He founded an order called “The Hounds of the Lord,” also known as the “Black Friers.”  They were foot soldiers in the Inquisition.  I am not sure I would want to live in a town honoring St. Dominic.  Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic.  If you are my age, you may not recognize the name.  When I was made to memorize the capitals of the Americas it was Cicadid Trujillo.  Named after a brutal dictator, Rafale Trujillo, who was propped up by the U.S. government until he was assassinated in 1961. “He’s an SOB but he’s our SOB,” is a quote attributed to FDR about Nicaraguan strongman Anastasio Somoza, but that term had been applied to dictators from Trujillo in the Dominican Republic to Mubarak in Egypt.  After the assassination a left-wing government took over and was brought down when LBJ sent in the marines in 1965.  This was “celebrated” in song by Phil Ochs in his song “The Marines have landed on the shores of Santo Domingo” and Tom Lehrer’s “Send the Marines.”  Both songs were earworms throughout our entire stay.

Until they’ve seen the light

They’ve got to be protected

All Their Rights Respected

Until someone that we like can be elected

The city does not make a good first impression.  There is a lot of garbage floating in the water.  I would not want to swim in the urban beach we passed on the sail in.

The monument they are most proud of is a brutalist tribute to Christopher Columbus that you can see from all over the city. 

The Columbus boys (Christopher, Bartholomew, and Diego: Father, Brother, and Son) founded Santo Domingo. The city claims to be the oldest city in the Americas, founded in 1496.  I guess the Aztec, Inca and numerous other cities don’t count to the folks here, but then again, they go out of their way to honor the Columbus boys.

The first impression was improved by the merengue music and dancing that greeted us at the pier, which we enjoyed from our stateroom balcony and as we talked to our tour bus.

We opted to take a tour because we are not acclimatized to the hot and humid weather and wanted to start with short stints in the muggy, relieved by time in an air conditioned bus.  Our tour guide, Tony, is a good storyteller and interpreter of life in the city.

He was very proud of the country’s democracy and was thankful the U.S. helped restore that democracy.  He was also proud of the fact that so many Americans were coming as tourists.  He bragged that we were safe because there were police or military on every corner, and on long blocks between corners.  This was true.  When one of our group j-walked across a busy street to take a picture of a statue of Queen Isabella a policeman ran after her, not to arrest her for j-walking, but to stop all the traffic so she would be safe.

Tony said that in a democracy they do not have capital punishment.  All the terrorists and drug dealers get put on a list and the list is handed over to the mob and they take care of it.  “You are very safe, unless you are a terrorist.  Then it is worth your life.”  He talked about the Pope’s visit to Santo Domingo in 1992 to celebrate the 500^th anniversary of Columbus’s first voyage.  The hideous Columbus lighthouse was dedicated then.  “We are a democracy, very safe for the Pope, which is why we drove him around in an armored jeep that you can see here.”  Tony has a dark and ironic sense of humor.

I wish we had been there at night because the lighthouse, which is shaped like a cross, shoots lasers into the sky (hence lighthouse) that form a cross in the heavens visible for a 10 km radius.  “We are a Christian nation, 65% Catholic, 35% Evangelical. We could not be Moslem. No fun, we like rum and pulled pork too much.” 

He pointed out monuments to victims of Trujillo, including an obelisk with paintings of women murdered for standing up to him…

…although he is quite taken by the National Palace built by Trujillo and now the resident of the current President.  Outside renters were protesting what they considered too high rents.

After the lighthouse we drove through the old town, a delightful UNESCO world heritage site, and saw the houses of the Columbuses, narrow streets, bastions, monuments, plazas and the oldest Catholic cathedral in the Americas (I actually believe that one). 

Tony was proud that in the old town they had completed a project to bury utilities so there are no unsightly power lines.  But as soon as we left the UNESCO designated heritage site…

Here are some other shots from Santo Domingo, the not so old town and from the ship.