la basilica de higuey

La Basilica de Higuey:

 

this is one of the most respected monuments in Dominican Republic. It is located in the main street of Higuey . La Basilica is one of the most visited monuments visited for foreingers and national tourist. It certainly is the religious center of attetion of Latin America and it is where the Altar of La Virgen De La Altagracia, the patron Saint of Dominican Republic, is placed.

This it is the first sanctuary of America and in it agglutinates January 21, every year thousands of Dominicans to yield him worship to the Virgin of La Altagracia.
At present the picture venerated of the miraculous image is exposed in the Basilica that was built to honor it set against the old Sanctuary and united him by a great avenue, modern and well visionary.

La Basilica was inaugurated the 21st of January of 1971, and it was built by French architects (same as many other Dominican monuments) to substitute the antique sanctuary built back in 1572. Its name is due to La Virgen de la Altagracia, the Patron Saint of the Dominicans; in La Basilica you’ll find the spectacular image of the Virgin that is 45cm tall and 33,5cm wide; the painting was made in the 15th century by a Spanish painter.
The frame that holds the image of La Virgen de la Altagracia is made of gold and precious stones; it was created in the 18th century and its value is immeasurable. La Basilica de Higuey is a Dominican Monument since the 12th of October of 1970, the 17th of October of the same year the Pope Pablo IV declared it Minor Basilica. Two years later, the 15th of august of 1972, La Basilica was declared the Diocese of Salva Leon de Higuey.
La Basilica is a structure of monumental dimensions, designed in the shape of a Latin cross; the entry is made of bronze with a 24 carat gold bath and was blessed in Rome by the Pope John Paul II. La Basilica has a bell tower composed by 45 bronze bells. It is located in Higuey (province of Altagracia), in the Dominican Republic.

Pico Duarte (duarte peak)

 

Is the highest peak in all the Caribbean Islands with 3,098 meters high. It lies on the Cordillera Central range, the greatest of the Dominican Republic's mountain chains. This area has a climate that many people would not associate it with a typical Caribbean Island, with cool temperatures all year round, going several degrees below freezing during winter nights.

This is a nice place that people use to climb and interact with the nature that a place far from the city can offer to adventure tourists.

The Pico Duarte was allegedly climbed for the first time in 1851 by the British consul to the country, Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk. He named the mountain Monte Tina and estimated its height at 3,140 m. In 1912, Father Miguel Fuertes dismissed Schomburgk's calculations after climbing La Rucilla and considering that it was the tallest summit of the island. A year later, the Swedish botanist Erik Leonard Ekman sided with the Englishman's estimate, thinking it was closer to the truth, and called the sister summits as Pelona Grande and Pelona Chica. During the Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina regime, the taller of the two was called Pico Trujillo, only to be renamed later, after the dictator's death, with its current name of Pico Duarte, in honor of Juan Pablo Duarte, one of the Dominican Republic's founding fathers. An east-facing bronze bust of Duarte atop a stone pedestal sits today at the very summit, next to a flagpole that bears the Dominican banner and a cross.

punta cana!

 

is part of the newly created Punta Cana-Bavaro-Vernon-Macao municipal district in La Altagracia. This area is best known for its beaches, which face both the Caribbean and the Atlantic, and it has been a popular tourist destination since the 1970s.

 

Punta Cana is is considered the major resort area in the Dominican Republic with 28,000 hotel rooms, Punta Cana has 12 professional golf courses that have already been built since 1991, from designers like Jack Nicklaus, and P.B. Dye. Since Punta Cana became an important tourist point many water sports had to be introduced to the are like diving and boat trips. Also there are tours that take people to Saona Island which is a nice place for scuba diving.

 

you can visit this place the whole year, the weather is one of the most essential factors to consider when planning your honeymoon vacations at Punta Cana.The weather of Punta Cana is the most attractive feature to consider. The maritime condition and the temperature of Punta Cana is perfect to experience the water sport games and to celebrate or enjoy comfortable time

los haitises

Los Haitises:

-samana

is a humid tropical forest that offers jungle-covered islands and thick mangrove forest. Also there are strange rock formations emerging from the sea and bird-filled caves around many places on the park.

 

In January and Fevruary 80% of the world's  humpack whales mate and bear young in the waters of Los Haitises. The visit of the whales to the coast of the Dominican Republic calls the attention of million of people to watch very close this huge and amazing animals. People prepare trip in boats to the places in the sea where the whales spend more time, there they can watch the whales singing, playing, and doing different activities of their nature.

