Reigning King of Doughnuts – Krispy Kreme is expanding their empire by adding the Dominican Republic to their recent conquests. Let the masses rejoice! (let me know if I’m a little “Over the Top” on this intro).

What can I say? Of all the donut chains nobody compares to Krispy Kreme’s in my opinion. I was hooked the first time I walked into the store and was offered a sample, right out of the oven and barely cooled. It was their Original Glazed Donut, normally a little plain by my standards ( I favor the custard filled), but this “plain” donut was about the best I have ever tasted.

I now have another reason to visit the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo. Krispy Kreme is opening their first of 14 stores in the DR on Winston Churchill Avenue in Santo Domingo. Over the next 5 years they are expecting to open 14 more of the franchise stores throughout the DR. No doubt these will be in the mostly tourist areas giving people a little taste of home while on vacation at one of our beaches.

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The Botanical Gardens located in Santo Domingo are likely one of the “Must Sees” if you are in the area during your visit. The price to get into the park varies depending if you are a local or a foreigner. Dominicans get in for $50 pesos (about $1.45 USD) anyone else pays ($5.00 USD). If you come in a large group you can haggle for a lower price. My family was with a large group of Dominicans and we all got in for $25 pesos.

The park is huge, so to get much out of it you should plan on spending most of the day and walking a lot. How much you walk will be determined by how many other people are there. In our case the park was mostly empty so only one of the three trains was running. They took us around the park, only stopping at one of the individual gardens, the Japanese Garden. The Japanese garden was pretty big and they only gave us 10 minutes to look around before the train took off again.

When there are not many people you take the chance of there not being another train for a long while so if you don’t get on the same one you may be stuck there for an hour or so, or have to walk back. It turns out that walking back would have only been about a quarter mile or so which would have been worthwhile. We really needed more time in this section.
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The quality and variety of food available in Santo Domingo is incredible. You will be able to find food of every style and that fits and budget. The problem is Santo Domingo is huge! Figuring out where to go and how to get there can be a little tough. I found that relying on a taxi drivers ability to both know a restaurant exists in the city and where it is usually is not a good idea. This can often result in a very long drive around the city as he tries all the areas he thinks it might be in, and of course this is going to be on your dime. This can get expensive real quickly as well as waste most of your time. It helps to know where you want to go where it is located and even basic directions on how to get there.

That doesn’t mean you have to settle for something near the hotel. It just takes a little preparation. This is a list of some of the nicer restaurants in Santo Domingo with the number to call them. (more…)

Gatorade is hosting it’s 2010 10k Run on April 25, 2010 at Puerta de la Atarazana in Santo Domingo. This annual event is becoming a tradition for Dominican runners. The La Carrera Gatorade 10K raises fund for thousand of children.

There are 9 categories Elite, Master (must be over 40 years old), Wheelchairs, Blind, Military, Colleges/Schools (must have 10 or more on your team), Companies (must have 10 or more on your team) and walkers.

If you are interested in competing you can register at one of these locations (more…)

Latin Award winning, Puerto Rican, Reggaeton recording artist Daddy Yankee will be performing at the Chavon April 3rd at 8pm. Ramón “Raymond” Luis Ayala Rodríguez or Daddy Yankee got into the underground rap movement in Puerto Rico while it was still in it’s early stages. Later this style of rap took on the name “Reggaeton”.

Starting with his first album to go international in 2002 Daddy Yankee has received numerous awards and nominations Daddy Yankees music has been well received in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Japan.

Tickets to his DR show will be available at Uepa Tickets, Hotel Casa De Campo and Tiendas Corripio. La Romana. General Tickets go for $1500 and $2000 (about $50 US Dollars) or $3500 (about $100 US Dollars)

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Singer, songwriter Ed Kowalczyk of the Band “Live” will be in Santo Domingo March 17th as he continues his Latin America tour. He will be at the Teatro La Fiesta, Hotel Jaragua at George Washington Ave. 367, Apto. Postal 769-2 Santo Domingo. The show starts at 8:30.

Kowalczyk is in the midst of a two year break with the band “Live”. You can sample his acoustic style of music at his website at http://edkowalczyk.com.

Following his show in Santo Domingo he will be at Leuven Belgin, Cologne Germany and finally at Hellendoorn Holland. In his previous tour Kowalczyk was playing solo, Starting with the Dominican Republic show he will have a full band including drums, bass, rhythm guitar and lead guitar.
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