{"id":9979,"date":"2020-04-29T15:27:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T19:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/?page_id=9979"},"modified":"2020-04-29T15:27:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T19:27:08","slug":"dominican-republic-learning-home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/dominican-republic-learning-home","title":{"rendered":"Dominican Republic: Learning at Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><strong>Get creative<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Organize your art supplies and get to crafting. Consider painting <a href=\"https:\/\/casadecampoliving.com\/munecas-lime\/\">faceless dolls<\/a> in varying sizes and colors\u2014they&#8217;re\u00a0faceless\u00a0because the\u00a0Dominican\u00a0people represent a variety of racial and ethnic groups with a mixture of the native Taino, Spanish, French, and African backgrounds.<\/p>\n<p><em>Need more inspiration? Check out these famous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.godominicanrepublic.com\/museums\/\">Dominican Republic museums<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Pick a film<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Watch a movie that relates to your destination. Some ideas for the Dominican Republic include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ponchao (2013)<\/li>\n<li>Ballplayer: Pelotero (2011)<\/li>\n<li>Lotto Man (2011)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Study some history<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Dive deep into the history of specific sites you\u2019ll visit on tour. Santo Domingo\u2019s Colonial City\u2014the first urban settlement in the New World\u2014houses excellent museums providing insight into the Spanish colonial days, from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlasobscura.com\/places\/alcazar-de-colon\">Alc\u00e1zar de Col\u00f3n<\/a> palace to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lonelyplanet.com\/dominican-republic\/santo-domingo\/attractions\/museo-de-las-casas-reales\/a\/poi-sig\/1020532\/358037\">Museo de las Casas Reales<\/a>. The city also boasts a museum complex at Plaza de la Cultura, showcasing history and modern art, while the latest offering in the city is all about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.caribbeanandco.com\/the-history-of-chocolate-caribbean-region\/\">Dominican chocolate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In Puerto Plata, you can learn about national heroes and precious stones, while Saman\u00e1 offers an insightful small museum on its humpback whales, and Sos\u00faa has a fascinating Museum of Jewish Heritage. La Romana\u2019s Altos de Chav\u00f3n is home to the most comprehensive display on the Taino at the Regional Museum of Archeology. Whether covering history, geography, precious stones, chocolate, baseball, rum, or architecture, among other topics, there\u2019s a Dominican museum to fit all ages and interests.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Choose a book<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Read and discuss a book that takes place in your destination or describes the local culture. Pick from titles like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Caribbean<\/em> by James A. Michener<\/li>\n<li><em>Little Heroes: Boys of the Barrio<\/em> by Raimund Johannes Wild<\/li>\n<li><em>How the Garc\u00eda Girls Lost Their Accents<\/em> by Julia Alvarez<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>Fill up your plate<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Arrange a potluck and encourage your friends to bring a traditional dish from your destination. Know a chef? Hold a virtual <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/-o9hFBOlF4w\">mangu cooking class<\/a> with your travel group, or support a local restaurant that offers delivery\/take-out of your destination\u2019s cuisine. Try sancocho (seven meat stew), arroz blanco (white rice), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dominicancooking.com\/620-pollo-guisado-braised-chicken.html\">pollo guisado<\/a> (braised chicken), <a href=\"https:\/\/belquistwist.com\/traditional-dominican-green-and-yellow-fried-plantains-with-mojo-sauce\/\">tostones<\/a> (twice-fried plantains), and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goya.com\/en\/recipes\/habichuelas-con-dulce-sweet-dominican-beans\">habichuelas con dulce<\/a> (sweet cream of beans).<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Learn the language<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Call up a friend or set up a group video chat and practice your language skills. It helps to make flashcards with <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YInX3UJpnYs\">Dominican slang<\/a> to use on the phone or throughout your travels (think about ordering at restaurants, buying souvenirs, and chatting with locals).<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Did you know?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Santo Domingo is the oldest city in the Americas!<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><strong>Meet Your Partner in Travel <\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dominican-Republic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-9980\" src=\"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dominican-Republic-200x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a>Maya has traveled to the Dominican Republic twice, where she had the opportunity to explore Santo Domingo and spent time relaxing on the beach in Punta Cana with a good book. She used her spare time to travel extensively around the island and grew to love the food as much as the landscapes and sights she encountered. Now back in the U.S., Maya maintains her love of all things Dominican by cooking sancocho with her friends and family at least once a month.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get creative Organize your art supplies and get to crafting. Consider painting faceless dolls in varying sizes and colors\u2014they&#8217;re\u00a0faceless\u00a0because the\u00a0Dominican\u00a0people represent a variety of racial and ethnic groups with a mixture of the native Taino, Spanish, French, and African backgrounds. Need more inspiration? Check out these famous Dominican Republic museums. Pick a film Watch a <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/dominican-republic-learning-home\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10003,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9979","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9979"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10004,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9979\/revisions\/10004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}