<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900</id><updated>2009-09-24T16:15:48.224-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The 'Mañana' Syndrome</title><subtitle type='html'>Daily blog of www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com - appears every day - except when put off till Mañana</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default?start-index=26&amp;max-results=25'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>60</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-3162076556704091842</id><published>2007-01-25T14:38:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2007-01-25T14:44:52.450-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Dominican Video Postcards!</title><content type='html'>What's better than a postcard of the Dominican Republic - a Video Postcard!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Thanks to the producers of this short video (3 or 4 minutes) that takes a whistlestop tour around some of the sights, sounds and scenes of the Dominican Republic. You can almost taste that cool glass of Presidente...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/366281/dominican_republic.swf" width="400" height="345" wmode="transparent" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;font size = 1&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/366281/dominican_republic/"&gt;Dominican Republic.  - video powered by Metacafe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For more videos of resorts and a great documentary introduction to our lovely homeland please go visit: &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt; today!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ruth&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-3162076556704091842?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/3162076556704091842'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/3162076556704091842'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2007/01/dominican-video-postcards.html' title='Dominican Video Postcards!'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-116240463251270462</id><published>2006-11-01T10:00:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-11-01T10:32:30.900-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Golf vacation - Experience the best of the Caribbean PLUS World Class Golf...</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Find A Low Cost - High Quality Golfing Vacation in the Dominican Republic!&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;The Best of Both Worlds!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Long overdue&lt;/b&gt; golfing vacations in the Dominican Republic information is now here on&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt;! As an introduction to what will be developing into&lt;br /&gt;a whole new section here is a a brief article about some of the top quality and low price Golfing vacations in the Dominican Republic that can be found:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Arial;"&gt;See the article at - &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/golf_vacation.html"&gt;Golf vacation in the Dominican Republic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-116240463251270462?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/116240463251270462'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/116240463251270462'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2006/11/golf-vacation-experience-best-of.html' title='Golf vacation - Experience the best of the Caribbean PLUS World Class Golf...'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-115840744590842818</id><published>2006-09-16T04:46:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-09-16T05:07:48.843-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Find out Secrets of world famous Dominican Mamajuana...</title><content type='html'>&lt;center  style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;"...Much more than just liquid Viagra?!"&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;"...The most 'popular' type of Dominican Mamajuana recipe&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;, however, is probably the one that is reckoned to emulate the effect of 'viagra'...for this the Mamajuana needs...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center  style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;END OF PART 1...&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p face="verdana"&gt;&lt;b&gt;"The whole article&lt;/b&gt; - including the second and 'final' installment' - is NOW AVAILABLE as an e-book along with guidance for the preparation of Mamajuana liqueurs - and a selection of traditional recipes, and packed with useful brewing tips....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;center face="verdana"&gt;&lt;b&gt;"Secrets of Dominican Mamajuana Revealed!"&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/center&gt; &lt;center style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/images/secrets-mamajuana-cover1.jpg" alt="Secrets E-Book" /&gt;&lt;/center&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: verdana;" align="left"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;center style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;&lt;form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"&gt; &lt;input src="https://www.paypal.com//en_GB/i/btn/x-click-but22.gif" name="submit" alt="Payments via PayPal - E-book will be sent to order email address shortly!" border="0" type="image"&gt; &lt;img alt="" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_GB/i/scr/pixel.gif" border="0" height="1" width="1" /&gt; &lt;input name="add" value="1" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;input name="cmd" value="_cart" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;input name="business" value="paypal@visiting-the-dominican-republic.com" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;input name="item_name" value="Secrets E-book" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;input name="amount" value="10.00" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;input name="no_shipping" value="2" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;input name="cn" value="E-book will be sent to 'order' e-mail" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;input name="no_note" value="1" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;input name="currency_code" value="USD" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;input name="bn" value="PP-ShopCartBF" type="hidden"&gt; &lt;/form&gt; &lt;/center&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: verdana;" align="left"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p face="verdana"&gt;With a bottle of &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/where-to-buy-mamajuana.html"&gt;'Mamajuana herbs'&lt;/a&gt; (maybe you have some you brought back from vacation?) you can now &lt;b&gt;create your own 'perfect brew' at home&lt;/b&gt;. You can enjoy a glass of this traditional 'pick-me-up' as you watch the sun go down from your Manhattan appartment (or wherever)...and reminisce about those heady, hazy, lazy days spent soujourning in the DR!