22 September 2009

Zona de Colonial, Santo Domingo Staycation, Sep 19th & 20th

(posted by: Doug)

We live in a beautiful city. A fact that had basically escaped us for the first month because of our hectic schedules: work, get situated, work while getting situated, etc. We'd caught glimpses of Santo Domingo in taxis and on busses out of town, but hadn't quite gotten our hands dirty in Santo Dominicanness. Therefore, we elected to stay in town this particular weekend and explore some parts of this massive city that still very much remains a mystery to us.
*note: this is way out of order, but it takes forever to fix. I've screwed this up enough times now to know how to work it, so next time should be much better. Enjoy:)

Small protected port in the middle of SD. If you look at a map ouf our city, this is the part where the water splits it in half.

From the top of a castle/fort type thing in the Zona de Colonial (Colonial Zone), SD.



Artfully, I give you some perspective on the orientation of our apt in SD.





And here's a nicer shot, minus the squiggles.


A large Catholic cathedral is in the middle of Parque Colon; the Colonial Zone at it's most colonial and the first church started in the New World (not the first finished, though. These things take time). We'd just gotten out of mass this day. Unfortunately, due to my emergent level Spanish, I caught none of it.


More parts of the cathedral.



Mas.




Muy mas.


Large complex/fort in the Zona de Colonial, where Columbus and his goons set up shop.



In the same complex. Likely the entire Dominican military force...



Different angle, same place as above, but you can see that the entire place is protected by high walls.




Me.

Us.


From the top of that big tower you can see behind us in the above picture.


Mas.

Other direction.



This part kind of reminds me of Portland. Nonetheless it's really pretty here.

From inside one of the buildings.



Stace showing her adventurous side.
Streets of the Colonial Zone.

Stace decending into the darkness.

We snuck up to the top of this building and saw the bell tower, some statues and got a great view.



Though not tourist season yet, as you can see they're beginning to encroach...


Art at the top of this building.




Midd right are a lot of cool resteraunts we frequent on the weekends.





Finally, a cargo ship with some soul.


Stace outside of the Zona de Colonial


Parque Colon, the cathedral from above is right behind this. Also, the pigeons are nasty and I hate them.



















5 comments:

  1. Holy moley!! Las picturas son muy bonitas! (Also, emergent Espanol). And, your hair is so long! Ahahaha I've never seen it grown out before (except in pictures). What a beautiful place to be, and to share it together. What a TOP engagement!

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  2. P.S. My "Ahahaha" was not in mockery; it was light-hearted amusement. =)~

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  3. I like the picture captioned, "The Other Direction." And Doug with the door. And Stacy descending into darkness. :)

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  4. Pretty sweet stuff. Very catholic... but I guess that's expected. I hiked Mt St Helens this week... I'll be posting my pics on my blog eventually...

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  5. Ah, Em, my hair is TOO LONG for a Caribbean climate! It's so hot, I can wear it down for a maximum of 5 minutes before the humidity destroys all of my hard work. I'm glad you liked the pictures!

    Robin, if/when you come, we'll take you to these places and we'll imitate the pictures, only with you in the staircase and Zach with the door. Deal? :D

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