Santiago Cultural Center - Leon Jimenez

Don Eduardo León Asensio Jimenes, a famous santiagueño and philanthropist, had a special penchant for encouraging growth in the visual arts, and sought in particular to contribute in the development of young artists’ talent. In harmony with this thinking, the León Jimenes Art Contest was started in 1964, in an effort to promote and exhibit the work of Dominican artists of varying ages. He also established a foundation to continue this work, and that foundation went on to construct the León Jimenes Cultural Center in 1999.

Art Exhibits
The León Jimenes has two permanent exhibit halls on the first and second floors, which contain Dominican colonization period artifacts and historical paraphernalia. There is also an additional first floor hall that displays temporary exhibits that feature works from individual artists, individuals, and institutes. Every Tuesday the center allow free entrance to the public, permitting everyone who appreciates art to come and enjoy it, no matter how much they have in their wallet.

Santiago Leon Jimenez

The León Jimenes Art Contest that Don Jimenes started over forty years ago is still held every year on the second floor in the Visual Arts Hall where visitors are free to roam about and enjoy the contributed works.

Among the works included in the Temporary Exhibition Hall, located on the right side of the main hall, are sculptures from The Louver, the beautiful photos of Dominican photographer Domingo Batista, drawings from the late santiaguero Yoryi Morel, and many others. The duration of these exhibits varies according to showing availability and scheduling.

The video concerts feature a variety of recorded artist performances, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Auidoslave, Bob Marley, and Radiohead. Most of the films shown are family films like this month’s Charlotte’s Web, an adaptation of the E. B. White story. Any book, novel, essay, art subject, or video medium, or cultural theme can be the subject of the recorded literature commentaries and video debates that are featured every month. These are interviews of different authors, reporters, and other public figures. The folklore discussions cover a variety of cultural subjects related to art. Center workshops focus on art and learning topics and techniques like teaching, drawing, painting, and learning.

More information about hours, activities, and other details, go to the Center’s site Centro Leon, Dominican Republic . This webpage is in Spanish, but it has a lot of information and even has a printable Events Calendar each month that is great to have on hand for organizing events and trips.

Here in the Dominican Republic there are many things that you aren’t always used to. One of these things that we are not always used to is the fruit stands.

Now, there are some fruit stands in the U.S. and probably in other places too, but I doubt that they are like the fruit stands in the Dominican Republic. To start off, a quick description of the stands here, they are made of anything that you could think of, a lot of them being on the side of a house or in a house. But to make it even more different, there are also many that are just around. You never really know where all of them are because you never know if there will be another one tomorrow or if one is going to be out of materials, or out of business.

Many of the bigger cities really don’t have these fruit stands in a stationary place like the in smaller cities like Fantino, La Mata, and Rincon, but instead they have fruit stands on the move. Many times there will be a person with a bucket or a plate on his head going around to the different cars and buses offering fruit and other types of food.  and this is at almost every stoplight that you will find. Another common method is using a form of a bike that has been re-built to be able to fit large quantities of fruit, vegetables, soda, sugar cane, bags of candy, and basicly anything that you can think of. There is also a chance that you will run into a person that will be carrying cell phones along with card for them.

One thing that is always on the mind of people in the DR is “How much does it cost?” Unfortunately, in this country, you never really know how much its gonna cost. It all depends on if your white, if you can bargain with the guy, how much he bought it for, if the fruit is in season and if he bought the fruit at all.

There are many different types of fruit in the DR. A lot of the fruit that is here you have most likely see every day to fairly often. here they have pineapple, oranges, (even though that they are sour and are only meant for juicing and not for just plain eating), mango (even though that It only come twice a year), Pamelo, (which is like a giant grapefruit, except for the fact that it has much more fruit and tastes sweeter), Papaya ( which in my opinion is most excellent),  coconut (which is another thing that most vendors have here, and massive avocados which are about two to three time the size of the normal size in the U.S. all of this, depending on the fruit, cost less than 50 pesos (unless its out of season then it could be up to 70 or more pesos.)

So there are many interesting things in the Dominican Republic, many comical, and many fun to be around. And the fruit here its AWESOME!

Pools: There are two main swimming pools, one in front of the grandstand and the other attached to one of the bars. Both are good for lounging around and taking a swim. One of them had a low and a high platform to dive from.

Water Slides: There were 6 water slides. Three that required tubes and three that did not.

