Given the very positive response I received when I posted the description of Santo Domingo a few weeks ago, here I give a shot at the Cibao.... Enjoy!
Few places on earth are as beautiful or environmentally pleasant as the Cibao Valley. Protected to the north by the abrupt Cordillera Setentrional, protected to the south by the impressive Cordillera Central in the middle sits the deepest top soil in the world, rich in nutrients and nitrogen, essential for good farming. It’s no surprise that this is also the home of the largest concentration of farms in the entire Caribbean. Big plantations jostle for space with small conucos. A line of industrial colonial towns carpet the valley floor along the main carreteras, particularly the Santiago-Moca-San Francisco route and the Santiago-La Vega route. In many places, these ribbon towns spread through such a wide area that it’s hard to tell where one town ends and the other begins. Despite the overpopulation of the valley, there are gems. The vistas that are revealed when the scenery along the road quickly changes from development to plantations are awe inspiring. One minute you see wood and cement homes one after the other and then, it clears into a sprawling cattle ranch dotted by clumps of mature Royal Palm trees on one side of the road and on the other it’s a forest of banana and plantains trees. Regardless of the view, the mountain backdrop is never too far away to give some extra color to the local scenery.
The gems of the Cibao congregate in the historic and prosperous urban conglomerations of this relatively prosperous region of the Dominican Republic. In Moca, the Iglesia Sagrado Corazon de Jesus stands in sheer elegance with its majestic architecture and impressive steeple, dominating the skyline of this town. Inside the church is a little known secret, an old pipe organ, only two of its kind were made in the entire world and the other one is somewhere in Brazil. The quaint Spanish colonial architecture with a Creole twist dominates many of the open spaces and streets of Moca, with a cinderblock box imbedded here and there. The streets are alive with economic activity, from butchers and mechanics to salesmen and factory workers. The local university keeps a healthy university crowd passing through town and the women around here are some of the Dominican Republic’s most beautiful and authentic. Moca is the real Dominican Republic in its full small town splendor.
Moca is not the only urban agglomeration taking up space on the valley floor, there is also San Francisco de Macoris, a very prosperous town, genuinely Dominican. Salcedo, the eternal home of the beloved Mirabal sisters stands nearby. The town itself is pleasant, though smaller than either Moca or San Francisco. La Concepcion de la Vega is still alive and kicking near the holy Santo Cerro. According to legend, Christopher Columbus and his men were spared a battle with the Taino Indians when the Virgin of Mercy (Mercedes) descended upon them spooking the Indians away. Real or not, the truth is that the view from this “holy hill” is spectacular. The entire Vega Real section of the Cibao is clearly visible here; describing the beauty of this view can never be given full justice by mere words. People have to come and see this for themselves, only that way will they understand what real beauty looks like.
Of course, who can refer to the Cibao without referring the ciudad Corazon or by its more formal name Santiago de los Caballeros. Santiago is the alter ego of Santo Domingo. Its inhabitants think of themselves as being more refined, better cultured, and more Dominican than Santo Domingo or the rest of the republic for that matter. To be from Santiago is not merely a coincidental reality for many, but a deep pride and joy imbedded in the historical importance of this always prosperous city. After all, Santiago has supplied the nation the most numbers of presidents, the exciting and always fun merengue, the speech pattern known as Cibaeño, and much more. Santiago would have been the natural capital of the republic, being the largest city in the country until Trujillo came to power and began transforming the backwater Santo Domingo into the giant behemoth it has become to the south.
