Two Days of Celebrations and Parades

It's bound to be a wild time in the DR over the next couple of days...and where to head for is just one of the hard decisions you'll have to make if you are 'Visiting the Dominican Republic' during this one of the biggest party weekends of this year!

Acknowledged as a premier party town La Vega will be BUZZING, as amazingly decorative floats and vibrantly clothed demons amongst other sparkling cotumes vie for the attention of the masses of visitors who flood the streets to witness the spectacle.

La Vega, a beautiful place with some fine architecture, lovely parks and a quality feel is well worth a visit anyway...and locals are justifiably proud of their Town...It also has a reputation for putting on one of the best Independence Day celebrations in the DR...so be there if you can!

Given the energy and the wherewithal you might then travel on to Santo Domingo itself for the capital City's own festivities...as Dominicans continue to celebrate the date of their Independence!

It was 1844 that the Dominican Republic emerged from years of Haitian dominance and gained Independence...there's a good deal more about the chequered progress the DR made through the 1800's here: Dominican Independence and The First Presidents of the Dominican Republic a time when 'Presidents' came and went by the dozen!

So this weekend is a great time to be in the DR if you are lucky enough to be there now...for those who aren't there but plan to go...why not start those plans now, ready for next year's Independence Day fiestas by reading up about all you need to know for a successful visit to the Dominican Republic here on our main site: http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/

Watch out for those Demons though...and have a good Independence Day party!

A.S. 26/02/05

Getting in a Stew?

It’s today (well the 26th Feb 2005 that is!!) at 17.00hrs Dominican time the competition judges will be ‘getting in a stew’…in fact they’ll be getting in several stews as they try to determine the BEST SANCOCHO! And it’s no joke!!! By cooking up a storm and tickling the judges taste-buds most efficiently you could win RD$10,000!!!

The ‘cook off’ has been organized by Raul Perez Peña who spoke, in pre-event publicity, about the cultural significance of this ‘signal’ dish to Dominicans, and referred to the wide variation in Sancocho recipes that can be experienced.

Sancocho is a dish that has a ‘celebratory’ quality to it…prepared as it often is to ‘welcome’ visiting friends and family, or perhaps to bid them 'farewell’ at the end of a visit! Every Dominican (and his or her Mother) know how to make the BEST Sancocho…it is just that no two versions are quite the same.

By the way…the BEST Sancocho recipe is actually HERE…

http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/sancocho-recipe.html

…if you haven’t found it already…why not take a look now..and treat the family this Sunday?!!

A

The Stars are out round Punta Cana

We hear that Julio Iglesias, the famous Spanish 'crooner', and equally well known Dominican designer Oscar de la Renta are part of a business consortium planning to invest heavily in developments at the sparkling 'All-inclusives' resort of Punta Cana, at the Eastern tip of the Dominican Republic.

Between Punta Cana Marina and Plaza Bavaro stretches some 30 or so km (18 miles) of beautiful sandy beaches and numerous quality 'AI' developments already. With visitors rapidly approaching the 1 million mark per year the resort is booming, and evidently the 'starry' consortium, which also includes some local 'big hitters' will ensure that PC and Bavaro continue to be the 'quality' end of the 'sanitised' version of the DR experience.

For those who really want to know what the DR is like...well PC won't give them much of an idea...but for those who like to be cosseted in All-inclusive luxury...it's becoming the ideal Caribbean venue!

A

'Larimar '- The unique gem that captures the very hues of the Caribbean Sea!

A quick note to any visitors to this blog, we recently added the following page to our main website, about the semi-precious 'Larimar stone' - a unique and beautiful gemstone forund only in the DR:

Dominican Republic larimar - unique larimar ring or larimar earring set

Why not take home a piece of jewelry that features 'Larimar' - the gem forged by the heat of a volcano at the very 'Dawn of Time' - as a memento of your Dominican Republic vacation?

Don't forget if you want to know more about 'Larimar', or anything else about the DR you can drop us a line through our site:

Hasta mas tarde

A 20/02/05

President of DR meets King of PC

The President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez took his 'chopper' out for an airing and whipped it over to Casa de Campo, La Romana on Sunday 13th Feb to meet with 'King of the PC' Bill Gates.

Mr. Gates and his wife, Melinda had been staying there since Friday 11th, and they met with President Fernandez, and the First Lady, Margarita Cedeno, at the home of Gustavos Cisneros a Venezuelan business man, who was also present at the meeting along with his son Guillermo.

The President of the DR has a number of great plans in mind for investing in the country's infrastructure! So no doubt successful entrepreneurs of the magnitude of the Microsoft boss could be the 'Gate'way to essential technical assistance in years to come! At least it would be helpful if Mr. G could help the President ensure that all the '.gov.do' websites actually worked properly...that would be a start! :-)

Don't be an Amber Gambler...Get the Gen on the Gem!