The tallest slide in the park looked about 3 stories tall and was a straight slide with a steep drop and was tubeless. The other two tubeless slides had the usual array of twists and curls. All three of these were a little rough in the construction and left everyone in the party a little sore.

We liked the tube waterslides much better. Unfortunately, tubes do not come with the price of admission. This poses a couple problems. One you have to pay for them, another 100 pesos. The second problem is every time you put them down some kid tries to steal them. That being said we all still felt it was worth having one. The three tube slides were more fun and didn’t bruise your back. One of the tude slide was black and it was completely dark in the tube, this made for a very cool ride and turned out to be our favorite slide in the park.

Water Playgrounds: There is one large play area for very small children in the middle of the park. Things to climb on, small water slides, cute characters built into the structures and of course water. This area sits in a very shallow pool with water fountains and water flowing over the structure. I can’t imagine a kid not being thrilled to play here. There are also areas around the playground for the parents to hang out and watch.

There is also a large “Get wet” area near the grandstand. This has larger structures all of which spray water up, down and all around. This is more of a some what older area where kids (young or old) can climb around the structures while staying wet. One thing I did notice is the water in this area was much colder, this one took a little getting used to.

Food: There are several places to eat. There was a buffet for 190 pesos per person and a pizzeria, the pizzas looks like enough to feed 3-4 people who are not heavy eaters and cost 500 pesos. We opted for a hot dog, these were 70 pesos each and came with a small drink. One of the things you will notice in the DR is they like corn on a lot of thinks I would usually not put corn on. I.E. hotdogs and pizza. While corn on a hotdog is not bad it’s a little different, if you don’t think that is to your taste you might want to specify that while ordering.

Bars: This water park also caters to the somewhat older crowd With 6 different bars scattered through out the waterpark. One of them is located in one of the pools so you don’t even have to get out of the water to have a drink. All of the bars offer the usual array of tropical drinks and the price isn’t too bad at about 140 pesos. The drinks were large and strong although they were a little heavy on the alcohol and light on the juice and mixing ingredients.

One of the bars was on a second story overlooking one of the pools and the grandstand areas. This one also had several pool tables. In the name painted on the front of the building was the word Billars, they got a little closer with the word inside the bar when they called it billards, but maybe that is the spanish way to spell billiards???

Music: While we were there there was three areas each playing different music. The way the park is set up, these three areas didn’t compete so, you could hang out in the area where you liked what was being played and not be also listening to the other areas. There was a covered stage area and a bandstand where it looked like live music would be played at times. While we were there they were only playing recorded music.

Lockers: This is kind of important. You will need a place to put your money and other items while you are on the slides. They do have locker rentals, that you rent by the day. I would guess that they run out on days where the park is very full. The nice thing is they are not one time use lockers, You get a key that you need to find a way of attaching to you (to keep it from falling out of your pocket), which opens a standard keylock so you can get into the locker as often as you need.

Summary: We liked the park and plan on going again. It was worth the 350 peso (about $10 USD) price to get in plus 100 pesos for the tube rental. The park was clean, well staffed, friendly and had everything you would expect in a waterpark. By US standards it was a little short on slides, but we found plenty to do to keep us busy for the day.

Kaskada Water Park (Kaskada Aqua Park) is located at
Ave. Hispanoamericana # 90,
Santiago, República Dominicana
Telephone 809-570-7070 or 809-570-7159

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If you happen to visit La Vega any other time, there are basically two things you may want to see:

1. 

   La Vega Cathedral

   The Cathedral – it is situated next to the main park, impossible to miss. It’s a grey, concrete building, a mixture of Gothic and neo-industrial styles. Nothing impressing I am afraid.

2. The ruins of the original city of Concepción de la Vega (now called La Vega Vieja) It was founded in 1495 by Bartolomeo Colombo at the Concepción fortress, which had been built by Christopher Columbus in 1494. When we arrived at the place we realized we were the only tourists. The entrance fee is 50 pesos. Even though the guide books say you can have a tour in different languages, the guide spoke only Spanish. He showed us the ruins of the Fransiscan monastery explaining where the library and bedrooms were. He also showed us the graves of the Taínos (pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles). He mentioned that there was a custom to bury them in a fetal position.
   

   La Vega Vieja - Guide showing us graves

   About a mile from this place, there are ruins of the fort, from which the Spaniards were shooting at the Indians. There also used to be a church and a prison, which were destroyed during the earthquake in 1564. More information and exhibits you can see in the museum (Museo Lourdes Caceres Mendoza).