Santiago is a beautiful city with some very fine residential neighborhoods. Some architectural gems of the colonial era still remains, such as the former Hotel Mercedes with its glorious and luxurious façade that would fit very well in any historic European town. The Catedral Santiago Apostol is a beautiful gem not just of Santiago, but of the entire republic, still dominating the skyline of this metropolis of the Dominican interior since 1895. However, times are changing and the dominating effect Catedral Santiago Apostol has had on the city’s skyline has met some new competition. The first signs of change for the skyline began with Trujillo’s new monument, today known as the Monumento de la Restauracion (Monument of the Restoration). It has become the symbol of not just Santiago, but of the entire Cibao. A white column looking structure with a neoclassical base sits on the highest point in the entire city, visible from almost anywhere in town. Ironically, this monument was renamed to commemorate the restoration heroes, but look closely to the top of the monument; Trujillo still stands in a mini-sculpture, probably the only sculpture of the dictator that has not been destroyed. Inside of the monument is a large mural by Vela Zanetti depicting peasants, laborers and soldiers winding up the monument’s stairway in pursuit of the liberty Trujillo denied them.
The effect of urban and economic growth has brought the usual habit of metropolises of growing up into the sky and the appearances of high-rises are becoming more pronounced, albeit at a leisurely pace. The city has appropriated new middle class neighborhoods and a beautiful international airport nearby. Its streets and avenues are always buzzing with vehicular traffic. Despite all of this, Santiago is today what Santo Domingo was perhaps twenty years ago. The city has a few glitzy shopping malls, fast food outlets known the world over, large modern supermarkets, a vibrant nightlife, and a decent array of restaurants tempting the taste buds of its inhabitants.
The women of Santiago are some of the nation’s most beautiful, if not the most beautiful of all of Latin America. Ranging from pale white Dominican blondes to tempting eye catching mulatas with smooth complexions, sumptuous eyes, erotic curves and a personality and style that makes men melt upon the presence of these beauties. This city is home to prestigious Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra or “Pucamaima” as it’s popularly known. This university is internationally recognized as one of the Caribbean bests and to glance into the list of undergraduates and graduate students attending this university is to see people from around the world, including Haiti, Puerto Rico and even from the United States! Santiago is a city where the old meets the new, perico ripiao is still heard with its vibrant pulsating rhythms along with modern merengue, melancholic bachata and imported salsa and others.
The Santiago high culture socialites enjoy a day of golf at the beautiful Las Aromas Golf Club; they still enjoy the historic Centro del Recreo, and congregate at the Teatro Cibao, a mirror image of the Teatro Nacional of Santo Domingo. This important theater offers high quality entertainment to the melee of upper class Santiago and Cibao society. Santiago is also a city drenched in culture offering museums that range from the simple but informative Museo del Tabaco to the impressive and world class Centro Cultural Eduardo Leon Jimenes. Built by one of Santiago’s most prominent and respected families and one of the Dominican Republic most prosperous and generous peoples who truly believe in the nation and who are working hard to make this country a little better, one step at a time. In the culture department, Santiago also offers plenty more to its inhabitants, including the Centro de la Cultura, home of the prestigious School of Fine Arts which also offers opera, theater, and chamber music productions in its auditorium hall. This is Santiago, a city with a soul and attitude that is just perfect.
But the Cibao is more than mere cities and towns. This valley is truly a beauty of all proportions. The climate here is spectacular. Beautiful cumulous clouds rise up into the sky bringing scattered showers to the valley, while royal palms dominate the scenery with the smooth tropical breezes causing the palm fronds to sway and produce the soothing crackling sound, one of natures most beautiful and relaxing. The beauty of the Amapola tree in May, when its red leaves blossom creating a feast of green and red to the eyes of those fortunate enough to pass through the Cibao is truly beyond words. The pale purple mountain backdrop, the warm soothing tropical warmth, the smooth caressing tropical breezes, and the sounds of nature and life abound in this valley. The people are gracious and fun loving fully embracing the Dominican spirit, but perhaps more so the Cibaeño pride. From the upper class inteligencia who impresses you with knowledge and culture to the humble countrymen who lives life to live it and nothing more. From the Cuban immigrant who finally made it out of Fidel Castro’s prison to the Chinese immigrants who make their living in their restaurants and nail salons to the Haitian day laborer who finally has something to do after much starving in Haiti. From the always gratifying casabe bread eaten with delicious café con leche in the sleepy town of Villa Tapia to drinking a Presidente beer with friends under the moonlight illuminating the palm dominated scenery with that twilight nightly glow.