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="font-family: verdana;" align="left"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p face="verdana"&gt;We created the e-book &lt;b&gt;'The Secrets of Dominican Mamajuana Revealed'&lt;/b&gt; - so that anyone who wants to know more about this infamous 'beverage' and obtain a selection of genuine recipes (for both beginners and the more experienced) as well as a host of 'brewing tips' - could get the 'secret information' ;-) they needed - economically...and quickly...and at the same time...your 'small donation' of US$10 also helps towards the increasing costs of maintaining and managing www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;See Full item at: &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-mamajuana-recipe.html"&gt;Dominican Mamajuana Recipe&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;AS/RRdeS&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(72, 60, 187);"&gt;PLEASE NOTE:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;RE: Dominican Mamajuana &amp; Dominican Mamajuana Recipe&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The secret blend of herbs that form the basis of a Dominican Mamajuana recipe, and the variety of Mamajuana liqueurs that can be brewed from them – hold a very special place in the folklore and culture of the Dominican Republic. Whilst there are many traditional stories and "old wives' tales" about the efficacy and application of Mamajuana for a wide variety of ailments we would like to point out that www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com makes NO CLAIMS whatsoever for there being any genuine, or specific medicinal benefits to be gained from consumption of this &lt;i&gt;infamous&lt;/i&gt; folk-remedy.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p style="font-family: verdana;" align="left"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;There has never been, as far as we know, any reliable or extensive medical research to assess any claims that have ever been made for this product over many years of Dominican tradition. (Although there is much anecdotal and research infiormation about certain specific ingredients used in some Mamajuana recipes/herbal formulations).We feature this item ...as an amusing example of the most traditional of Dominican cultural ‘novelties’. Almost everyone who has ever visited the Dominican Republic will have been introduced to Mamajuana – and we offer the opportunity here for people simply to &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/where-to-buy-mamajuana.html"&gt;obtain a ‘fun-memento’&lt;/a&gt; of their sun-drenched Caribbean vacation, if they so wish.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;   &lt;p style="font-family: verdana;" align="left"&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="font-family: verdana;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;b&gt;We also remind anyone&lt;/b&gt; who purchases Mamajuana herbals for the purpose of brewing their own Mamajuana liqueur using any typical Dominican Mamajuana recipe (which will most likely include one, or more, types of alcoholic ingredients) that they should &lt;u&gt;consume the resulting liquor responsibly, in moderation and in accordance with any current advice provided by their national/local medical advisory body in relation to safe levels of alcohol intake&lt;/u&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-115840744590842818?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/115840744590842818'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/115840744590842818'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2006/09/find-out-secrets-of-world-famous.html' title='Find out Secrets of world famous Dominican Mamajuana...'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-115634670152974734</id><published>2006-08-23T08:14:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-08-23T08:25:02.550-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Visiting the Dominican Republic UPDATE</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Have you seen these articles/links on site at Visiting the Dominican Republic?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Maybe you are planning a visit in December - see what it is like at Christmas in the Dominican Republic?...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/christmas-traditions-in-the-dominican-republic.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Christmas traditions in the Dominican Republic&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our Mamajuana page now update with a new 'Secrets' e-book - Mamajuana recipes for making succesful Mamajuana liqueurs and more:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-mamajuana-recipe.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-mamajuana-recipe.html&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Picture this...A superb memento of the Dominican Republic&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-art.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Dominican Repubic Photographs and more&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;Aug 23 2006&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:verdana;"&gt;AS/RRS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-115634670152974734?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/115634670152974734'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/115634670152974734'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2006/08/visiting-dominican-republic-update.html' title='Visiting the Dominican Republic UPDATE'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-115097500720540443</id><published>2006-06-22T04:16:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-06-22T04:16:47.283-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Blogger check</title><content type='html'>posting check&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-115097500720540443?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/115097500720540443'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/115097500720540443'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2006/06/blogger-check.html' title='Blogger check'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-114941857220705842</id><published>2006-06-04T03:55:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2006-06-04T04:12:08.496-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Kiteboarding's Premier World Event in the DR</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Visiting the Dominican Republic in June 2006?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't miss WORLD Kiteboarding Cup - &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/windsurfing-vacation.html"&gt;Cabarete&lt;/a&gt;, 21-25 June 2006&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;7th&lt;/strong&gt; World Kiteboarding Cup will be taking place in &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/windsurfing-vacation.html"&gt;Cabarete&lt;/a&gt; and is organized by PKRA and other kiteboarding organizations based in the world's premier kiteboarding resort.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So be sure to make your way to Bozo Beach, &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/windsurfing-vacation.html"&gt;Cabarete, Dominican Republic&lt;/a&gt; for 5 days of sun, sand, sea, sport and partying!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A&amp;amp;R&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Travel" rel="tag"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/events" rel="tag"&gt;events&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/culture" rel="tag"&gt;culture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Blog" rel="tag"&gt;Blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Dominican" rel="tag"&gt;Dominican&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Caribbean" rel="tag"&gt;Caribbean&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/tourism" rel="tag"&gt;tourism&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/vacation" rel="tag"&gt;vacation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/party" rel="tag"&gt;party&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-114941857220705842?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/114941857220705842'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/114941857220705842'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2006/06/kiteboardings-premier-world-event-in.html' title='Kiteboarding&apos;s Premier World Event in the DR'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-114099944519796839</id><published>2006-02-26T15:48:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-26T16:29:03.273-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Dominican Independence - PART-A-A-A-A-Y-Y-Y!