   

   Ruins of Prison

   In the distance, up on the hill you can find the ruins in Santo Cerro (Holy Hill), where a famous miracle is said to have occurred that helped Columbus and his men defeat the Taínos in the battle. Columbus picked that hill because it was easy to defend and it provided a clear view of the Cibao Valley. The legend says that Columbus had planted a wooden cross at which he and his army prayed for success for the battle. Unfortunately during the battle the Taínos were unable to destroy it. Apparently Virgin Mary appeared above the cross and protected it from being chopped or burnt down. Now at the Iglesia Las Mercedes there is only a hole in the ground.

   The city of Concepción de la Vega was abandoned in 1564, after it was destroyed by an earthquake. In 1880, the church that presently stands at the top of Santo Cerro was built to replace the small hermitage.

   

   Santo Cerro

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Boca Chica Beach Sunset

Boca Chica beach is located on the southern coast of the island of Hispaniola. It’s a unique reef-protected lagoon of tranquil blue waters and powder-white sand. It is perfect for families with children as it is only waist deep even up to a mile from the shore and hardly ever there are waves. The crystal clear and shallow water are great for swimming and snorkeling, paddle boating, kayaking, especially around the coral reefs. Boca Chica has two small islands, Los Pinos and La Matica (later there maybe something more about those two islands).

Boca Chica has a many Hotels and all inclusive resorts within walking distance of the beach. For a list check out our Boca Chica Hotel Reviews.

Boca Chica is the most crowded beach of the Dominican Republic especially on weekends and holidays because it is only 19 miles away from the capital city – Santo Domingo. Only Monday morning the beach is empty and cleaned up of any trash left from the day before. It is so close to the capital that it pays off to go there even for one day. It is small and basically everywhere you can get on foot. You can always take a motoconcho for 10 pesos and they will take you whenever you want to. If anyone gets tired of the beach, it is also close to other places such as a small horseshoe bay that offers great boogie boarding or if you are interested in playing golf, there is San Andres Caribe Golf Club in the area.

People call it “shopping beach”, because you don’t have to worry about spending your free time shopping – here the goods come to you. Vendors trying to sell coconuts, sunglasses, silver jewelry and paintings are everywhere on the beach. What is more, while getting a tan, for a few dollars you may have your manicure or pedicure done or even get your hair braided. Just make sure you agree on the price before they give you a treatment.

Beach Restaurant

History
Boca Chica was originally developed by the president and a dictator of Dominican Republic – Juan Bautista Vicini Burgos in the early twentieth century. However, it became really famous when the dictator Raphael Leonidas Trujillo decided to build the first hotel on the coast – Hotel Hamaca. There, Trujillo provided asylum to Fulgencio Batista, Cuban dictator, former president, after the Cuban Revolution. Soon later Hamaca Hotel became something of an icon. It welcomes guests until today. After Trujillo’s death in 1961 Boca Chica transformed to an exclusive resort called “Playa Saint-Tropez”. Since then it became a popular resort destination for wealthy Dominicans coming from Santo Domingo and tourists from all around the world.

Calle Duarte – night life in Boca Chica
Calle Duarte during the day is a busy street full of souvenirs stalls, little cafes and really good restaurants. One of the best things to take home is rum, artwork or crafts. There are several discos that play of course merengue and bachata, making boca Chica one of the better “singles” beaches on the island. However, you may find there a bar with an extravagant name “Route 66” that brings to mind the highway that runs across the USA. Unlike in other bars, rock and roll fills the air there. Yet, after dusk Calle Duarte has a notorious reputation. It becomes the place of party bars and prostitution. You have to be careful not to get close to the prostitutes, because very often even if you don’t accept their offers, they may try stealing your wallet.

Even during the day prostitution is very common in Boca Chica. Usually the girls target single men, so men with their families are usually not bothered. You will often also see men taking a prostitute up to their hotel room, this is accepted by most of the Hotels. Prostitution is one of the major draws or drawbacks of Boca Chica depending on your viewpoint. Except for the occasional minor cleanup of the situation, the city doesn’t seem to really view this as a problem to be dealt with.

Boca Chica Ocean View

Boca Chica Beach

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The Dominican Republic is an amazing a place to visit and have your next holidays, I personally know that because I live there and I perfectly understand why this is a natural paradise in the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic is the main destination in the Caribbean and a top exotic destination in the world. In regards to beaches –most of them are located in all-inclusive hotels and resorts are a natural marvelous with white sands and crystal water.

