Trip to the Dominican Republic

September, 2000

The Dominican Republic is the second largest nation in the Caribbean, and about the size of the states of Vermont and New Hampshire combined.  It occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispanola... Haiti occupies the western one-third of the island.  The principal industry now is tourism, followed by agriculture (sugar cane, coffee, cocoa, bananas, tobacco, rice).   About half of the country's 8 million people live in rural areas.  The Taino Indians welcomed Christopher Columbus to this land in 1492.

I visited the area of Punta Cana/Bavaro, which is along the easternmost coast of the country, and about 3 hours by car from the capital city of Santo Domingo.   There are only small towns and villages in this part of Dominican Republic.  Punta Cana and Bavaro are neither city nor province names.... the names refer to resort areas along the eastern beaches.  The areas are served by the Punta Cana Airport, which was about a 25 minute bus ride from my "home" (for a week).