Tag Archives: barahona

Road Trip And Province Map

Dominican Republic Provinces and Road Trips

Explore and discover the out of the way places of Dominican Republic. The resort towns are fun but if you want to learn about the real Dominican Republic and its beautiful and colorful people you need to get out and explore the small towns and out of the way places. Take a Road Trip! Visit the out of the way places, small towns and areas that are not usually found in the tour guides. Explore the roads less traveled and see what our country and people are really like.

Province Map | Road Trips and Exploring Collections | Provinces and Capitals of DR List

The 31 Provinces of Dominican Republic (it seems that soon there may be 32 provinces as Satiago may be divided into Santiago Oeste) are as diverse as the people who live in Dominican Republic. The map below shows all the thirty-one different provinces and the one district subdivision. In time we hope to have information for all these places. The goal here is to make a map providing information for different small towns in these areas. If you would like to visit one of these places there will be information on how to get there by bus or other public transportation. Information about different hotels both small and large, some restaurants, local tour guides and places to visit when you are there. I will also include anything I feel would be useful while visiting these beautiful and interesting places in República Dominicana.

This information is collected by myself on my visits to these areas or provided by others who have visited or might even live in these out of the way places. I hope to provide information for visitors to the places that visitors normally do not know about. This way you can know the real country and its beautiful people in an entirely new fashion.

If you have any information to contribute please send me an email and I will be happy to include it here.

*Remember this information can change at any time as things do change and I cannot be in all the places all the time. Please if you find something incorrect or that is in need of updating let me know and I will change it.

Province Map

Map of the Provinces of Dominican Republic
Map of the Provinces of Dominican Republic

ROAD TRIP COLLECTIONS

San Juan
San Juan de la Maguana – History, Information, Hotels and Things To Do. (link is to old html page)

Barahona
Barahona – Information, Tour Guide, Hotels. The surrounding area Los Patos, San Juan, Quimatos, Barahona -The Town, Enriquillo, Paraíso, Canoa, Polo Magnético

Baoruco
Baoruco – Information, Things to Do, Lago Enriquillo, Neiba (Hotel). (link is to old html page)

San José de Ocoa
San Jose de Ocoa – Information, Transportation, Hotels (link is to old html page)
Rancho Arriba – Information, Transportation, Hotels (link is to old html page)

The 31 Provinces

The 31 Provinces (it seems that soon there may be 32 provinces as Satiago may be divided into Santiago Oeste), 1 District and the capitals in Dominican Republic.

Azua – Azua
Baoruco – Neiba
Barahona – Barahona
Dajabón – Dajabón
Distrito Nacional – Santo Domingo
Duarte – San Francisco de Macorís
Elías Piña – Comendador
El Seibo – El Seibo
Espaillat – Moca
Hato Mayor – Hato Mayor
Hermanas Mirabal – Salcedo
Independencia – Jimaní
La Altagracia – Higuey
La Romana – La Romana
La Vega – La Vega
María Trinidad Sánchez – Nagua
Monseñor Nouel -Bonao
Monte Cristi – Monte Cristi
Monte Plata – Monte Plata
Pedernales – Pedernales
Sánchez Ramíerez – Cotuí
San Cristóbal – San Cristóbal
San José de Ocoa – San José de Ocoa
San Juan – San Juan de la Maguana
San Pedro de Macorís – San Pedro de Macorís
Santiago – Santiago de los Caballeros
Santiago Rodríguez – Sabaneta
Santo Domingo – Santo Domingo Este
Valverde – Mao
(1/2019)

Larimar

Larimar From Dominican Republic

Larimar is a beautiful stone only found in the mountain area of Barahona, Dominican Republic. Larimar is found under the ground in deep mines. This rare stone is the color of the Caribbean Sea on a bright sunny day.

About Larimar | The Mines of Barahona | Gift Shops | The Powers of Larimar | Purchase Larimar

An artist is shaping and polishing raw Dominican Republic larimar that will be made into jewelry.
An artist is shaping and polishing raw Dominican Republic larimar that will be made into jewelry.

About Larimar

Volcanos many millions of years ago formed Larimar. Larimar is a type of Blue Pectolite that can be found all over the world, in Canada and the U.S.A. But, only Dominican Republic produces the rare variety known as Larimar. Larimar often has a white spider-veined look to it. It is very abundant in the Dominican Republic, for now. It can only be found in the mountains of the Barahona in the Southwest 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.