It's precious.

It's millions of years old.

It oozed out of primitive plants...and

It often trapped small insects in a permanent 'glass-like' prison!

"D'ya know it is yet?"

Yes...it's that wonderful yet strange substance known as amber!

And one of the best places in the world to find it is the Dominican Republic.

On our free information site: www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/ we now include more information about amber...just one of the many 'treasures' to be discovered in the Dominican Republic.

Keep an eye on the site, or here on our blog, as we hope to announce some of the best deals for wonderful amber jewelry soon...and visit the site to discover how and where to find out much more about amber...the 'jurassic' gem!

A

(P.S. Sorry it's been a quiet week...due to 'technical' problems...hope to be blogging again soon now though!)

Seeing Stars in 'The Bay' of Samana

What have Steven Spielberg, Jack Nicholson, Angelina Jolie and Al Pacino got in common? And what does it have to do with the Dominican Republic?...

Well the latest news is that no sooner will the whale-watching season be coming to an end in the Bahia de Samana...but it seems there will be 'Pigs' in the Bay...

Steven Spielberg has already used the DR as the backdrop to the original 'Jurassic Park' movie (where better than the home of the finest amber in the world?)...now he has gathered the aforementioned bevy of premier actors to make his next film... about the events that led to the invasion of Cuba by a CIA backed force during JFK's presiency that threatened to bring the World to the brink of War between the super powers.

The event that became known as 'The Bay of Pigs'...now lends its name to Spielberg's project and it is expected that filming will start in March in Los Haitises, and on the Samana coast.

http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/

Al

Time for a BITE!

Normal service has been resumed! (If you didn't visit earlier that won't make much sense!) but now, for something completely different, and for those of you with good taste...

Have you ever tried Sancocho? A rather special Dominican dish, for which most Dominicans have their own 'best ever' recipe...

Well we are no different...see our recipe favorite here:

http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/sancocho-recipe.html

Just like Mom used to make! Why not try it this Sunday?...In fact if you are Dominican...or even if you're not... but have a favorite recipe of any dish, especially if it's one your own family has enjoyed...please e-mail it to us...we'll test it out and post it on our site with a credit to you, and an assessment by our 'panel' (Me, Al, Esther and Luis!)

Hasta mañana!

Ruth

P>S> DON'T FORGET...If you haven't got an RSS/ATOM reader go to the home page of our main site (click URL below) and get one FREE, then download our XML feed, and be sure to be alerted to updates as they appear:

www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com

Soon it will be spring, but it's already SUMMARY HERE!

Hi there (It just struck me what a strange thing 'blogging is'...acting as if I'm speaking to someone..but maybe just e-talking to myself!)

A quick note or two to summarize a few things that cropped up on the 'blog' in the last couple of weeks (with a view to saving too much scrolling down)


NEW CONTENT
First in terms of content on our main site: http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/
just to remind previous visitors...and inform new ones (if you've happened on this 'blog' before the main site!):

We have now posted a page of info about the City of contrasts, oldest City in the 'New World', Santo Domingo, a place you shouldn't miss when you are visiting the Dominican Republic. Take a quick look here:
http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/santo-domingo.html

You might also want to check out our Whale watching information, the season is underway, but if you are soon leaving for a vacation in the Dominican Republic, then you'll still be in time to see the Humpback's doing what comes naturally! (Breaching, lob-tailing, spouting, and spy-hopping...what did you think I meant...check out: http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/picture-whales.html if you don't know what I'm talking about!)

And if you're an 'inveterate' Twitcher! Try 'spotting these' our pair of bird watching pages, with some useful links: http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/bird-watching-vacation.html...

We've also added info to our Best Beaches in the Dominican Republic pages (if you've not visited in the last month!)


NEW FEATURE

Are you into RSS and Atom yet? The NEW news reading phenomenon that's taking the Web World by storm, if you don't have a news reader yet for RSS or Atom feeds then Call by our Home page and pick up the link that takes you to one of the BEST FREE readers you can get on the Net (Yes it is FREE!)...then you can 'download' our 'feed link' and be FIRST to know when the blog and the site is updated! (Or to add us to your My Yahoo page NOW...click on the 'MY Yahoo' icon - on the right).

All the best for now, we'll keep you posted on further developments as they happen!

Ruth, Esther & Al
http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/

Fisherman's Tales - or - A 'Fishy' tid-bit for now!

Coming soon more info about the BIG annual sea fishing tournament in the DR...

Sea fishing in the Dominican Republic is a fast growing sport as more and more people catch up with the fact that the DR is also the 'best kept fishing secret'!

Big game will be in the tournament entrants sights when they set out to land white marlin and more...

But that's enough for now! We'll be posting full details in a few days - so 'don't be fed-up'...pick up our feed...and you'll be first at the post! (ouch!) ;-D

Al