So much has happened in the last week, I don't know where to start. First, there were many, many tourists here this past week. Amongst the hoard were many new faces that I have not seen before. All the venues were packed to the rafters. Unfortunately,
Arena was closed. I had heard rumors about it, but there it was on the front page of
Listin Diario yesterday (below the fold). It seems it wasn't just
Arena that was closed, but another straight club (and very popular) in the Zone, called Nowhere. They were both closed because they allegedly allowed underage patrons to come in and drink. Let's see how this plays out. With the opening of
Cha, Arena had been doing very badly. Let's hope they are able to open and get things together. Personally, I believe the competition is very healthy, and let's people know there are options. On carnival Sunday, Cha was packed to the rafters. It didn't hurt that you could sit there and watch the parade go by, oh yeah, then the specials of RD$50 pesos for Presidente's and national drinks probably didn't hurt much either.
Victor Martinez, photo above, just won the Arnold Classic Bodybuilding Championship. He is a Dominican from Washington Heights and I have included several links for your perusal below.
This past Sunday's carnival took place on the Malecon of Santo Domingo. This year, for some reason I wanted to go. That was until I got dressed and was about to leave, when right in front of my door a young lady's cell phone was snatched. Well all hell broke loose and as the young man who snatched the phone tried to get away, he slipped. Wrong move. The crowd pounced on him and beat the living shit out of him. I have seen this happen many times before. Vigilantism is alive and well in the DR. After that incident I thought it best to watch the festivities on TV and go out later.
Mark Harris, from San Francisco, was just here and is planning a trip here in the Dominican Republic. For more information go his site
here.
Norm, from Fort Lauderdale, is here visiting now. He came by to tell me about a cruise he is putting together that will be leaving out of Santo Domingo in March 2008. The cruise will be sailing to
St. Maarten,
Dominica,
Grenada,
Margarita Island, Venezuela and
Aruba. As I get more information I will pass it along to you.
For those in town this weekend,
Mario Sessions will be here celebrating his birthday this weekend. Look for him at Jay-Dee's on Saturday night
(note to Mario: no need to make a comment! LOL!).
Dominican Baseball Players Caught in Visa ScamDR Finally Enters into Free Trade Agreement with U.S.JetBlue Flies to Santo Domingo Starting this Spring!(Thinking about coming for Memorial weekend? Go to www.jetblue.com for a sale price of $109 each-way from JFK. Flights start May 24, 2007!)Thief Being Beaten at Santo Domingo CarnivalDominican Dominator Wins the Arnold Classic Bodybuilding Championship Personal Website MySpace Page Other PhotosChanging Demographics of Washington Heights, NYC
It's that time of year again. The end of February brings the celebration of Dominican independence, along with Carnival celebrations. The photo above was taken at the Carnival celebrations in La Vega, Dominican Republic. Carnival in La Vega is celebrated every Sunday in February. The climax is when everyone travels to Santo Domingo to take part in the Carnival excitement on the Malecon (March 2, 2008).
I couldn't find any good, or at least what I thought of as good, photos from this past Sunday's carnival on the Malecon. Enter Ernest Montgomery, a frequent contributor to the Monaga blog. He sent me some great shots he captured before the crush of the crowds sent him home. There was a lot of talk amongst the gay population about a particular float that was costumed as Indians. They wore nothing under their outfits and had the crowd in a tizzy when the wind would blow the garments up.
.jpg)
Posts