</title><content type='html'>Yes, it's that time again! 27th February and 'Independence Day' in the Dominican Republic. As we have tried to summarize on the main site, &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;br /&gt;it may not have been an easy ride since that day back in 1844 when General Pedro Santana was proclaimed the first President of the new Dominican Republic. Although &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-independence.html"&gt;Dominican Republic history&lt;/a&gt; has been chequered since that time - just now, in 2006, it may be that this Caribbean gem of a country is finally putting its problems into the past, and has a healthy future to look forward to!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although times have not been easy for many ordinary Dominicans over the last few years - especially with the need for some tough economic measures to be applied in order for the current Government to pull the country back from the brink of bankruptcy (the legacy of the previous 'gangster' regime!) - it is now the case that the Dominican Republic is benefitting from huge investment, as it makes steady progress towards becoming the latest 'luxury destination' in the Caribbean.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The shaky period that the Dominican Republic experienced back in the early/mid nineteen-nineties when, for a time, tourism entrepreneurs made the questionable choice to become the 'Benidorm' of the Caribbean, seems to have been consigned to the past. Those days of shoddy quality hotels, poor service and 'food poisoning' did a good deal of damage to the destinations budding reputation as a serious tropical tourism contender. But in this new millennium the accent, as far as tourism development goes, has been on quality and luxury. With the latest developments in the Dominican Republic set to number amongst some of the best of the &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/luxury-caribbean-resort.html"&gt;luxury Caribbean resorts&lt;/a&gt;, the country is set to have more than merely Independence to celebrate in the years to come.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With Independence Day also comes one of the Dominican Republic's biggest and best Carnivals, which will be passing along George Washington Avenue - otherwise 'El Malecon' - in &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/santo-domingo-dominican-republic.html"&gt;Santo Domingo City&lt;/a&gt; itself! A great time is sure to be had by locals and tourists alike as the celebrations and the procession winds its 'well-oiled' way through the area known as 'the planet's biggest disco'!!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Congratulations - Dominican Republic! Let's drink to the hope that, at last, your time has really come!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A&amp;amp;R&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Travel" rel="tag"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/events" rel="tag"&gt;events&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/culture" rel="tag"&gt;culture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Blog" rel="tag"&gt;Blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Dominican" rel="tag"&gt;Dominican&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Caribbean" rel="tag"&gt;Caribbean&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/tourism" rel="tag"&gt;tourism&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/vacation" rel="tag"&gt;vacation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/party" rel="tag"&gt;party&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-114099944519796839?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/114099944519796839'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/114099944519796839'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2006/02/dominican-independence-part-a-a-y-y-y.html' title='Dominican Independence - PART-A-A-A-A-Y-Y-Y!'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-114066161853388499</id><published>2006-02-22T18:11:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-02-22T18:27:16.970-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Where does the time go? What's been happening at...</title><content type='html'>What's been happening at... &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt; ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1) During January new &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/caribbean-investment-property.html"&gt;Dominican real estate and Caribbean property pages&lt;/a&gt; were added. They will soon be up and running fully with useful links to reliable real estate agents in the Dominican Republic - and details of one of the hottest luxury developments in the Caribbean...NOT to be missed by serious investors.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2) New resorts pages added in recent times include a brief look at &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/samana.html"&gt;Samana town on the Samana Peninsula&lt;/a&gt; the place to go for &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/picture-whales.html"&gt;whale-watching in the Dominican Republic&lt;/a&gt; as thousands of Hump-backs make their way to the Bahia de Samana to frolic, cavort...and generally 'do what comes naturally'! The &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/picture-dolphins.html"&gt;whales and dolphins&lt;/a&gt; can be seen close-up from January 15 to about March 15 - a spectacle for visitors to the Dominican Republic not to miss.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Take a look at &lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt; soon - and if you are planning a trip we hope you will find the advice, contacts and information of use to you!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ruth&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-114066161853388499?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/114066161853388499'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/114066161853388499'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2006/02/where-does-time-go-whats-been.html' title='Where does the time go? What&apos;s been happening at...'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-113697689728312356</id><published>2006-01-11T02:20:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2006-01-11T02:54:57.326-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Feliz Año Nuevo - Find your 'Place in the Sun' Now!</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;Happy New Year&lt;/strong&gt; from &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2005 proved to be a difficult one for keeping up-to-date with the blog! But with a bit more stability as 2006 starts we hope to be here regularly from now on to alert you to changes on the premier tourist and travelers information site &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Interesting projects that are now under way with the website is the launch (during January 2006) of a new &lt;strong&gt;Dominican Republic real estate&lt;/strong&gt; section on the site.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Dominican Republic has been called the &lt;strong&gt;'best kept secret' in the Caribbean&lt;/strong&gt;...well now that the cat-is-(substantially)-out-of-the-bag...things are happening rapidly for our beautiful, tropical country! Some of the most exciting prospects are emerging in the Dominican property market!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With the DominicanGovernement making efforts to restablish global confidence in the Dominican economy, things have been pretty tough for ordinary Dominicans BUT the prospects are looking &lt;strong&gt;better than they have ever done&lt;/strong&gt; for improved prosperity which will have a positive impact fr everyone in the near future!