If you visit the eastern provinces of the Dominican Republic you can take a boat to the Catalina Island which is a very colorful paradise and is part of the territory of the Dominican Republic. While you are moving over there, it takes about 30 minutes or less, you start realizing that in the middle of the sea between the Dominican Republic and Catalina Island crystalline parts where you can clearly see the button of the sea. It is incredible the way you can see that and the beauty of this place. When you arrive to the Catalina Island immediately you see you are experiencing a marvelous delight.

I think the beaches of the Dominican Republic are the most beautiful beaches of the world. Definitely are the best in the Caribbean and are visited every year by tourists from Europe, Canada and United States but its beauty and exquisiteness are incredible. Beaches in the Dominican Republic are basically divided in those which are located in the north of the country –touristic zone of Puerto Plata-, those that are located in the south of the country –basically in provinces such as San Cristobal, Bani and Barahona- and those that are located in the eastern zone of the Country such as Bavaro, Juan Dolio, Boca Chica and more.

-Wonderful paradise with white sands: Sand is so white in the beaches of the Dominican Republic that you will be enticed to eat it.

- Dazzling sun: This is one of the greatest attractive of the beaches in the Dominican Republic. American, Canadian and European girls love make topless sleeping in the sand and exposing their bodies in the sun.

- Secure place even in the water: Beaches of the Dominican Republic are very secure places and police is everywhere controlling the perimeter of the beaches and preventing any kind of difficulties. That’s why visitants of the beaches in the Dominican Republic feel fine and they are protected for enjoying their holidays.

- Moderate waves: In the Dominican Republic you can find beaches that despite its beauty are amazing for water sports such as surfing, but there are also beaches where you can enjoy a lot for water and are perfect for swimming.

- Very clean places: The government of the Dominican Republic is making a huge endeavor to provide always a safe and clean place.

Dominican Republic is know by Canadians, American, European and more as a great destination that being the second largest country in the Caribbean is the main destination in this zone. There are several reasons why beaches is the foremost attraction of tourists that come –millions of them each year- to its beaches and take even some weeks in all-inclusive hotels and resorts. I would like to share with some of the reasons why you should visit the Dominican Republic in your next holidays. Discover the richness of this country and why its beaches are the best option for you during your next vacations in the Caribbean.

-Exotic place: I personally think that Caribbean is one of the most exotic places of the world and everybody like visit exotic places such as beaches, hotels and resorts of the Dominican Republic. This is the perfect place for your honeymoon or even if you are attempting to have a second or third romantic holiday it is also a great place for you. There are places –all inclusive hotels and resorts- in the Dominican Republic that are specially prepared for single people.

-Brilliant and golden sand: This is something that is making this country more interesting for people whose countries don’t have these things. Beaches, sand, coconuts and diverse elements that are part of the beaches in the Dominican Republic are very impressive for most of their visitants and its beauty is the main value they have.

-Very friendly and kind people: People in the Dominican Republic are very kind and friendly and tourists like this a lot. Dominicans like to share with visitants everything they know and they have and this is a very important reason why you should visit the Dominican Republic for your next holidays.

-Facilities and comfort: In the Dominican Republic you will find hotels with all the facilities you need such as comfortable accommodations –hotel suits and rooms, gyms, pools, transportation, security, wonderful food, drinks, restaurants in the hotel, cultural activities, parties, night life and more. The Dominican Republic is going to be for you an amazing and memorable experience.

-Amazing communication facilities: Telecommunications is one of the strongest aspects of the Dominican Republic –for those people interested in stay well communicated and connected- and you will find several communication facilities such as long-distance calls as well as DSL internet connection. As matter as fact, if you need use transportation services that is not included in your package you have the option to hire some of the services that is near your hotel. Also you could rent-a-car and use it to visit different places in the Dominican Republic.

-Water sports: If you really love water sports, the Dominican Republic is the perfect place to play all kind of water sports. There are several sports you can play there such as surfing, water polo, fishing, windsurfs and more. Hotels and resorts in the Dominican Republic often have a wide range of options for visitants and sometimes it’s depend on the kind of touristic package you have chosen you will have different options to choose.

Once you get to this page, click on the “more” link and then check the Photos checkbox. You will then see a bunch of thumbnail images of different places around DR. You can click on these to blow them up. It’s a nice way to see images and know which area they come from.

DRs a beautiful place. We will likely be starting off moving closer to a city and then later moving further into the country. Looks like there is going to be a lot of great places to explore.