When people enjoy an exotic vacation it is pretty customary for them to want to take a little piece of the location home with them as a remembrance. While you can always head to a gift shop and buy a Dominican knickknack (usually made in china), it is sometimes nice to pick up something that is unique to the country. The Dominican Republic produces several items that are unique to here. One of the most popular items is Larimar, but there is also amber and a rather interesting blue amber that is found here.

Larimar is a semiprecious stone that is only found in the Dominican Republic. In fact it is only mined in one location (at least at this time), between Barahona and Bahoruco, Dominican Republic. Barahona also called Santa Cruz de Barahona is one of the main cities in the Barahona Province, in the south of the Dominican Republic.

Along with the larimar stone that is mined there Barahona is also known as an ecotourism port, for its “Barahona Type Coffee” and the Barahona Sugar Factory. Barahona is also a sea port.

Larimar Mines

One point I found particularly interesting is that most of the mines are more of family operations. (more…)