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Huge investment is being made in infrastructure - roads, airports, etc. - by Pesident Fernandez, and in turn local and foreign investors are queuing up to develop many exciting quality projects on the Island. &lt;strong&gt;The key-word here is 'quality'&lt;/strong&gt;. Far removed from the 'chaep Caribbean' image that the Dominican Republic began to cultivate in the late 1980's early 90's, the accent for developers now is on World Class quality.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are already many superb accommodation resorts, offering some of the best golf and leisure facilities around...and in the pipeline is &lt;strong&gt;a project that promises to be one of the most exciting yet&lt;/strong&gt;, in this arena!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt; launches its Dominican Republic real estate and property pages later this month, you will find some &lt;strong&gt;exciting details&lt;/strong&gt; about what we are convinced is going to be &lt;strong&gt;THE NUMBER ONE property investment opportunity&lt;/strong&gt; on the island. If you are looking for premier quality real estate for your own 'place in teh sun' - perhaps for vacations, or retirement, or even for a speculative investment with massive potential to achieve exceptional return - then be sure to check - &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt; when the details of the Dominican Republic's latest and possibly best golf, leisure and real estate complex are revealed on the site.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In addition to this superb oppotunity we also plan to provide &lt;strong&gt;essential tips, and trustworthy contacts&lt;/strong&gt; for anyone looking for any other type of property throughout the island...so whether you are just looking for a simple appartment/pied-a-terre at an economical price - for occasional vacations and first-class letting potential, or you want a secluded villa to while-away your retirement, or you are looking for a beach-front 'condo' from which you can survey a perfect Caribbean beach whilst slowly sipping a chilled Margarita, you will soon find information that can help you make the right choice on &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For, now though... &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;"Feliz Año Nuevo" &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;...and be sure to check back here soon, or see &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt; for more details about Dominican real estate investment opportunities very soon!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;AS&lt;br /&gt;10/1/06&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-113697689728312356?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/113697689728312356'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/113697689728312356'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2006/01/feliz-ao-nuevo-find-your-place-in-sun.html' title='Feliz Año Nuevo - Find your &apos;Place in the Sun&apos; Now!'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-112890003953484305</id><published>2005-10-09T15:59:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-10-09T16:20:39.540-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Wondering where to buy Mamajuana?</title><content type='html'>Wow! It's been a difficult summer. Offline for long periods due to a 'housing problem'...with only intermittently having access to a less than reliable link to the WWW!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Not that we are out of the woods yet...but we needed to update this Web Log to let you know about the latest development onsite at &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;Visiting the Dominican Republic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A while ago we announced the inclusion of an article on the website about the &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-mamajuana-recipe.html"&gt;'Secrets of the Dominican Mamajuana recipe'&lt;/a&gt; and now we are pleased to announce that for those who already know of the manifold benefits of genuine Dominican Mamjuana it can be purchased directly through the site!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why not take a look now? If you don't know just what Mamajuana can do for you find out about the alleged secrets of this &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-mamajuana-recipe.html"&gt;herbal viagra&lt;/a&gt; and then try some real &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/where-to-buy-mamajuana.html"&gt;Dominican Mamajuana&lt;/a&gt; for yourself!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;AS 9/10/05&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-112890003953484305?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/112890003953484305'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/112890003953484305'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/10/wondering-where-to-buy-mamajuana.html' title='Wondering where to buy Mamajuana?'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111775180357956560</id><published>2005-06-02T15:02:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-10-09T15:57:27.220-07:00</updated><title type='text'>No longer 'Gone'...but 'Back with the wind!' ;-)</title><content type='html'>Sorry for the recent 'radio silence' but now we've been blown back online here at the 'Manana Syndrome'...to announce the 'official' beginning of the 'hurricane season' in the Dominican Republic.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Last year was a pretty busy 'season' with hurricanes 'Ivan' and 'Jeanne' probably getting most media coverage, but 'Charley' and 'Frances' also made themselves particularly 'felt' in the Caribbean region, although the DR suffered less than some areas. In fact 'Ivan' and 'Charley' were some of the most destructive storms ever on the US mainland.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although we hope it will be a safe year for all visitors, some experts are already saying that the current atmospheric conditions are akin to one of the most turbulent periods in 'hurricane' history - the 1930's!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sources note that the South Coast areas of the DR are considered most at risk if the storms should 'buzz' the Island.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most years, although the so-called 'season' begins around this time it is towards the end of the 182 day period that the greatest risk of tropical cyclones usually occurs - during later September, October and November. Nonetheless, make sure you take a look at &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican_republic_weather.html"&gt;the weather forecast for the DR&lt;/a&gt; before you depart and ensure you acquaint yourself with any procedures, once there, if storms are expected whilst you are in resort.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A 2/6/5&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/Travel"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/Weblogs"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111775180357956560?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111775180357956560'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111775180357956560'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/06/no-longer-gonebut-back-with-wind.html' title='No longer &apos;Gone&apos;...but &apos;Back with the wind!&apos; ;-)'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111591750547535623</id><published>2005-05-12T10:03:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-05-12T10:10:28.333-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Visiting the Dominican Republic?</title><content type='html'>Why not see what it is like taking a &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/"&gt;vacation in the Dominican Republic?