A couple of months ago I was walking down the street in broad daylight and narrowly avoided getting accosted and robbed.

It was during the Semana Santa (the week before Easter that is the Catholic celebration to commemorate the last seven days of the earthly life of Jesus Christ), and there was little private transit on the road. Public transportation was scarce as well, so after waiting more than 30 minutes without seeing any buses or public cars, I decided to hoof it the few blocks that remained for me to reach my apartment. About three meters later, I heard something and turned around to see if it was perhaps that bus finally coming. But, it wasn’t. It was a pasola (a type of motor scooter popular in the area) with two guys on it who were checking me out as they went on by.

Normally this would be a passing event that was not worth noting, and would hardly be considered disturbing.  However, after being robbed several months back, I’d started being more observant of my surroundings, and noticed these guys were doing more than checking me out. In actual fact, it seemed more like they were taking an inventory of what I had on me.

At the end of the block, they stopped, and acted like they were fixing something on their bike, as they stole glances to check my progress. A heartbeat after that I had considered my options, and decided that I could make it back to a little house (where a Dominican family had been sitting outside) and safely wait there. Which, I did. They watched me for a second, probably judging their options, and then quickly jumped on their bike and sped off.

The Reasons Why

This is just one of several stories like it. When I came to the island, more than 14 years ago, there was little noteworthy crime. (more…)

We are exited to let you know we are adding a new section to the DR-Dominican. A cooking section that will be featuring all Dominican Recipes.

We will be including information on how to shop in the Dominican Republic, avoid getting ripped off and how look for what you want. We will also be talking about how to get a hold of some of the necessary ingredients that are difficult to find in the US.

Fill free to take a look at what we have so far in our cooking section.

Habichuelas to Dominicans are like Frijoles(refried beans) to Mexicans. Both are based off of beans and highly essential to the daily diet.

Habichuelas are typically made with red or black beans, but unlike Frijoles they are served whole, not mashed. They also are much saucier usually have almost soup like consistency. This makes them great to put over rice, with the Habichuela sauce flavoring the rice.

(more…)