Here are mine, from 1993-1996:
1. Sitting on my terrace in El Millon on a sunny day, drinking Presidente and eating "pollo guisado" with a close friend.
2. Coming early to a party and watching as the whole room went silent (one guy even cried) when someone put on "Por Quien Merece Amor" by Silvio Rodriguez.
3. Walking through the shady streets of Gazcue on my way to the Hellen Kellogg library (still open?) to get some English-language books.
4. Reading those books while lying in a hammock in my in-laws' beautiful backyard.
5. Driving to Constanza, marveling at the mountains and rivers ... stopping off to get real fried pork skin with limon ... entering the gorgeous little town.
6. Seeing Juan Luis Guerra in concert at Duarte Stadium (?) in 1995. Feeling pride (although I'm not Dominican) at seeing all the Dominican flags waving around.
7. Drinking red wine outside El Museo del Jamon in the Colonial Zone. Drinking Presidente at Cafe Atlantico. Drinking Presidente outside my local "colmado." etc. etc. etc.
8. Taking a boat around Samana and taking in the site of thousands of palm trees.
9. Floating in the crystal-clear blue water in front of the Hamaca. Thinking, "This is paradise ..."
10. Going to a show (at Casa de Americas?) called "De Trova a Trova," in which various musicians got up on stage and played the greatest songs of Silvio, Pablo Milanes and others. Later, we all went to a bar on the Malecon, where the musicians took guitars off the wall and played the most wonderful music in the world for us.
1. Sitting on my terrace in El Millon on a sunny day, drinking Presidente and eating "pollo guisado" with a close friend.
2. Coming early to a party and watching as the whole room went silent (one guy even cried) when someone put on "Por Quien Merece Amor" by Silvio Rodriguez.
3. Walking through the shady streets of Gazcue on my way to the Hellen Kellogg library (still open?) to get some English-language books.
4. Reading those books while lying in a hammock in my in-laws' beautiful backyard.
5. Driving to Constanza, marveling at the mountains and rivers ... stopping off to get real fried pork skin with limon ... entering the gorgeous little town.
6. Seeing Juan Luis Guerra in concert at Duarte Stadium (?) in 1995. Feeling pride (although I'm not Dominican) at seeing all the Dominican flags waving around.
7. Drinking red wine outside El Museo del Jamon in the Colonial Zone. Drinking Presidente at Cafe Atlantico. Drinking Presidente outside my local "colmado." etc. etc. etc.
8. Taking a boat around Samana and taking in the site of thousands of palm trees.
9. Floating in the crystal-clear blue water in front of the Hamaca. Thinking, "This is paradise ..."
10. Going to a show (at Casa de Americas?) called "De Trova a Trova," in which various musicians got up on stage and played the greatest songs of Silvio, Pablo Milanes and others. Later, we all went to a bar on the Malecon, where the musicians took guitars off the wall and played the most wonderful music in the world for us.