As I mentioned yesterday, it is exam week for all 3 of our schools in Santo Domingo. All of use student teachers either have a half day of giving exams or no school at all, so our professor decided to excuse us from school so that we could spend one more day exploring and doing some souvenir shopping.
We went to the Colonial Zone this morning and visited a market. It was set up kind of like a flea market in the U.S. with people selling all sorts of goods. I was glad that we had Estela, one of our host moms, with us to help us barter. If she hadn’t been there we would have been charged so much more! We are not used to bartering at home, so it is pretty difficult, at least for me. Shopping was very overwhelming because the merchants were so persistent that we buy something from their shop. They would say things like “it is free to look” to try to get us into their store. I ended up with some very nice gifts for my friends and family, I’m so excited to see them in a few days! I also bought some jewelry for myself. I love wearing cute rings so I bought a larimar ring and an amber ring. Larimar is a type of stone that is only Found in the Dominican Republic. It is the pretty blue one in the picture. I have just always liked amber (fossilized tree resin) so I was excited to find that in many shops here too.
After the Colonial Zone we went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant near our apartment. It was delicious! I highly recommend Gastronomia Mexicana to anyone in Santo Domingo!
I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that I tested out Dominican Taco Bell. Anyone who knows me knows that I am quite the Taco Bell connoisseur. The verdict: Fiesta Fries are not as fun as they sound, but they have way better desserts than are offered in the U.S. I had a dulce de leche quesadilla that was quite yummy. Also, crunch wraps are crunchy wraps. Remember this, because I learned that they don’t know what you mean if you just say crunch wrap. I think it’s funny that there are so many American fast food and casual dining restaurants here and that they use the same (or very similar) names (in English) for the items on their menus.
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