 

people and whales

Los Haitises National Park is a place where people can visit the caves, walk around all the park, watch the whales, interact with wildlife animals, and also this is a bird sanctuary. This is one of the most important places  in Dominican Republic and many people used for ecotourism where they enjoy the spectacular landscapes that just a virgin forest can offer.

 

nice view from a cave

 

dominican cuisine...

 

the cuisine from Dominican Republic is made up of a combination of tainos, spanish, and african influences. Dominican food is very similar to the other latin american countries the only difference are the names. In Dominican Republic the food is very important that is why the breakfast, the luch, and the dinner have the same importance. A good dominican breakfast is mangú (mashed boiled plantain), boiled cassava, or other root vegetable accompanied with fried eggs, fried cheese, or salami; for every dominican this is a great way to start a good day. Similar to Spain, lunch usually consist of some type of meat(chicken, pork, beef, or fish), rice, and beans, and any kind of salad. "La Bandera" is the name of our main dish, and if you go to any restaurant and you ask for "La Bandera" you will be eating a nice dish with white rice, beans, meat, and salad. And for dinner people usually prepare any kind of pasta with bread, dominican dinner depends of what people want in the moment.

 

 

La Bandera

Since we are a very productive island our cuisine is very varied, and you can find any kind of seafood everywhere you go, also a lo of vegetables, meat, rice, and root vegetables. In Dominican Republic the food is very healthy and natural, and most the people on the countrysides have their own crops to supply their needs.

dominican carnival!!

in dominican republic every sunday off February the dominican population celebrates their independece a very colorful parade that ends on February 27th with an amazing and huge parade.every city adds its own flavor to the celebration, but what they have in common is that in every city people wear costums, masks, and any kind of thinks to be part of the carnival parade. people from around all the world come to celebrate our carnival every year because during February many funny, exciting, crazy things happen in Dominican Republic.

the main character of our carnival is the devil, but this is not a bad devil, people in the past call this character like that because this character was very funny and likes to make jokes to the people. in the present each devil has a ballons that is used to tap the people on the parade.every city has a different kind of devil, character, and also a different way to prepare the parades. this is way dominican republic become a colorful and joyful country on February.

La vega is the main city in dominican republic when we talk about carnival, because this city spends a lot of money on their costumes and maks, on the decoration of their caves (which is the spot where they get together and start their parade), with parties almost every weekend, on the parades around all the city where they go jumping, dancing, and tappinig people. this carnival is known around all the world, and it is considered to be one of the most famous and joyful of the world.

In Bonao is almost the same parade and costumes than La Vega, the differences is that they make their carnival a little bit longer.

The carnival in Santiago is different because the devils and their history is not as the other carnivals of the country. In the past in Santiago each neighborhood used to wear costumes to fight against any other neighborhood, so every neighborhood began to used the same costumes but different masks to differentiate their partners. Now they still using the same way of wearing the costumes, but now they do not fight, they just go around the city tapping people and pretending that they are fighting with their whips.

devils fight....

dominican baseball!!!!

Coming from the sugar mill towns of San Pedro de Macoris, to fields all across Dominican Republic, young, poor kids dream of some day to play in the Major League Baseball and bring to their families finantial security and a better life style. Dominican Republic has a great passion for baseball going far above anywhere else.

For Dominican Republic baseball, from late October to February is when the professional baseball is played, where professional baseball players can come back to play in their country and share with their families, also where the young players improve their skills, and where northamericans come to play good baseball.

Since the 1950's when Osvaldo Virgil made dominican baseball famous by playing in the major leagues, we have seen a huge quantity of dominicans players parading for the professionalism in the USA. Guys like the three Alou brothers, Juan Marichal, Sammy Sosa, Pedro Martinez and currently, Albert Pujols, Robinson Cano, Vladimir Guerrero, Usbaldo Jimenez have showed during their stay in the Major Leagues the quality and the delivery that dominican baseball player have for this sport.

During the ten yearsd war in Cuba, many cubans emigrated to Dominican Republic bringing with them this game called "Baseball". And this sport became very quickly in our National sport and our passion. No matter where you go in the island you will find a baseball park, even in the poorest towns; something very common that you can find in Dominican Republic are the little kids playing on the streets, or any empty field where they can play. Baseball season never ends in my country, young guys and their coaches are getting ready waiting for the moment that any scout of a major league team sing this guy. Baseball is played in love and this young kids can spend all day on the baseball field watching, playing, and talking about baseball. Today more than one in six playersin the American Leagues is from Latin America, the majority if them coming from the towns located on the Southeastern of Dominican Republic.