Santo Domingo, Dom Rep

[Its a good thing!]

Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic, a country in the center of the Caribbean. This city is the oldest european city in the Western Hemisphere, a city where Columbus, Cortez, Ponce de Leon and other conquistadors once roam and planned their conquering of the Americas. For the initial 50 years of the exploration, Santo Domingo was the sole capital of the new world, with its court of law having jurisdiction over all of Latin America and all trade between Spain and the new world passed through this city during those initial days of the America's colonization.

Today, Santo Domingo is a testament to contrasts and contradiction. While the city has some poor districts, there are areas of fabulous wealth, and lots of middle class people spread all over. There are many luxury hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, all the trappings of the 21st century and yet, you can still buy snacks from street vendors, enjoy a stroll through the nice parks, or simply watch the world go by. Overall, this city is exciting with plenty of good nightlife (though its mostly Latin oriented) and plenty of casinos. Within a few minutes from the city, there are nice mountains and subleme tropical beaches and a very vast countryside dotted with palm trees and natural beauty. It is a city of sharp contrasts with slums along the outer edges and yet, this city has more Mercedes Benz per capita than any other city in the Americas!

Overall its a nice city, seems to be a city built specifically for young happy people who enjoy a good night on the town, good dining, and variety of all sorts. Enjoy the pics, with time I will add more.

[Mith242]

Thanks for the pics. It's nice getting to take a look at all these different cities.

[Its a good thing!]

As promised, here are some more pics of Santo Domingo. I also include pics from Boca Chica Beach, even though its 30 minutes east of Santo Domingo, Boca Chica is virtually a suburb of the city and it has the nicest beach near Santo Domingo. Every weekend the beach gets filled with Dominicans and foreigners who live in Santo Domingo and party all day and night! Truly a nice experience with merengue on one hand and rum on the other!

Here are some random pictures from different areas of the city. I try to include areas of different income levels so people can get a real sense of the city. Unfortunately, photos don't capture the ambiance well, because everywhere you go there is merengue music or bachata blaring from cars and stores, sometimes Dominicans erupt into such party moods that they begin to dance to the music in the streets! I love the way these people take life and enjoy every minute! Truly amazing.

I have grouped the photos in 4 batches below. The first batch (or group of photos) are of the modern areas of the city. After this group, you will see the colonial historic district, then a few pictures of the poor areas of the city and finally pictures of Boca Chica.

Each section will be a different post.

Modern Santo Domingo

Here are a few pictures of the colonial section of Santo Domingo

Here are a few of pics of a poor area of the city

Here are some pictures from Boca Chica. Yes, this beach is beyond belief, even when you are here in person you still can't believe your eyes how beautiful this beach is! Fantastic! The beach is protected by coral reefs off shore, and this makes it wave-less, the closest thing to a natural pool. You can go well into the sea with the water only getting up to your thighs and crystal clear that your toes are visible!

The first picture is of Autopista Las Americas which is the main highway connecting Santo Domingo with the eastern part of the country. This is the highway that has to be taken to go to Boca Chica beach or to the airport and thankfully, its a beautiful drive. The rest of the pictures are of Boca Chica itself.

[ZachariahDaMan]

More excellent pictures!

[Mith242]

Yeah, more nice pics. Thanks for sharing them.