Pictures here
Getting into Dominican Republic at half past midnight probably wasn’t the best idea, but that was the only flight available to still give me 2 days in DR. When I first arrive in a new country, the first taxi I take will usually overcharge me because I still don’t know the local taxi rates. If the taxi driver offers you a rate, then you will need to negotiate. The thing to do is just offer a price straight up, and if the taxi driver doesn’t take it, move on to the next taxi driver. That’s what I did when I left Cuba. The standard fare is $15 CUC, but I paid $20 on the way in. Likewise in Dominican Republic, I paid $1200 RD, which is almost $40 USD, whereas the standard fare should be around $25 to $30 USD. I guess until I become a gazillionaire and have a team of personal assistants to take care of these minuet details, I better get in the trenches myself and negotiate.
Santo Domingo is not very backpacking friendly since without renting a car, it’s hard to get anywhere outside of the Zona Colonial. While in Cuba, I have been pretty sheltered from information, but I finally paid attention to the oil price. It was north of $130 for a barrel of crude oil! Holy cow! At the beginning of the year, it was just barely breaking $100 and had actually dipped down to below $90 if I remember correctly. I felt that price hike in Dominican Republic as well. For the two days there, I paid $500 RD to stay in a very basic hotel and paid nearly twice as much for short taxi rides around the city. Food and everything else is still relatively cheap compared to the US. So if drivers in the US think they are feeling the squeeze in the US, people in second and third world countries who have to drive are probably feeling the price hike that much more.
As I came out of my hotel the next day walking towards the Independence monument, a Dominican tagged along with me and wanted to give me a tour of the city. I looked quickly in my guidebook and confirmed that he is dressed as an official guide should be dressed, in blue shirt and khakis. I figure I could practice my Spanish with him so I agreed to his tour. At the monument, I asked him about the history of three people whose statues were displayed. He gave me a bit of information and then prompted me to take pictures. The situation felt kind of strange because guides usually don’t stop talking until it’s time to move onto the next site. I asked “do you have more information about their history?†He said that he didn’t, but he would have more information at the next site. Ok, no problem. We walked onto the next site, the first hospital built in the New World. There, the same thing happened; he told me the year it was built and then told me I could take pictures there. I asked him what year Christopher Columbus discovered the island and he said “1844â€. “Great, this guy is totally confused; now how do I get rid of him?†It was then obvious to me that the guide was a fake; I hadn’t bothered to ask for his tour guide id earlier since he dressed like one. As he said he has four kids to raise, I paid him and cut the tour short. When talking about money, they always seem to have a big family to raise. Next time, I am buying them condoms instead of paying cash.
Empanada stands are everywhere in Dominican Republic. If you have never had empanadas, they are deep fried dough pockets, usually containing some filling like chicken, beef, egg, vegetable or a mix of other ingredients. They are not the healthiest food items but the crusty oily outside combined with salty fillings taste damn good. I think I had six of them in one sitting.
After touring some plazas, I stopped at the Larimar museum. Larimar is a light blue gem native to Dominican Republic. Like other gems, Larimar is made when high heat and compression force different elemental molecules together. The extraction of these gems is still very manual; laborers climb down a ladder into a hole and dig with basic tools. I like Larimar in its original rock, but when they are made into statues, the color reminded me of oxidized copper, not exactly something I want to put on me. So here’s to my future wife; you probably won’t be showered with Larimar.
While in Dominican Republic, I of course had to take a Bachata class. The teacher showed the students a few patterns, but I thought the steps were such that both the girl and the guy need to know they are dancing that pattern. It reminded me of Casino Salsa where there is one person calling out the patterns for the group. After some clarification, I learned that the guy is actually leading the girl’s feet with his hands. On the fourth beat of a bar, if I wanted the girl to kick forward with her left foot, I would just lead her left hand forward. It’s actually so simple that even a monkey can do it. After class, I went on a mission to search for a cockfighting ring, another Dominican Republic specialty. As May is not the regular fighting season where fights are held in a bigger arena, my taxi driver and I went around the city but didn’t find a ring that night.
Next day arriving at the Columbus Lighthouse, I found out it was closed by the empty plaza in front of it. That wouldn’t stop me; I hung out for a bit and talked to the sailor manning the monument. A few minutes later, “Open Sesame!†Besides the sheer size of the cement building itself and the large marble statue in the center, the light house actually houses a museum of artifacts from different countries around the world. I was surprised to find that Taiwan has a large section art and cultural pieces displayed. 
The sailor told me that Taiwan actually had naval ships in Santo Domingo only about three weeks ago. Over the last few decades, as China exerted its influences all over the world economically and diplomatically, former allies, one after another, severed formal relations with Taiwan and formed relations with China. My guess is that Taiwan gives substantial economic and technological aid to Dominican Republic, at least more so than China. We are both islands situated next to superpowers; a little help wouldn’t hurt. 
Of all the artifacts, I found the 500 year old maps the most interesting. It’s amazing how they were able to figure out the shapes of the continents and islands with just compasses. There were also some original scripts from Columbus’s scrapbook. Since he has terrible handwriting, I didn’t understand much of it. And … it was in Latin.
I then wondered to the nearby suburbs. Dominicans in the neighborhood didn’t pay nearly as much attention to me as the ones in the Colonial Zone — no one calling out “Taxi!†or “My friendâ€. That’s the way I like it. Bachata music played on all the streets. People sat on their porches; others play dominos on tables outside. Tired, I gorged on more freshly made empanadas topped with ketchup. I don’t think I have ever ate this much deep fried food in two days. As the day winded down, I had one more mission – to find a gallera, cockfighting ring.