&lt;/a&gt; Ruth and Esther are Dominican sisters who run - &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com &lt;/a&gt;where you can find a wide range of useful tips and contacts for a great Dominican Republic holiday, to help you discover - the finest beaches, the best resorts and some great accommodation ideas. There is also a wealth of information about &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/"&gt;Dominican Republic history&lt;/a&gt; plus useful insights into &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/"&gt;Dominican culture, food and music&lt;/a&gt;. Additionally they also include details about setting up a tax free business in the Dominican Republic, and examine some great real estate opportunities for those looking for that perfect place in the sun. The Dominican Republic is often referred to as the Caribbean’s “best kept secret” – take a look at Ruth and Esther’s &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/"&gt;‘Visiting the Dominican Republic’&lt;/a&gt; web site today and find out that there are “no more secrets!” about this beautiful country.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;12.05.05&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/Travel"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/Weblogs"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/music"&gt;Music&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111591750547535623?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111591750547535623'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111591750547535623'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/05/visiting-dominican-republic.html' title='Visiting the Dominican Republic?'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111485893485082349</id><published>2005-04-30T03:44:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-30T04:02:58.106-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The Man Who Saved The Merengue - Strikes Again!!</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;More accolades for Jean Luis Guerra&lt;/strong&gt; - 'The Man Who Saved The Merengue' - at the Billboard Latin Music awards on Friday 29 April in Miami.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Besides the 'Sprit of Hope'&lt;/strong&gt; award for the work he has done with the 4.40 group, he also recived an award for his fabulous recording 'Para ti', and yet another for 'Best Christian Album'.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Guerra is regarded as the singer&lt;/strong&gt; who literally rescued the merengue from its slide into sleaziness by re-invigorating its true romantic roots...read more about the very best of &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-music.html"&gt;Dominican music&lt;/a&gt;, and some of &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-music.html"&gt;Jean Luis Guerra's other great recordings HERE!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Well done Jean Luis!&lt;/strong&gt; Keep making more marvellous merengue music...we love it!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;R&amp;amp;E 30/4/05&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/Travel"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/Weblogs"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/music"&gt;Music&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111485893485082349?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111485893485082349'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111485893485082349'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/04/man-who-saved-merengue-strikes-again.html' title='The Man Who Saved The Merengue - Strikes Again!!'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111455769864396676</id><published>2005-04-26T16:21:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-26T16:21:38.643-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Dominican amber jewelry - 'Tears of Goddesses' that hold secrets of the past!</title><content type='html'>Just a reminder that for useful Amber jewelry information and links we feature this page:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/amber-jewelry.html"&gt;Dominican amber jewelry - 'Tears of Goddesses' that hold secrets of the past!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;along with essential info about Larimar, THE Dominican jewel here: &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-larimar.html"&gt;Dominican Republic larimar - the unique Dominican jewel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kind wishes&lt;br /&gt;R&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111455769864396676?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111455769864396676'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111455769864396676'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/04/dominican-amber-jewelry-tears-of.html' title='Dominican amber jewelry - &apos;Tears of Goddesses&apos; that hold secrets of the past!'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111437506692723915</id><published>2005-04-24T13:18:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-24T13:37:46.930-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Are you thinking of visiting the Dominican Republic?</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Still looking&lt;/strong&gt; for that special summer holiday?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Maybe thinking ahead&lt;/strong&gt; to Christmas?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;See why&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-holiday-resorts.html"&gt;Dominican Republic resorts&lt;/a&gt; are still the best deal in the Caribbean&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Check out&lt;/strong&gt; what happens at&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/christmas-traditions-in-the-dominican-republic.html"&gt;Christmas time in the Dominican Republic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In fact...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take another look&lt;/strong&gt; at  &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/"&gt;visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt; main page, to see what other information we've added recently.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;And as always...&lt;br /&gt;Send your questions&lt;/strong&gt; to us via our &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/contact_us.html"&gt;contact page&lt;/a&gt; if we haven't already posted the answer on site!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;R&amp;A&amp;amp;E&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/Travel"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/Weblogs"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/technorati.com/tag/Food+and+Drink"&gt;Food and Drink&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111437506692723915?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111437506692723915'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111437506692723915'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/04/are-you-thinking-of-visiting-dominican.html' title='Are you thinking of visiting the Dominican Republic?'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111386871547990024</id><published>2005-04-18T16:58:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-18T16:58:35.480-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Greed, Violence, Ethnic cleansing, Lust, Megalomania, Slaughter, Corruption ....that's Dominican Republic History - Take a look now?</title><content type='html'>Little did Columbus know what appalling horrors his 'discovery' of the New World was to bring to Quisqueya...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The friendly Natives, the Tainos were soon decimated by slaughter, slavery and disease...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;'The most beautiful land' that Columbus had seen soon became the setting for shameful exploitation by the 'Spanish conquerors' who plundered the country in an orgy of greed and lust for power...