Raw and sliced Larimar
Raw and sliced Larimar

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).

A large piece of raw Dominican Republic Larimar that can be seen in the Larimar Museum in the Colonial Zone
A large piece of raw Dominican Republic Larimar that can be seen in the Larimar Museum in the Colonial Zone

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’s daughter’s name was Larissa and the Spanish name for the sea is Mar. So the name Larimar was born.

Larimar also has been given different names over the years including Caribbean Turquoise and The Dolphin Stone.

Here are some good looking pieces of Larimar jewelry for sale at Amazon.com

An opening to a Larimar mine in Barajona region of Dominican Republic
An opening to a Larimar mine in Barajona region of Dominican Republic

The Mines

If you should decide to make a trek to visit the Larimar mines in the mountainous area of Barahona it is a 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.


Larimar jewelry sold in a gift shop in the Colonial Zone, Dominican Republic.
Larimar jewelry sold in a gift shop in the Colonial Zone, Dominican Republic.

Gift Shops

Larimar jewelry can be found in gift shops and jewelry stores throughout the Dominican Republic. Larimar jewelry is one of the tourists’ favorite purchases when visiting the country.

Larimar 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.

Larimar jewelry found in the gift shop La Placita in the Colonial Zone.
Larimar jewelry found in the gift shop La Placita in the Colonial Zone.

To see some great examples of larimar make sure to visit the Larimar Museum on Calle Isabel la Católica near Padre Billini in Colonial Zone. Also, almost every gift shop will have some larimar jewelry for sale in a wide price range.

Larimar is rated between .5 and 7 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness.

Polished Larimar slices.
Polished Larimar slices.

The Powers of Larimar

The cosmic 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, is always changing and in chaos yet underneath this seemingly chaotic exterior is the peace of the eternal soul.

Larimar Cabochons ready to be made into jewelry.
Larimar Cabochons ready to be made into jewelry.

Purchase Larimar

If you cannot make the trip to come to the Dominican Republic to purchase your own larimar you can always buy it online at Amazon. There is a wide variety of beautiful pieces from which to choose. Here are just a few samples.

Beautiful Dominican Republic larimar from Amazon


Polo Magnetico

Polo Magnetico / Magnetic Pole (or Magnetic Hill)

There was an old man in his 90’s that seems to have all the “facts” about Polo Magnetico, according to him when he was interviewed by Dominican newspaper El Caribe in 2003. This “expert” says things move up this hill because of the two underground mines that are found here. One is a petroleum mine and the second is a sulfur mine. According to him, and the locals, objects here move uphill. A car left out of gear will appear to be rolling uphill. A bottle or ball left on the road here will also mysteriously roll up hill.

This place that is magic is located in the Barahona providence of Dominican Republic along the Cabral-Polo highway. This stretch of road is between the towns of the Auyamas and Polo. It is on a hill called La Cueva/ The Cave. The only thing that marks the place where this natural phenomenon takes place is a sign placed there by the Brugal (rum) Company. There are pale remnants of a painted circle with a yellow dot in the center. This is all that marks the spot, this and people standing around watching the happenings in amazement.

Optical Illusion

Now you may wonder what causes things to magical roll uphill on their own. In truth, it has nothing to do with magnetic fields, electricity or unknown mysterious forces. The slope of a magnetic or gravity hill is an optical illusion. Gravity has nothing to do with what happens here. The most important thing contributing to this illusion is an obstructed (or mostly blocked) horizon. If there is no horizon it can make judging the slope of a surface very difficult. There is no reference point. Objects that normally seem to be more-or-less perpendicular to the ground (such as trees) may actually be leaning, thus misconstruing your visual reference. Since we do have a sense of balance to determine the slope of the ground, visual clues can override this sense, especially if the incline is slight. So, whatever name we give it, Magnetic Hill, Gravity Hill, Mystery Hill or Electric Brae it is an optical illusion. One of the hundreds of known gravity hill locations around the world.

For me, I prefer to blame it on folklore, the mysteries of nature and the supernatural. It makes life a little more enjoyable and mysterious….