shopping in Santo Domingo

July 13, continued.

We drove into Santo Domingo. I loved seeing the ocean again. The drive in from the airport into the city always has that mezmerizing view of the ocean. Blues, greens, white spray, dark and corally rocks. Endless horizon.

The entrance into the city was unrecognizable to me. We went to the Mercado modelo for an hour to do some gift shopping. This was as I remembered, just a little re arranged.

After being in the touristy part of the market we went outside around the side and I took lots of pictures of the spices and vegetables all laid out in the sun. Bags of rice, sacks of beans, lemons in small piles and small red peppers in little groups. I loved this part. Barry thought it was just like Chinatown.

Then we walked from there down to the colonial zone, for lunch on a corner right across from the parque Colon, in front of the cathedral. It was fun to walk these streets. This hasn’t changed much. I guess because it’s been around for over 500 years... I took a  picture of Los Muchachos, a shoe store that I bought shoes at when I was little. Outside the restaurant, we ran into Madonna Yates and her family, along with Joey Hunter and Nicio. It was great to see Madonna again.

I had mangu con huevos y cebollas with a side of avocado salad. Barry had a goat stew with rice and a zapote milkshake. It was all very tasty. From there we headed to the airport to send Cindy off on her way.

these are the largest cinnamon sticks I have ever seen! Cinnamon branches, more like it!

the tail end of mango season is upon us

There are some smells you just never forget.