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Find out more here:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican_republic_history.html"&gt;Dominican Republic History&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A 19-04-05&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http:technorati.com/tag/Travel"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http:technorati.com/tag/Weblogs"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http:technorati.com/tag/Food+and+Drink"&gt;Food and Drink&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111386871547990024?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111386871547990024'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111386871547990024'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/04/greed-violence-ethnic-cleansing-lust.html' title='Greed, Violence, Ethnic cleansing, Lust, Megalomania, Slaughter, Corruption ....that&apos;s Dominican Republic History - Take a look now?'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111356355361739472</id><published>2005-04-15T03:59:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-15T04:12:33.620-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Visiting the DR during late April…“What’s on?”</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;If you are visiting the DR during the second half of April&lt;/strong&gt; then there are numerous interesting artistic and cultural events occurring, here are a few ideas:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Until 23 April&lt;/strong&gt; you can still catch the impressive exhibition of highly regarded Spanish artist Joseph Gausachs. Although originally from Barcelona, Gausachs lived and taught in the Dominican Republic for years, and consequently influenced numerous Dominican artists who are now well known in their own right. His work can be seen free of charge at Centro Cultural de Españã. Arzobispo Meriño corner Arzobispo Portes. More information (in Spanish) &lt;a title="http://www.ccesd.org/" href="http://www.ccesd.org/" target="_blank"&gt;http://www.ccesd.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Through April to June 2005 you can see&lt;/strong&gt; ‘Que no me quiten lo pintao’ a wonderful selection of artworks with the theme of Merengue. On display at the Cultural Centre in Santiago de los Caballeros you can find out more about this feast of Dominican Arts and Culture, and many other events, at &lt;a title="http://www.centroleon.org.do/" href="http://www.centroleon.org.do/" target="_blank"&gt;http://www.centroleon.org.do&lt;/a&gt;  (in Spanish).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;16 April 2005&lt;/strong&gt; – ‘Pop’ goes the Fiesta Hall at Jaragua, when Belinda the ‘teen pop sensation’ from Mexico finally appears in the ‘Party on the Roof’ (Fiesta en la Azotea) event originally scheduled for March 18!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;21 April 2005&lt;/strong&gt; – One for the ‘grown ups’ when in the spirit of  ‘Fostering Progress, Collaboration and Exchange’ epithet of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (see: &lt;a href="http://www.globalfoundationdd.org/"&gt;http://www.globalfoundationdd.org/&lt;/a&gt;) a talk by Dr. Allan Fisher (President of iCarnegie) will be presented at Las Americas Institute of Technology (ITLA) – dealing with technology education and its role in providing opportunities for Industry...Evidently not to be missed if you are on holiday ;-)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Also commencing 21 April &lt;/strong&gt;and running till May 1st 2005 for anyone who has neglected to ring enough holiday reading material with them...the International Book fair of Santo Domingo will be running in the grounds of the Plaza de la Cultura. The book fair theme this year is Italy...so at least Columbus should be happy!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;22 April through to 22 June&lt;/strong&gt; if it is pictures rather than books that inspire you then you should look out for the exhibition of exhilarating photography by Yann Arthurs-Bertrand, the noted French photographer. Arthurs-Bertrand’s show includes one hundred images of the Earth in aerial view from many points around the globe. Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and of Environment and Culture, the City of Santo Domingo and APEC University. The Independence Park in the Zona Colonial is the venue for this stunning exhiblition.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;22 April&lt;/strong&gt; – An opportunity to do two things at once at the Cultural Centre in Santiago de los Caballeros when, having visited the exhibition (see above,) you can then go on to enjoy Pablo Milanes, a singer/songwriter from Cuba who be providing musical entertainment – free of charge!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;22/23 April 2005&lt;/strong&gt; – The Florida-Dominican Business Development Group presents the first “Dominican Tourism Investment and Real Estate Fair” at the Radisson Convention Centre. More details for those interested in DR investment opportunities can be sought from Pedro Diaz Ballester via email:  &lt;a href="mailto:fla-dominicanbusiness@dibacorp.us"&gt;fla-dominicanbusiness@dibacorp.us&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;But for all that OTHER information&lt;/strong&gt; you need about the DR check out our information site at: &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So now when you are fed up with basking in the sun sipping a chilled margarita or ron y cola...you know what you can do!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;See you soon&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;R 15/04/05&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This web log is 'pinged' to various web log directories...and these helpful 'categories' at &lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com"&gt;www.technorati.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Travel" rel="tag"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Weblogs" rel="tag"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111356355361739472?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111356355361739472'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111356355361739472'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/04/visiting-dr-during-late-aprilwhats-on.html' title='Visiting the DR during late April…“What’s on?”'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111352417801816669</id><published>2005-04-14T17:16:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-15T04:21:12.926-07:00</updated><title type='text'>The secrets of the Dominican Mamajuana Recipe revealed</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;Get the full juice!&lt;/strong&gt; ;-) On site NOW:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-mamajuana-recipe.html"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The secrets of the Dominican Mamajuana Recipe revealed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Drink it quickly...or you'll get a stiff neck!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A 14/04/05&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Travel" rel="tag"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Weblogs" rel="tag"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Food+and+Drink" rel="tag"&gt;Food and Drink&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111352417801816669?