Santo Domingo, The Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo, in many ways, is a glorious celebration of the senses. The colors, sounds, smells, there is a lot to love about the city – particularly the historic district.
Transportation is always interesting to me. In Santo Domingo, a popular form is in vans that drive bus-like routes. Each van has a driver, his partner that hangs out the side of the van looking for riders and taking their fares.
The bars on the fronts of all of the vehicles are for good reason – driving in Santo Domingo isn’t for the faint of heart. Outside my hostel balcony one morning we saw two vans smash into each other with a poor girl sitting in the front seat.
Bloodied and holding onto her eye, a family member quickly helped her onto a nearby motorcycle taxi and they rode away – the three of them on one seat, the crying girl sandwiched in the middle.
