The powers of Larimar are said to help one view events from a different perspective. The color of Larimar looks like the sky blending into the sea with a touch of clouds or foam. Water and air are the most changeable of the physical elements. Its cool and calming color helps teach us how to change anger into a more peaceful form of feeling expression. It softens, enlightens and heals in a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual way. Larimar is said to stimulate the heart, throat, third eye and crown chakras helping with inner wisdom and outer manifestation of this wisdom. It represents peace and clarity. It radiates healing and love energy. It is recommended for people who are stressed. Larimar helps a person to communicate from the soul thus promoting the flow of expression and creative ideas yet its grounding qualities help one to make these ideas turn into reality. Larimar tells us that life, like the skies and seas, are always changing and in chaos yet underneath this seemingly chaotic exterior is the peace of the eternal soul.
It was originally thought that Larimar came out of the sea as pieces flowed down the river into the sea where they were originally found. There were mentions of this beautiful blue stone throughout history (The first written mention of the "blue stone" is when Father Miguel Domingo Fuertes Loren ,November 1916, asked for permission to explore more for this rock he found. It was never mentioned in geological studies or literature and was forgotten).
Larimar jewelry can be found almost everywhere in Dominican Republic.This is one of the tourists favorite purchases here in the country. It is graded according to its colors. The volcanic blue color is considered high quality. The cheaper jewelry coloring is usually white to light-blue. The green colored stones are lower quality also unless the green is very intense.
To see some great examples of larimar make sure to visit the
Larimar Museum on Calle Isabela la Catolica near Padre Billini and the
Larimar Factory on Calle Arz. Meriño # 452, and. Restauración both in Colonial Zone.
Here are some good looking pieces Larimar jewelry for sale at Amazon.com
This picture is Larimar found in it's original state.(click image to enlarge)
A picture/image of Larimar sliced down the center and polished. (click image to enlarge)
Larimar was formed by volcanos many millions of years ago. Blue Pectolite can be found all over the world, in Canada and U.S.A. Only Dominican Republic produces the blue colored variety known as Larimar. Larimar often has a white spider-veined look to it. It is very abundant in Dominican Republic, for now. It can only be found in the mountains of the Barahona in the South-West region of the country. Los Chupaderos, in the Los Checheses area . This is the only place where this gem appears on the terrestrial crust. When these mines have been depleted of this rare stone it may be gone forever.
Picture of lightly polished larimar nuggets(click to enlarge)
This is a close-up view of a slice of Larimar (click to enlarge)
If one decides to make a trek to visit the Larimar mines it is said to be an great experience. These mines can only be accessed by long, bumpy, rocky and dusty roads and the trip is not an easy one. If you make this trek you will feel as if you were going back in time. It would be a truly memorable experience.
The larimar mines are long, deep holes in the ground formed by the chimneys of the volcano. The mining is very dangerous and done primitively using manual labor. These local miners have no modern tools to extract the Larimar. There are no safety measures takes in the mines here in the country so there are many collapses and many lives have been lost. Most of these miners live near the mines in small villages and have done this work their entire lives.
Picture of Larimar in it's original state.(click to enlarge)
In 1974 a Peace Corps member and a Dominican man, Miguel Méndez, located the source of the stone thus the name Larimar came into existence. Miguel Méndez' daughter's name was Larissa and the Spanish name for the sea is mar. So the name Larimar was born.
Picture of Larimar (click to enlarge)
Real Life and Times in the Dominican Republic