This is the Cibao Valley, truly magical….
Few places on earth are as beautiful or environmentally pleasant as the Cibao Valley. Protected to the north by the abrupt Cordillera Setentrional, protected to the south by the impressive Cordillera Central in the middle sits the deepest top soil in the world, rich in nutrients and nitrogen, essential for good farming. It’s no surprise that this is also the home of the largest concentration of farms in the entire Caribbean. Big plantations jostle for space with small conucos. A line of industrial colonial towns carpet the valley floor along the main carreteras, particularly the Santiago-Moca-San Francisco route and the Santiago-La Vega route. In many places, these ribbon towns spread through such a wide area that it’s hard to tell where one town ends and the other begins. Despite the overpopulation of the valley, there are gems. The vistas that are revealed when the scenery along the road quickly changes from development to plantations are awe inspiring. One minute you see wood and cement homes one after the other and then, it clears into a sprawling cattle ranch dotted by clumps of mature Royal Palm trees on one side of the road and on the other it’s a forest of banana and plantains trees. Regardless of the view, the mountain backdrop is never too far away to give some extra color to the local scenery.
The gems of the Cibao congregate in the historic and prosperous urban conglomerations of this relatively prosperous region of the Dominican Republic. In Moca, the Iglesia Sagrado Corazon de Jesus stands in sheer elegance with its majestic architecture and impressive steeple, dominating the skyline of this town. Inside the church is a little known secret, an old pipe organ, only two of its kind were made in the entire world and the other one is somewhere in Brazil. The quaint Spanish colonial architecture with a Creole twist dominates many of the open spaces and streets of Moca, with a cinderblock box imbedded here and there. The streets are alive with economic activity, from butchers and mechanics to salesmen and factory workers. The local university keeps a healthy university crowd passing through town and the women around here are some of the Dominican Republic’s most beautiful and authentic. Moca is the real Dominican Republic in its full small town splendor.
Moca is not the only urban agglomeration taking up space on the valley floor, there is also San Francisco de Macoris, a very prosperous town, genuinely Dominican. Salcedo, the eternal home of the beloved Mirabal sisters stands nearby. The town itself is pleasant, though smaller than either Moca or San Francisco. La Concepcion de la Vega is still alive and kicking near the holy Santo Cerro. According to legend, Christopher Columbus and his men were spared a battle with the Taino Indians when the Virgin of Mercy (Mercedes) descended upon them spooking the Indians away. Real or not, the truth is that the view from this “holy hill” is spectacular. The entire Vega Real section of the Cibao is clearly visible here; describing the beauty of this view can never be given full justice by mere words. People have to come and see this for themselves, only that way will they understand what real beauty looks like.
Of course, who can refer to the Cibao without referring the ciudad Corazon or by its more formal name Santiago de los Caballeros. Santiago is the alter ego of Santo Domingo. Its inhabitants think of themselves as being more refined, better cultured, and more Dominican than Santo Domingo or the rest of the republic for that matter. To be from Santiago is not merely a coincidental reality for many, but a deep pride and joy imbedded in the historical importance of this always prosperous city. After all, Santiago has supplied the nation the most numbers of presidents, the exciting and always fun merengue, the speech pattern known as Cibaeño, and much more. Santiago would have been the natural capital of the republic, being the largest city in the country until Trujillo came to power and began transforming the backwater Santo Domingo into the giant behemoth it has become to the south.
Santiago is a beautiful city with some very fine residential neighborhoods. Some architectural gems of the colonial era still remains, such as the former Hotel Mercedes with its glorious and luxurious façade that would fit very well in any historic European town. The Catedral Santiago Apostol is a beautiful gem not just of Santiago, but of the entire republic, still dominating the skyline of this metropolis of the Dominican interior since 1895. However, times are changing and the dominating effect Catedral Santiago Apostol has had on the city’s skyline has met some new competition. The first signs of change for the skyline began with Trujillo’s new monument, today known as the Monumento de la Restauracion (Monument of the Restoration). It has become the symbol of not just Santiago, but of the entire Cibao. A white column looking structure with a neoclassical base sits on the highest point in the entire city, visible from almost anywhere in town. Ironically, this monument was renamed to commemorate the restoration heroes, but look closely to the top of the monument; Trujillo still stands in a mini-sculpture, probably the only sculpture of the dictator that has not been destroyed. Inside of the monument is a large mural by Vela Zanetti depicting peasants, laborers and soldiers winding up the monument’s stairway in pursuit of the liberty Trujillo denied them.
