The Dominican Republic's population has a passion for music. Music has defined itself as the peoples emotional expression.
The Merengue is the national dance of the Dominican Republic, and also to some extent, of Haiti, the neighbor sharing the island.
During the Colonial era, secular music had an important place in the daily life's of the planters and the Dominican elite.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, the Merengue was very popular in the Dominican Republic. Not only is it used on every dancing occasion in the Republic, but it is very popular throughout the Caribbean and South America, and is one of the standard Latin American dances.
Whether a night club in a Dominican Republic villa, hotel or resort, along Santo Domingo's seaside Malecon or a packed park or a city celebration, the Dominican people always have rhythm and music in their hearts.
The fruits grown here are the best. You have never eaten a pineapple/ piña or a passion fruit until you have tried one here in República Dominicana.
The Mangos (season May thru September), of which there are two types, are wonderful and very messy. These are best eaten with a knife as the little strings of fiber get stuck in the teeth. Don't let the juice get on your clothes, it stains…
Papaya/ lechosa is unbelievably tasty and nothing like what you will find in other countries. TRY IT!!
Then there are the fruits that you have never seen or heard of before. Some do look ugly but don't snub them because of the way they look.
For example, the sweet oranges/china here are so sweet and juicy. You can buy a juice on the street fresh squeezed and many restaurants squeeze their juices fresh. There are a few different types of oranges. The china, which is the sweet /agria orange and is used to make juice (sometimes it is mixed with sugar to make it even sweeter) and to eat whole. Then there is the bitter orange/ naranja sevillana that is used for cooking. The Guava/ guayaba, a pink colored, pear-shaped fruit with yellow skin, is wonderful when made into juice or a greenish colored jelly (try it made into a paste and eaten with some cheese, I was shocked that this tastes so good). I highly recommend everyone tries some zapote juice, the fruit is ugly but the juice is sooo yummy.
One of the premier highlights of a trip to the Dominican Republic—and probably the most extraordinary part of a visit to the Samaná Peninsula—is a chance to explore Los Haitises National Park.
With a speed-boat you can cross the bay of Samana, not so far from Bahia Chiquita. In the national park can see mangroves, caves with paintings from the Taino Indians and can swim in an underground river.
On a trip you'll sail around dozens of the dramatic rock islands and spectacular cliff faces. Swirling around are hundreds of beautiful coastal birds from 121 different species, including Louisiana the magnificent American frigate birds, brown pelicans, brown booby, and varieties of egrets and herons. The sight of dozens of different of birds continually gliding past the boat at any time is enough to make a birdwatcher out of anyone.
Follow well-deserved lunch ...next stop: Bacardi Island (Cayo Levantado)... the lunch is mainly based on fresh fish, rice, vegetables, fruit and, of course, a pinacolada or coco loco very cold. Rest of the day until come back, you can spend relaxing, swimming, snorkeling or doing ... what you want!
Once a sleepy, little fishing village on the North Coast of the Samana Peninsula, today's Las Terrenas is a prime vacation destination for visitors to the Dominican Republic.
The island's majestic terrain was described by Christopher Columbus as "the most beautiful land in the world," and today the Samana Peninsula is acknowledged as the jewel in the crown of the Dominican Republic.
With miles of undeveloped white-sandy beaches and protected inshore waters, this city of over 12,000 people is a bustling center of activity. And although fishing is still an important part of local life, the allure of this tropical paradise has fueled its growth to become an important part of the world's rapidly growing, recreational market.
The balmy climate with it's ever-present trade winds and the warm temperature of the sub-tropical Atlantic Ocean combine to provide this part of the island with year-round, delightful weather with only a few degrees difference in temperature between winter and summer. There are plenty of cafés and oceanfront restaurants where people can be found sipping wine, over long, leisurely lunches, or having a mid-day break over a café latte.
Shops there offer a variety of arts and crafts, many of them unique handmade items, like amber jewelry, that can be difficult to find elsewhere in the Dominican Republic. Activity-wise, you can enjoy watersports like snorkeling, diving, windsurfing and kiteboarding. The 4-wheel drive and horseback riding trips are also popular because they allow you to see otherwise non-accessible areas of beauty.
If you just want to plant yourself on a beautiful beach you can also visit close by Playa Bonita or Playa Las Balleras.
Cayo Levantado is a small island in Samana Bay, not so far from Bahia Chiquita. Legend claims that bounty hunters came here long ago.
Pirates of the Caribbean? Well, if they didn’t find treasure, they
did find paradise.
Cayo Levantado is also called Bacardi Island because some of the palm trees look like
the ones in the Bacardi advertising.
The sand here is white and powdery; the turquoise waters crystal clear – perfect for swimming
and snorkeling. And, there is plenty to eat here. A few huts and facilities
will have you trying all the local cuisine. Sun, beach, food, sand… paradise indeed.
Enjoy!
Is mentioned as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
Playa Bonita refers to a kilometer stretch of spectacular beach shore about three kiolmeters to the west of he fishing village and beach town of Las Terrenas in the Dominican Republic. It's a long, beautiful bay separated from Las Terrenas by a rocky point called Punta Bonita.
The name appropriately translates to beautiful beach because of the long curve of tan and, scores of swaying coconut trees and an aquamarine surf that is shallower and prettier than at Las Terrenas.
For lovers of unspoiled settings and glorious beaches, it’s a dream come true. And since words can never take the place of pictures, here are some photos of Playa Bonita that will give you a glimpse of this island paradise...
“Los Haitises National Park (El Parque Nacional de Los Haitises) is a place to visit when traveling to Samaná, Dominican Republic. It is located in the Bay of Samaná and consists of 208 km square of humid tropical vegetation which allows visiting the park through their fabulous mangroves. Haitises means high land or land of mountains.
Without doubt, it's one of the most beautiful and interesting place of the country, for its geological formation, its flora and fauna, but also rich in underground rivers, caves and islets.
It contains stunning landscape features such as the Bay of San Lorenzo and different keys, highlighting the Cayo of Birds, constantly inhabited of pelicans.
Los Haitises National Park in Samana is part of a Karst platform and is one of the best examples of this kind of geological formation in the Caribbean region with a a complex system of caves and caverns where there are petroglyphs and pictographs with great historical and archaeological values. You can see traces of Taino indians.Being near the coast, Los Haitises National Park contains a bird life with a multitude of varied species of endemic birds, native and migratory unique in the country. Is the habitat for many species of migratory birds and native and an extensive area of mangroves.
Los Haitises National Park is known for the delicate ecological diversity of its coastal mangrove, the largest in the Dominican Republic. Along the Bay of Samaná, through its 21 thousand hectares of park, rock formations, pictographs and petroglyphs, can be discovered in its three systems of caves.
The average temperature is 25 C, a humid climate and frequent rains are in the two vital areas largest rain forest and tropical jungle.
If you don't already know it is there or haven't heard rumors of a "secret restaurant" on Playa Coson, you may miss out on one of the best.
The only restaurant on this amazing white sand beach, and hidden behind a wall of coconut trees, is this beach restaurant. Open just for lunch, this plantation-style beach house is splendid mix of elegance meets relaxed beach club.
The menu is based on what fresh ingredients and fish are available and it is changed regularly. The cooking is refined whether you are looking for a hamburger or something a little bit more elaborate like beef fillet with spicy sauce.
Try the dessert with strawberries and pepper sauce!
...and don't forget the cocktails!
Samana Time
