It’s been a while since I shared with you the last update of my adventures in this life. So let me get back on track with everything,
As I previously told you, for El Inge’s birthday celebration, we decided to go to the land where Juan Luis Guerra blew bubbles of love, the land where Romeo Santos stalked his ex-girlfriend, where Wilfrido Vargas danced with his dog, and where Gamora was born before joining Thanos: The Dominican Republic
As I told you in my latest post, this is the 26th country in my lifetime, (27th if I include Mexico). The Dominican Republic is the country with the biggest economy in the Caribbean and the birthplace of Bachata and Merengue dance and music. It is also the birthplace of artists such as Juan Luis Guerra, Romeo Santos, Wilfrido Vargas, Milly Quezada and Zoe Zaldaña. For several reasons including a last-minute booking, the closeness. my mom‘s health and the budget, my family opted for this country.
Bayahibe and Saona Island
Our first destination is a very small town south of the Dominican Republic called Bayahibe. It was everything you can expect from a Caribbean small town: Turquoise blue water, relaxed atmosphere, sun and friendly people. As it was getting late and a storm was menacing to arrive during the sunset, we booked a private boat driver that took us to Saona Island. We swam at the transparent, shallow water and we saw many fish, a turtle and a starfish. I brought my snorkels so it was a very inmersive experience.
Punta Cana
Our next destination was at the far east, at Punta Cana where the tourism and the resorts are having a boom in a very similar way as Cancun in Mexico. As part of the relaxing trip for my dad, we decided to stay in an all inclusive hotel, the Hard Rock. So we enjoyed nice swimming pools, a rock concert and a wide variety of food. On the second day, I got sick with two much food so I spent the last day in the room’s jacuzzi finishing a book I wanted to finish.
Santo Domingo
Our last part of the trip was the capital, Santo Domingo, a city that was founded by the Spaniards somewhere in 1506, long before the Tenochtitlan empire felt on 1521. Santo Domingo is a very vibrant city with lots of coffee shops, bars, Mexican restaurants, traffic jams, colonial monuments and good looking cool people that are always singing. There I enjoyed some of the local food specialties.
This was a very brief trip, but I enjoyed it a lot. I still need to come back to dance more bachata and merengue and explore many of the beautiful waterfalls that this amazing country has.
Israel Andalón 
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