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March 3, 2023 – Santo Domingo, DR
Took a minibus back to Samana then caught a guagua to Santo Domingo. A guagua is a bus about half the size of a regular bus, like the one in the photo. I’m staying in a little hotel near Parque Colon in the Zona Colonial. I return home tomorrow so this will be my last…
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March 2, 2023 – Las Galeras, Dominican Republic
Today, went on a tour by boat to three nice beaches near Las Galeras. They were playas Fronton on the tip of the Samana peninsula, Madama, and Rincon. The boat was about 18 ft long, open with bench seats. About a dozen people and three crew members went. It was a fun, bouncing, sometimes pounding…
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March 1, 2023 – Las Galeras, Dominican Republic
Got a ride on the back of a motorbike to Javo Beach on Rincon Bay about a mile from my Airbnb. Cost 100 pesos. The bay might have been the last stop Columbus made before sailing back to Europe. Some historians think his last stop was Samana Bay where I was the last two days…
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February 28, 2023 – Samana to Las Galeras, DR
Took a minibus from Samana to Las Galeras, an hour ride. The minibus was smaller than a regular sized van. It held 14 passengers and it was full. It cost 200 Dominican pesos or less than $4. Grabbed lunch at a little restaurant on the main road in Las Galeras. That was 500 pesos or…
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February 27, 2023 – Samana, Dominican Republic
Went on a four hour whale watching tour this morning. Humpback whales come to Semana Bay every year between the end of January and the middle of March. They breed here and then go back north. It takes about a year until a female gives birth and that also happens in the bay the next…
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February 26, 2023 – Santo Domingo to Samana, DR
Took a bus 3.5 hours from Santo Domingo to Samana on the northeast peninsula of the DR. The Dominican Republic is often abbreviated to the DR. The bus ride cost 400 Dominican pesos which was $7.17 US. The motoconcho from the bus stop in Samana cost 250 pesos or $4.46 and the ride was only…
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February 25, 2023 – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Visited Museo del Hombre Dominicana, or Museum of the Dominican Man. It’s all about the natives who were here when Columbus landed. The natives were wiped out over the years by diseases, the punishing life of being a slave, neglect, mistreatment, and even atrocities. They were the Tainos. There’s an accent mark over the “i”.…
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February 24, 2023 – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
This morning visited a few small museums in the Zona Colonial. One had documents Columbus wrote. I was amazed to be looking at something he wrote. Those papers are about 500 years old. Museo de la Familia Dominicana This museum displayed household items from the wealthy Spanish colonists, the elite of the time. Had dinner…
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February 23, 2023 – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Today, I covered more ground in the Zona Colonial. Walked part of the oldest paved street in the “New” World, Calle de Las Damas. Along it the likes of Columbus, Columbus’ son Diego, Cortez, Pizzaro, Bartholomew de las Casas, Desoto, Ponce de Leon and other notable Spaniards lived in the 1500s and later. Just an…
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