Las Aventuras de Melinda: April 2012

I was so blessed to have three wonderful girls visit! It was awesome to just spend time together while squeezing in as much touring as possible. Some of the highlights included touring la Zona Colonial at day and night, a day trip to Boca Chica beach, markets, a day trip to San Cristobal, carnaval, Pitbull concert, Dominican food and visiting the school.

San Cristobal is the town where the former dictator, Trujillo, was born. We walked around the town and toured el Castillo del Cerro (a “castle” built as a gift to Trujillo). The castle ended up looking more like a ship and Trujillo didn’t like something about every single room. Today, the building is used as a school for boys that will work in the penitentiaries. I learned a lot about the dictator and life under his rule during the tour.

Pomier caves are located outside of San Cristobal. This series of 57 interconnecting caves has over 4,000 paintings and 5,000 rock drawings that are estimated to be 2,000 years old. None of the caves have electricity. Although the first cave has a paved walkway, the following caves are completely natural. I felt quite adventurous as we crawled up, down, and through the cave.

One of our biggest adventures each day was transportation. We took public buses (guaguas) and motoconchos. The motoconchos are motorcycles that operate like taxi—you agree on a price, put 3 people on the back, and hold on tight (without a helmet, of course). It was beautiful to see the countryside from the motos.

The Pitbull concert was so much fun. Afterwards, the girls got to experience some latin dancing.

This was the final weekend for Carnaval. Santo Domingo held a HUGE desfile (parade) on the Malecon (the street beside the Caribbean Sea).

It was awesome to have helpers at school. The most popular question the kids wanted to know was if we were all sisters. They were shocked to find out we’ve been friends for so long (probably because we’ve been friends for long than they’ve been alive). One of the cutest questions I got was, “Miss Bowman, do all people in the United States have hair yellow and eyes blue?”