11pm I went out to 2 clubs. One was called La Canolia and the other was Bacha Mamma. Bacha Momma is a neat place; you went inside a building and into the main dance floor which was a courtyard with no ceiling. They played mostly regaeton and RnB music there. La Canolia was kinda dead but they played a few bachata and salsa songs.

When I made my way back to the hostel, I decided to have a drink at a very small bar which was right across from my hostel. I forgot the name of it but I think it´s bc there is no name! LOL.. I think it said "Liquor Store" but I was drawn there because of the loud bachata music playing!¿ The bar was not more than 500 square feet and there were a few  people (like 2 couples) dancing bachata. I couldn´t help but to ask one girl to dance with me.. they don´t do turns much but I fitted right in...

I wanted to check out Ave Venezuela which a few people say is where you can dance bachata all night long, but it wad quite far away and I was enjoying the area where I was.

Tomorrow, I will spend some more time checking some of the landmarks out and trying out some ethnic foods :)