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111352417801816669'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111352417801816669'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/04/secrets-of-dominican-mamajuana-recipe.html' title='The secrets of the Dominican Mamajuana Recipe revealed'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111338377061890565</id><published>2005-04-13T02:03:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-15T03:57:28.710-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Don't miss a Golden Opportunity to visit the Silver Port on the Amber Coast</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;"Why not visit the city of Puerto Plata&lt;/strong&gt; whilst on your trip to the North Coast of the Dominican Republic? If you are touring around the Dominican Republic, or if you have flown into 'POP' to stay in one of the great resorts on the North Coast of the DR, it is well worth adding the 'Silver Port' to your holiday itinerary...&lt;strong&gt;"&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;MORE INFO at :&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/puerto-plata.html"&gt;http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/puerto-plata.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To find more details about other Dominican Republic resorts&lt;/strong&gt; and why they are the best deals in the Caribbean just...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;CLICK :&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-holiday-resorts.html"&gt;http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-holiday-resorts.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A&lt;/strong&gt; 13April05&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Would you like to know&lt;/strong&gt; how building a website can earn you enough to visit the Dominican Republic?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://case-studies.sitesell.com/best-site-of-all.html" target="new window"&gt;Here are some people who have already discovered how to make a great online income&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Travel" rel="tag"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Weblogs" rel="tag"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111338377061890565?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111338377061890565'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111338377061890565'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/04/dont-miss-golden-opportunity-to-visit.html' title='Don&apos;t miss a Golden Opportunity to visit the Silver Port on the Amber Coast'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111278292642681300</id><published>2005-04-06T03:22:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2005-04-06T03:22:06.426-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Use sun tan lotion sensibly and stay safe in the tropical sun</title><content type='html'>New article on www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com...about that burning issue...sun bathing!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/sun-tan-lotion.html"&gt;Use sun tan lotion sensibly and stay safe in the tropical sun&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Keep in touch with www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com and find out much more about the Dominican Republic and planning a successful visit - for vacation, on business, or any other reason!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A 6/4/5&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111278292642681300?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111278292642681300'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111278292642681300'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/04/use-sun-tan-lotion-sensibly-and-stay.html' title='Use sun tan lotion sensibly and stay safe in the tropical sun'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111204644014136789</id><published>2005-03-28T13:32:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2005-03-28T13:49:20.736-08:00</updated><title type='text'>The BIG GAME in the DR!</title><content type='html'>'Beisbol' in the DR&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com&lt;/a&gt; features an article by former professional Baseball Major League player Bill Bathe, which introduces Dominican Republic baseball...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Call it Baseball or Beisbol it is simply the 'biggest game' in the Dominican Republic...with many a family pinning their hopes on their sons shining in the sport!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Many of today's key players in the US major league hail from the Dominican Republic, and their incredible success has led to the growing pride and unquenchable passion for the sport...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Find out more?:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-baseball.html"&gt;http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-baseball.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;R 28/03/05&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Travel" rel="tag"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Weblogs" rel="tag"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;________________________________________&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Message for Website Builders:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;Are you interested in building your own website? For fun, business and/or profit. Then pick up the vital free dowload via our other 'blog' now: &lt;a href="http://www.net-profit.blogspot.com/"&gt;Developing a business online - Free Book&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;________________________________________&lt;/center&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111204644014136789?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111204644014136789'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111204644014136789'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/03/big-game-in-dr.html' title='The BIG GAME in the DR!'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111171055529946819</id><published>2005-03-24T16:11:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2005-03-24T16:41:53.053-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Dominican Republic on FIRE!</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;Weeks of dry weather&lt;/strong&gt; have resulted in 'tinder-dry' conditions in the Dominican Republic.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Heat building up in natural humus&lt;/strong&gt;, and inadequate precautions taken by small farmers employing 'slash-and-burn' techniques have possibly been causative factors in setting off devastating forest fires in the central mountainous forest regions, and elsewhere.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The fires have been burning&lt;/strong&gt; for nearly two weeks and local fire-fighting teams have made little impact. The rising smoke can be seen on photos taken by a NASA satellite a week or so ago and shown here:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16856" target="new window"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Dominican Republic on fire!!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;NASA Observatories state that "March is typically the driest month in the Dominican Republic, but an exceptionally dry winter may have increased the fire hazard. The dry season usually runs from December to May for most of the island, but the first three months of 2005 were even drier than normal..."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The DR Government is seeking international assistance&lt;/strong&gt; to stop the fires which have also broken out on Los Haitises and Villa Altagracia. The fires threaten to destroy the already much reduced forested areas. At least 16 separate fires are reported to be burning at this moment across the Island.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Find your preferred news source&lt;/strong&gt; and keep in touch with &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-newspaper.html"&gt;Dominican Republic News&lt;/a&gt; via this link.