It's been just over a week since my last post and what a crazy week it has been! Sight seeing and power outages and flooding, oh my! The week started out great. On Monday Aunt Lori and I went to look for a school for the boys for next year. We got to tour a school that we both really liked...we had a good feeling there. It looks like Aunt Lori will be sending the boys there. What a huge weight off her shoulders to have found a good school for them!
On Tuesday we went to the Zona Colonial! The Zona Colonial is the historic district of Santo Domingo (discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492). We did a self-guided walking tour of the district starting with Fortaleza Ozama, the oldest fortification in the Americas. It's construction began in 1502 and it served to protect the young Colony from pirate attacks. The most infamous pirate to pillage the colony was Francis Drake. It was also from this fortress that conquistadors set out to conquer nearby islands as well as the American mainland. We decided to forgo a guide and explore the fortress ourselves. We climbed up all three floors, went into lookouts and enjoyed a beautiful view of the river. The walls were a few feet thick. There were tiny windows all around the building, too small for a person to fit through but big enough to shoot arrows or a riffle out of and to let light in. There were also openings in the ground with grates over them. When the fort served as a prison the prisoners were lower into their cells through these holes. We had a lot of fun exploring the fort and nearby cannons.
We also went to the Museo de las Casas Reales (Museum of the Royal House). The building itself was completed in 1502 and served as the Supreme Court. Inside they had an exhibit about Columbus' voyages and an exhibit of colonial armor, weapons and furniture. The court room and judges chambers were still set up the way they were in colonial times.
Next we toured Alcazar de Colon, the home of Diego Columbus (Christopher Columbus' son) and Maria de Toledo (King Ferdinand's niece). It was fascinating to walk through, very big and impressive. Fully furnished, it is thought that some of the household items there did actually belong to Columbus. It was full of artwork, tapestries and a full set of armor for a man and horse.
After exploring Alcazar de Colon we decided to stop for lunch. It was my worst meal here but a funny experience. We chose a cafe with English on the menu thinking that way we would know for sure what we were ordering. I ordered a vegetable quesadilla, Isaiah ordered a chicken quesadilla, Aunt Lori got a sandwich, and Micah just wanted apple pie. It took forever for our food to come out (but we've learned that's the norm here and we had a nice outdoor table so we didn't mind). When it finally came Isaiah and I both got veggie quesadillas that were filled with just a vegetable medley that had obviously come from the freezer section. Aunt Lori's sandwich was fine but Micah's "apple pie" was a steak with cooked apples on it and a side of french fries! We kept trying to tell the waiter that we had ordered an apple pie but he just pointed to the steak and said "apple pie." How he got a steak out of "apple pie" I have no idea. We all laughed so hard about it but Micah enjoyed the steak so it all worked out.
After lunch we headed up toward Parque Colon and the Catedral Primada de America. The Parque Colon is a town square that has been a Bohemian hub of the city since colonial days. It is surrounded by cafes and shops and at it's center is a statue of Christopher Columbus. At one side of the square is The Catedral Primada de America, the first church in the Americas! It's construction was begun in 1510 by Diego Columbus and it took 30 years to complete the main part. Small chapels were added over the next two centuries. It is a gorgeous cathedral with vaulted ceilings, tapestries, stained glass windows and other artwork. I am amazed at the craftsmanship that went into it less than 20 years after the island was discovered! They must have had such limited resources. While the fort and palace are much simpler so much care and art went into constructing their place of worship! It really puts some of our modern architecture to shame. I love walking into old cathedrals. There is such a sense of reverence and awe. I love knowing that people have worshipped in that very place for hundreds of years. It makes me feel a part of something very big. God was present with them and is present with me. It is such a beautiful feeling!
After spending some time in the cathedral I did a little souvenir shopping then we started to walk down the Calle el Conde, a pedestrian only street with shops and cafes. We had gotten about a block down the street when Aunt Lori got a call from Uncle Glen. He was calling because the apartment had flooded! We hopped in the first cab we could find and rushed back. Sure enough there was about an inch and a half to two inches of water throughout the entire apartment! There were already a couple men from CURE helping to clear out the water. Aunt Lori, the boys and I grabbed brooms, mops and towels and started pushing the water out of the apartment. Some women from CURE came to help us as well. They were so sweet and were trying to teach me some Spanish while we cleaned. A few hour later we finally had cleared out all the water! A couple of books were ruined but fortunately everything else was okay. Thankfully the whole apartment has tile floors (I can't imagine what we would have done if it was carpeted). We found out that it was caused by a pipe bursting. We sat down to have dinner after the cleanup was done. Sitting there looking at the clean, dry apartment it was surreal to think that just an hour before I had been sludging through water! About half way through dinner our power went out. This is a common occurrence here but the building had a generator which usually kicks in after a couple minutes. It didn't. It turned out that it wasn't a power outage...our apartment unit had lost power due to a misunderstanding about our contract with the electric company! A man from the CURE office went down to the electric company the next and was told that they had to put a work order in and that it would probably take a couple days...we were without power for four days. That, my friends, is why it has been so long since my last post. No power meant to internet. I will write another post soon about our days without power and our trip to the beach soon.
Cheers!
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