dominican republic 3

See all the photos on my photo blog, here.

dominican republic 2

La Victoria, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. One day I was lucky enough to get to travel to a smaller town named La Victoria outside of the capital. So we went to a house to have lunch. There were a few American families living there and doing missionary work. I thought it was interesting to think about being a child in a foreign country like these kids do. The colors in DR are perfect for taking photos. A local dude took us on a 5 hour walking journey thru La Victoria. The district is big and includes many different areas of settlement, sprawling far outside the main city center. "You are the first Americans to walk this path." He told us. We decided to walk the path thru the forest instead of the main roads. Lots of the houses contained large amounts of land and farm animals. Kids playing stickball. Obviously materials are not easy to comeby. They use thin sticks and water jug caps which kind of hover in like a smaller frisbee. They let me hit a few times. Poped it up foul and hit a grounder. It's pretty tough! A few women let me take their photos. They were pretty excited about it, actually. (via)

dominican republic 1

These photos are all from within the capitol, Santo Domingo. I can't say they are the greatest photos ever, but there are a few good ones in the bunch. I was down there for 5 days and stayed with my friend Ryan who is doing missionary work on the island. Here are some shots...  A few other things of note:  I twice rode in a cab van with more than 24 people in it.  The first thing we did after I landed was go to a gas station and buy a large bottle of Presidente beer to drink while we drove back into town.  There usually are no lines in the roads, and if there are they are ignored.  Also, driving on the wrong side of the road is apparently not a concern.  Cars seem to be driven until them simply fall apart.  One afternoon we hit rush hour and it took about 2 hours to go a few miles.  I went scuba diving and it was pretty rad.  2 dives, the second one we went down like 30 feet, all for roughly US$70.  One night at a bodega, a local guy seemed to be amazed at my presence.   Light skin is preferred and straight hair is uncommon.  He took a photo of me on his camera phone, and then another one using the camera's American flag border feature.  Roosters are everywhere.  Usually the roosters would start to crow before I even went to sleep at night.  Mosquitos are everywhere, too.  I got probably around 40 bites (hopefully none with malaria).  Don't underestimate the line at the airport when you go home.  Luckily I skipped it, probably because I got the you-are-an-American hook up.  There are lots of beautiful girls in the Dominican Republic. (via)

La Victoria

Santo Domingo

Dive Clubbing