From the end of October through January, you may catch a game of winter league professional baseball at the Tetelo Vargas Ball Park in San Pedro de Macorís. This city is hometown of Sammy Sosa, Alfonso Soriano and Vladimir Guerrero. Several Dominican MLB stars regularly take action on their winter season teams, including the Estrellas Orientales, homeclub of San Pedro.

   Halfway between San Pedro de Macoris and La Romana, Cueva de las Maravillas is the first natural cavern that was opened to the general public in the Dominican Republic. For its design, the Bienal Miami + Beach bestowed upon it the Landscape Architecture-Public Award. Definitely worth a visit, the cave’s 240-meter footpath takes tourists to a majestic journey 25 feet underground, where the imagination is set loose and 500-year-old pictographs come to life. The stalagmites and stalactites appear like the notes of an orchestra playing on the grand stage of an enormous theater hall. The

cave boasts a unique collection of approximately 500 rupestrian paintings created by the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the island.

operate one hour away from San Pedro de Macoris, up in the hills of Hato Mayor, where adventure lovers can book an underground excursion to this cave and its seven kilometers of underground trails. Experience the dark, depths of the earth, its giant corridors and cave art, and have a magical swim in the subterranean river. The excursion begins with a ride on horseback and a walk through the jungle, followed by the cave adventure and ending with a well-deserved lunch accompanied by lots of fresh orange juice. Several hotels offer this excursion, as a guide is an absolute necessity to visit this cave.

   East Park Sports Complex. Located 15 minutes away is the facilities of the Parque del Este, the site of tennis, archery, handball, soccer, gymnastics, weightlifting, field

hockey and table tennis and precision shooting arena for the Pan American Games. Boca Chica will always be an excellent choice for sports delegations seeking to combine prime accommodations with beach.

   Boca Chica to Juan Dolio is an area dotted with numerous small gift shops. San Pedro’s Jumbo supermarket, about 20 minutes east, is where to stock up on good rum, beer and groceries.
   New golf and beach developments offer attractive investment opportunities for those seeking second vacation homes or apartments.

   The evening activity centers on a fine collection of restaurants in the Boca Chica, Guayacanes and Juan Dolio area. The outof- the-ordinary bar/restaurant Aura, with its Asian-style lounges right in the middle of Juan Dolio Beach, and Caribbean Sun at Playa Caribe where beach fun is extended well into the evening deserve special mentions. There are also hotel casinos and a smattering of discos in the area.