The history that permeates Santo Domingo has been just as interesting and omnipresent as I hoped. The Spanish landed here in 1496, and two years later the city was founded by Christopher's younger brother, Bartholomew Columbus. As a result, there are monasteries, forts, and residences from the early 1500's. My mother and I went to Mass in the oldest cathedral in the New World, which was a chance to admire the architecture and learn a bit about the culture. I think of the Western Hemisphere as being "young", so it's neat to discover we have authentic Gothic buildings here.
The history of so complicated that I have trouble putting all the various memorials for independence and generals into context. By my count, the city was ruled by five counties (Spain, France, Haiti, the US, and the Dominican Republic) - six if you count that Sir Francis Drake (technically a pirate but supported by the English crown) captured and held the city for ransom for a while. The have been dozens of military uprising, with power rapidly shifting between factions, and the dictator Trujillo ruled until 1965.
Our apartment is in the Zona Colonial (Colonial City in English), which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and just stuffed full of old buildings. We can sit on our second- story terrace and watch the old men play dominoes or the cats deftly maneuver the rooflines. I'm learning more about regular life this way than if we had stayed at a hotel. Here we have to turn on the hot water heater 10 minutes before we want a shower and here I can watch the man on the three-wheeled tricycle calling for people to bring him their old electronics.
The photo shows the type of house around here, but not our place. Our apartment is not as picturesque; we don't have snazzy blue paint, but we do have a backup generator for when the power goes out every morning, and right now that's better than picturesque.
4 comments:
Hmmm I've never been to a place that required a back up generator...no I take that back, the power went down in Turkey when we were there...and my Dad had a back up generator...so I guess it isn't that unusual.
It sounds like it is a very beautiful and interesting place to visit.
It sounds like a really interesting holiday experience.
It's funny that you have all these cultural observations, I guess because it is new. You were just in Germany last year right? But I guess that is so familiar, it doesn't seem as remarkable.
I think everyone should travel to a country somewhere below the standard of the west to get a real idea for how most of humanity lives. I am every morning grateful for our hot water heater!
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