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;DominicanR 25/03/05&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Travel" rel="tag"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Weblogs" rel="tag"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;________________________________________&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Message for Website Builders:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;Are you interested in building your own website? For fun, business and/or profit. Then pick up the vital free dowload via our other 'blog' now: &lt;a href="http://www.net-profit.blogspot.com/"&gt;Developing a business online - Free Book&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;________________________________________&lt;/center&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111171055529946819?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111171055529946819'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111171055529946819'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/03/dominican-republic-on-fire.html' title='Dominican Republic on FIRE!'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111145260854148961</id><published>2005-03-21T16:48:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2005-03-21T16:50:08.543-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Need to know about the Dominican Republic weather?</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;Want to find out what the weather will be like&lt;/strong&gt; when you visit the Dominican Republic?...In case you hadn't found it already, a quick 'blog entry to make sure you know where to look...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Seasonal weather information&lt;/strong&gt;, and live link to current conditions and forecast for the next week...at the click of a mouse:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican_republic_weather.html"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;The Dominican Republic Weather&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kind regards&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;R 21/03/05&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Travel" rel="tag"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Weblogs" rel="tag"&gt;Weblogs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;INTERESTED IN WEBSITES?&lt;/strong&gt; CHECK OUR OTHER BLOG FOR A GREAT FREE E-GIFT NOW: &lt;a href="http://www.net-profit.blogspot.com/"&gt;Developing a business online&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111145260854148961?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111145260854148961'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111145260854148961'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/03/need-to-know-about-dominican-republic.html' title='Need to know about the Dominican Republic weather?'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111136270190906885</id><published>2005-03-20T15:29:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2005-03-20T16:31:48.116-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Dominican Republic Website - More Helpful Information...</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;Some quick links to pages we now include on our site which may be helpful to you if:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1) ...You are thinking about starting a business&lt;/strong&gt;, or expanding a business, and want to find out more about the Dominican Republic's TAX FREE status!...Yes, your business can be TAX FREE if started in the Diominican Republic's 'FREE ZONE' - get more information here:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/starting-a-business.html"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;The Dominican Republic tax free zone for business.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2)...You are thinking of taking a Dominican Republic vacation&lt;/strong&gt;...and want some useful 'tips' to ensure a happy and successful holiday..If you are from the US, take a look at our additional advice and links related to US passports NOW, and save a potential problem, before you set-off to the Dominican Republic:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-vacation.html"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Dominican Republic vacation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt; 'TOP TIPS'!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3)...You've BEEN to the Dominican Republic&lt;/strong&gt; and have something to pass on that might help future visitors...Our Dominican Republic reviews page is for any useful advice that recent visitors would like provide, whether it be about the hotel; the visits you made while there; about any other service, holiday company, air travel provider; whatever?...Just so long as it is 'fair, honest, and non-defamatory' and is not 'just a shameless plug'...We'd like to build a resource of reliable, personal 'reviews from real people' to help other visitors to our lovely homeland, check the page to get the 'idea'...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican-republic-reviews.html"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt;Dominican Republic reviews&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:130%;"&gt; - our new page!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;R&lt;/strong&gt; 20/03/05&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Travel"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111136270190906885?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111136270190906885'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111136270190906885'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/03/dominican-republic-website-more.html' title='Dominican Republic Website - More Helpful Information...'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10088900.post-111127715343247399</id><published>2005-03-19T15:55:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2005-03-19T16:06:52.760-08:00</updated><title type='text'>More information about the Dominican Republic...</title><content type='html'>Hey, something we meant to mention...maybe we did...but if so it was a while ago...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We have published a revised 'information center' page on our main site:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com"&gt;Dominican Republic information for travelers and tourists&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here is a direct link to the new information center, which links to a variety of &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican_republic_facts.html"&gt;Dominican Republic facts and figures&lt;/a&gt; and also provides an insight to &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/dominican_republic_facts.html"&gt;Dominican Republic culture and much more!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Take a quick look if you have a few minutes if we don't yet feature what you want to know...then &lt;a href="http://www.visiting-the-dominican-republic.com/contact_us.html"&gt;contact us at 'Visiting the Dominican Republic'&lt;/a&gt; and we'll try and get an answer if we can!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;R 19/03/05&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/Travel"&gt;Travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10088900-111127715343247399?l=visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111127715343247399'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/10088900/posts/default/111127715343247399'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://visiting-the-dominican-republic.blogspot.com/2005/03/more-information-about-dominican.html' title='More information about the Dominican Republic...'/><author><name>DominicanR</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08928139943007965218</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:extendedProperty xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' name='OpenSocialUserId' value='01205577313489519421'/></author></entry></feed>