The effect of urban and economic growth has brought the usual habit of metropolises of growing up into the sky and the appearances of high-rises are becoming more pronounced, albeit at a leisurely pace. The city has appropriated new middle class neighborhoods and a beautiful international airport nearby. Its streets and avenues are always buzzing with vehicular traffic. Despite all of this, Santiago is today what Santo Domingo was perhaps twenty years ago. The city has a few glitzy shopping malls, fast food outlets known the world over, large modern supermarkets, a vibrant nightlife, and a decent array of restaurants tempting the taste buds of its inhabitants.
The women of Santiago are some of the nation’s most beautiful, if not the most beautiful of all of Latin America. Ranging from pale white Dominican blondes to tempting eye catching mulatas with smooth complexions, sumptuous eyes, erotic curves and a personality and style that makes men melt upon the presence of these beauties. This city is home to prestigious Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra or “Pucamaima” as it’s popularly known. This university is internationally recognized as one of the Caribbean bests and to glance into the list of undergraduates and graduate students attending this university is to see people from around the world, including Haiti, Puerto Rico and even from the United States! Santiago is a city where the old meets the new, perico ripiao is still heard with its vibrant pulsating rhythms along with modern merengue, melancholic bachata and imported salsa and others.
The Santiago high culture socialites enjoy a day of golf at the beautiful Las Aromas Golf Club; they still enjoy the historic Centro del Recreo, and congregate at the Teatro Cibao, a mirror image of the Teatro Nacional of Santo Domingo. This important theater offers high quality entertainment to the melee of upper class Santiago and Cibao society. Santiago is also a city drenched in culture offering museums that range from the simple but informative Museo del Tabaco to the impressive and world class Centro Cultural Eduardo Leon Jimenes. Built by one of Santiago’s most prominent and respected families and one of the Dominican Republic most prosperous and generous peoples who truly believe in the nation and who are working hard to make this country a little better, one step at a time. In the culture department, Santiago also offers plenty more to its inhabitants, including the Centro de la Cultura, home of the prestigious School of Fine Arts which also offers opera, theater, and chamber music productions in its auditorium hall. This is Santiago, a city with a soul and attitude that is just perfect.
But the Cibao is more than mere cities and towns. This valley is truly a beauty of all proportions. The climate here is spectacular. Beautiful cumulous clouds rise up into the sky bringing scattered showers to the valley, while royal palms dominate the scenery with the smooth tropical breezes causing the palm fronds to sway and produce the soothing crackling sound, one of natures most beautiful and relaxing. The beauty of the Amapola tree in May, when its red leaves blossom creating a feast of green and red to the eyes of those fortunate enough to pass through the Cibao is truly beyond words. The pale purple mountain backdrop, the warm soothing tropical warmth, the smooth caressing tropical breezes, and the sounds of nature and life abound in this valley. The people are gracious and fun loving fully embracing the Dominican spirit, but perhaps more so the Cibaeño pride. From the upper class inteligencia who impresses you with knowledge and culture to the humble countrymen who lives life to live it and nothing more. From the Cuban immigrant who finally made it out of Fidel Castro’s prison to the Chinese immigrants who make their living in their restaurants and nail salons to the Haitian day laborer who finally has something to do after much starving in Haiti. From the always gratifying casabe bread eaten with delicious café con leche in the sleepy town of Villa Tapia to drinking a Presidente beer with friends under the moonlight illuminating the palm dominated scenery with that twilight nightly glow.
This is the Cibao Valley, truly magical….