La Romana/Casa de Campo/Altos de Chavon

La Romana is a sugar town about 2 hours from Santo Domingo.  The country’s biggest sugar producer, Central Romana, is located here.  Central Romana is the largest private employer in the country (about 25,000 people).

view of the Caribbean Sea from La Romana

Central Romana sugar company

beautiful Flamboyant tree

research center for sugar cane 

Casa de Campo is the country’s most prestigious resort.  It’s a huge gated community full of luxurious villas (owned and for rent), a marina, movie theater, shops, restaurants, and famous golf course. Homeowners in this neighborhood include The Clintons and Michael Jackson.  We drove and looked at beautiful homes, went to the private beach, and enjoyed a delicious dinner on the marina.  

I could really get used to the luxury of this private beach. :)

cute shops in Casa de Campo

marina

sunset

the view during dinner

dinner

Altos de Chavon is a small section of Casa de Campo.  It was constructed as a replica of a 16^th century Mediterranean village.  Altos de Chavon is the home of a design school affiliated with the prestigious Parsons Design School in New York City.  There is also an Amber Museum (amber is produced in the DR),  Regional Museum of Archaeology (El Museo Arqueológico Regional), church, garden, amphitheater, and shops. It didn’t feel like I was in the Dominican Republic at all, but it was fun day to walk around and see the sights.

St. Stanislaus Church

inside of the church

Altos de Chavon overlooks the gorgeous Rio Chavon

view from the bell tower

garden

el museo

decorative dishes

body stamps used by the Taino indians

1^st concert performed in the amphitheater was Frank Sinatra

Chavon River and Caribbean Sea in the same view

so cute :)

Cockfighting

*Warning: The following pictures show an aspect that of Domincan culture that it not easy to see, especially for animal lovers.

When I originally heard about cockfighting I thought I never wanted to see such a thing.  But, as time went by, I became more and more curious about this Dominican pastime.  I finally decided that watching a cockfight was like seeing a bull fight in Spain; it’s hard to watch but a part of culture I needed to see to understand.  The cockfight consisted of two cocks, their perspective owners, a judge/announcer, and the audience.  The owners attach additional spurs to the cock’s legs.  The roosters are released in the ring and immediately begin fighting.  Eventually, one is clearly the winner and the owners come to claim their rooster.  During the fight there is lots of cheering from the crowd for their favorite cock.

You pay a fee to watch all the fights for the evening.  Although sometimes my blonde hair and blue eyes makes me stand out more than I want, it paid off in this instance.  The money collector offered for me to come in and watch the cock fight for free (probably knowing I wouldn’t be staying the entire evening).  Initially I got as many stares as the roosters, but once the fighting started all eyes and cheers were focused on the cocks.  The winner of the fight wanted me to take a picture of him and his prized rooster.

outside of the ring

getting ready to start the fight

the winner

winning owner and his cock

La Finca

I went with a friend to visit a farm in the province of Monte Plata a little over an hour outside of the capital.  There’s no running water or electricity, but there’s plenty of animals and plants.  I took sooooo many pictures of each type of plant and animal as you can see below.

chickens, obviously

The structures on the farm:

Flamboyant is a beautiful tree that grows in tropical regions and very popular in the DR.  It has fern-like leaves and red flowers.  

farm puppies

peppers

Higuero-This caught my eye in the tree because of its huge size.  As it turns out, it’s toxic to eat the inside of this fruit but women sometimes use the oil for their hair.  The outer shell is commonly used for kitchen bowls and decoration.

 

baby lime tree

tiny lime growing

pretty view of the farm

cow, claro que si

We discovered wild pineapple growing in one field.  It’s a common misconception that pineapples grow from a tree like a coconut, but they actually grow from the center of a bush close to the ground.  These were smaller than pineapple grown for selling, but they were so delicious!

I made lots of new animal friends. :)  

Chinola (passionfruit) is one of my favorite fruits in the DR.  

chinola vine

chinola bloom

chinola fruit (not ripe yet)

cool tree trunk covered in spikes

Adorable puppy photo shoot :)

watering plants by hand from the river

neat decorative plant with polka dots

target practice

The farm workers caught crabs in the river, boiled them, seasoned them with peppers from the farm and enjoyed them for lunch.  I documented the process J