Day 3: Domingo (Sunday)



Today, I ventured off the unbeaten path and made my way to Chinatown. It was funny (but kool) to see so many chinese people speaking spanish.  I wondered through all the side streets and was amazed to see beautiful heritage buildings still standing from the 1800's.  I made my way to a big courtyard area called the Borojol which overlooked the Rio Ozama River.  The courtyard was surrounded by historic sites such the Alcazar de Colon and La Casa de Colombus.





Borojol Plaza





Chinatown, Santo Domingo





Most shops close down on Sundays, however in the morning some of the stores were opened still. In the early afternoon, I pretty much took it easy to study some spanish, drink a cafe and smoke a cigar and at a local cafe. 

In the last 2 days I was here, there were no other travellers in the hostel where I was staying, but today a new traveller came in but when I went back to the hostel to rest later in the afternoon, there was a new traveller who had arrived.  His name is Eric he's here for a few weeks and is going to meet up with group of grade 9 students later on this week. Eric and I decided to walk around town and check out the scene and grab a bite to eat.  We checked out a cool restaurant called El Rey Falafel and I ate one of the best falafels ever. 




A very tasty falafel!

 


El Rey Falafel Restaurant



After dinner, we stopped by a courtyard situated in front of an old abandoned hospital in ruins called Ruinas de San Fransisco (it's a historical site and the first hospital of the Americas).  Although it was drizzling, the place was packed with people dancing!  They have this event every Sunday evening starting at 7.  It ended around 1130 but I think it was because of the rain otherwise I  think they would dance all night long!  So fun!

Before heading home we smoked a hooka at a hostel called Nomada hostel.  It was situated on the rooftop of a 4 story building and it had a bar setup and beds - very kool! we also stopped by a small dance place where there were a lot of old timers dancing. I danced one merengue song and Eric couldn't help but take a photo of me dancing.  Fun times!

This was my last night in Santo Domingo and it was a very fun night! Im leaving early tomorrow to go to Last Terrenas.  Buenas noches Santo Domingo..

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 :)

Day 1: Going Away Party!!

I've been in Orlando since Sunday attending a developer conference. Today is the last day of the conference. My brain has been gourging on geek food specific to current and future Microsoft technologies, concepts and practices including what's in the mix for the future of Microsoft application development, Cloud technologies (Azure), Windows 8 (Metro apps <- WOW!) and so much more!  This blog will not be about technology and the future, but I can say that the future is very very bright and exciting; the IT industry keeps getting better and imagination and technology is what will drive the future.  :)

Tonight, they reserved the Universal Studio Island theme park just for the conference attendees (apparently there are a couple of Universal theme parks), so there will be a lot of drunk geeks in Orlando tonight :). I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but I think drunk geeks are as harmless as chewbacca and are quite fun to party with! :-) 

My flight leaves tomorrow for the Dominican Republic at 7:30am.  I will be travelling first to the capital city of Santo Domingo. I will need to be up exceptionally early to get to the airport and go through customs and what not.  I will be in Santo Domingo for three nights, then  make my way to Las Terrenas located in northern coast of the Dominican Republic for about a week.  Then I will head over to Sosua (also in the north) which is west of Las Terrenas and visit Cabarete the party city of the Dominican and visit Puerto Plata.

My adventures will last a good 2 weeks. I've opted to take the experiential route while absorbing the beautiful beaches of the DR and will soak up as much sun as I can; I want to take in the culture and language first and foremost.  I'm also a big bachata dancer so I am very excited to dance it in the country where the dance was born in!

To prepare for the trip, I've been taking a Spanish course at a local college to refresh what I have learned so many years ago in college, so I hope to excel in my Spanish speaking skills. I'll be staying mostly in hostels until I get to Sosua.  I figure by that time, I need some kind of comfort (at least my body will!?).  To get around, there is a bus company/system called Caribe Tours;  that seems to be a very cheap and popular way of getting around places.  I also am traveling pretty light with just a backpack and about a weeks worth of clothes.  I actually arrived in Orlando with excessive gear, so I had to refactor and send back some "unneeded" items back home in a box (including a tonne of swag from the conference!).

This blog will document my travels in my Dominican Republic trip! Wish me luck!! +_+

Farewell Orlando! Hello Dominican Republic!

Geeks 2^2 ever!!