Thursday, March 3, 2011

A Cultural Experience in The Dominican Republic...Part 4 of 4

 This will be my last post on the Dominican Republic (unless I think of something else to share).  We saw a couple interesting forms of transportation there.  Notice the taxi in the picture above...with three people on it!  I also saw a man riding a horse down the street with three big bags of what appeared to be coconuts in them.  It was a beautiful sight, like something out of the movies.  Sadly, I was on the wrong side of the bus and couldn't get a picture. 
 Isn't this a cool fence? 
 I loved how festive all the buildings were.
 There were loads of "taxis" everywhere.  I was shocked by the number of motorcycles on the roads and virtually no one wore helmets.

 Another thing I found interesting was that you would see big open spaces like this and then you would see someone walking across the middle of it talking on their cell phone.
 I went on a shopping excursion with a group of people who went on the trip with us.  We had three different shopping experiences.  The first stop was kind of like a strip mall, but the owners sat outside their shops and asked you to come in and you had to negotiate the prices.  The above photo was our second stop and my favorite.  It was on the beach.  Almost all of these shops were run by handsome young men.  They were more like stalls than shops and everything was negotiable....very negotiable.  The third shopping experience was a lot like a mall here, without the food court.  It was fun experience!
 Faceless pottery dolls are made in the Dominican there were all kinds of them.  I bought this one because I liked the red hair and that you could tell it was handmade.
 This is probably my favorite purchase.  I was told by one of those handsome young men in the beach shopping market that when you have a baby in the Dominican you hang a painting with these symbols over its bed to bring it good luck throughout its life.  A cool thing about the painting is if you look at the back, the artist used reclaimed wood to make the frame and used regular cotton as the canvas.  I absolutely love this and every submission I make from now on will be rubbed on my good luck painting!

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 Then we tried something new.  We went on a snorkeling cruise. And OMGoodness it was fun fun fun!



 Then we swam to this penned in area and swam with nurse sharks and sting rays!  They were too quick for pictures though.  My hubby even dove down to the bottom to photograph a shark, but when I developed it, he had taken a photo of the sea floor and no shark.
Then we were allowed to hold a sting ray if we wanted to...Guess who's hand went up?  His face was lovely and he felt soft like thick wet craft foam.  This experience was way out of my comfort zone, but I was so excited by the snorkeling that I felt like I could do anything...The lesson here is once you try something new and exciting it leads to you wanting to do more new and exciting things.

I hope you have enjoyed my posts about our trip to The Dominican Republic.  It was an amazing experience! 

When have you pushed your limits and done something that made all the cells in your body come to life?

Thanks for stopping in and have a wonderful weekend...

26 comments:

  1. Loved the interesting post and the great photographs. Good for you pushing yourself to the limit, I do that every day, but at my age that's not a difficult thing to do. :0)

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  2. That was some good time! Love the fishes and snorkeling would be lots of fun if it wasn't for all that water.

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  3. Great question. I've never held a sting ray and I'd probably be too scared to.
    Nancy
    N. R. Williams, The Treasures of Carmelidrium

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  4. The photos are gorgeous. I adore all of the colors. Props to you for petting the stingray....I might have passed on that one.

    Shelley

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  5. These scenes are ones I could've seen where I came from -- especially the motorcycles. Thank you for sharing!

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  6. More great photos, Sharon - thanks for sharing! I'm pretty sure there's no way I'd get that close to a sting ray, no matter how excited I was. :)

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  7. Hi Sharon .. loved these - especially the photo of the good luck charm painting - that's gorgeous .. what talent. I've loved your sharing of your trip - the snorkelling I'd really want to do .. the stingray - not sure!

    The shopping trips seem fun .. but the picture and the doll are great ..

    Wonderful - Caribbean holiday on the way?! Cheers Hilary

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  8. You held a stingray!!! Awwwww wow!!! That's so brilliant!! Awwwwww do they really have tiny cute little faces?!?! They seem to!! Awwww you lucky lucky thing!!!!

    I've never really thought of the Dominican Republic as a holiday destination but after this series, I think I'm sold!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!

    All I can say is, darned these mobile phone users!LOL!!!!! I'm kidding!!! But you know - lovely open space, peace, calm - then someone yakking on their phone breezes by...!! Ok, ok, I shall calm down now about noisy mobile phone users.. heheh!

    When have I pushed my limits and done something that made all the cells in my body come to life?

    Er... every time I scoop up a spider with a plastic cup to take outside...

    Take care
    x

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  9. woweee! cool pictures. for sure i love that one of you and that neat sting ray. that painting is just real cool to and so are the under water ones. wow you must of had the most fun time ever. im putting punta cana on my places i wanna go list for sure.
    ...muchos abrazos grandes de lenito :)

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  10. Oooh! I love your good luck wall hanging. And I just pictured you shooting your hand up when they asked if someone wanted to touch a sting ray. I did that at an aquarium once (but I wasn't in the water with it). Slimy! Those faceless dolls are cool!

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  11. I just love your description of the ray! What a wonderful experience!

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  12. WOW. So much fun! I'm so glad you got to go, and you have so many great memories and souvenirs to remind you of all the fun. :)

    Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

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  13. I love the picture of you holding a stingray--wow. They're such cool creatures!

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  14. I love that painting!! And the colours in all the photos are gorgeous - buildings, fabrics, everything! :)

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  15. What a wonderful experience you had! If I was there, I hope I would have been brave enough to hold a sting ray too!

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  16. Oh girl you are brave brave brave!!! I am not brave at all ~ safety first I always say! :)

    You sure look like you have a wonderful time though ~ good for you!
    xo Catherine

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  17. Oh, great! Now, for sure, you've got the edge for gettin' published before I do. Oh, wait! I can send you alla' my finished works to rub on your painting for good luck too, right? You're willing to share, right? ::Yaya starts packing up the fifty-two puzzles she wants published so's Sharon can bestow some good luck::

    I'm lovin' alla' your pictures an' the fact that you were willing to touch the stingray. If If I had been there I might've even taken a picture of you... from a mile or so away. *grin*

    ~ Yaya

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  18. Your photos and commentary have woke up my travel bug! (altho to tell you the truth it never does go to sleep) loved the pictures and the water looks so warm (something that NEVER happens here in the Pacific NW!!)

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  19. I loved reading about your adventures and a different culture. Great pics, too.

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  20. absolutely love that picture of you pushing your limits! Way to move out of your comfort zone! Go you!

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  21. You provide an excellent chronicle of events of your trip. Excellent photos.

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  22. Really nice pictures. Funny that your developed picture had no shark and only sea floor. :D The pictures made me feel liked I've visited DR from my desk. Nice!

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  23. Great pictures and commentary to go with them, Sharon! I love reading about travel experiences -- thanks for sharing them with us!

    As for your question about when I pushed my limits... it was when I went first public with my writing :).

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  24. I've loved reading these posts and checking out the photos - soooo envious :)

    The Arrival, Book 1 of the BirthRight trilogy available now

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