Dominican Republic - Three Eyes and Three Strikes

December 28-29

Hello everyone!

The last blog focused on Santo Domingo’s history and interconnectedness with Christopher Columbus. He is important, but he isn’t everything here - don’t think he ever played baseball, for example…

Crouching Tiger, Crazy Welshman?

Watching a baseball game at Estadio Quisqueya

There is a degree of Americana about Santo Domingo. Casinos litter and clutter the Malecon, the boulevard which separates the city from the sea. Like El Salvador, American fast food joints are ubiquitous (this must be how Wendy’s stays viable as a business). With different leaders on the island next door, this could have easily been the alternate reality for Cuba. 

View of the Malecon on my sunrise run

Going more local, I had empanadas one evening. From
the vegetarian menu, I had mozzerella, basil and tomato.
When it came, the main ingredient was...ham.

Another American import is beisbol. There’s also a Cuban connection to the rapid growth of ‘America’s pastime’ in the DR. When Cuban plantation owners fled their own country following skirmishes in 1868, they brought their passion for the sport with them. Baseball teams were set up initially as a way of occupying men outside of working hours. 

The league winners compete in the Caribbean Series,
a sort of 'Champions League' for the region

The season runs from October to January

Like football in many other countries, baseball is seen as a route out of poverty in the DR. The dream is to make it to Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States. At the start of this season, 99 Dominicans were on rosters of MLB teams, making them by far the highest non-US nationality in the league. Plenty of players from years gone by are now in the MLB Hall of Fame.

Casual baseball fans will know names like Abert
Pujols, Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa

My favourite player growing up played for a team
in Santo Domingo before mving to MLB

One pathway is to be recruited very young and drafted into an academy for a MLB team, which itself has some ethical challenges. The other is to become a standout player in the DR’s domestic league, which has six teams. I was surprised it only has six considering its popularity, but I guess it centralises talent to present a higher-quality product.

The top four in the six team league go into a new league to
decide the overall winners. Not much jeopardy at the start, I'd say.

The logos of the six teams. Gigantes are reigning champs.

I went to one of these games with a German traveller who has never watched baseball before. I tried to explain what was going on whilst watching the Licey Tigers (home team and therefore who we were obliged to support) take on the Estrellas Orientales, which translates as Eastern Stars.

The two Santo Domingo teams both play at Estadio Quisqueya 

The Tigers have won a record 10 Caribbean Series

Explaining what was going on was difficult for a number of reasons. One was that so much was happening. Stolen bases, pitchers accidentally hitting batters, injuries, runs, walks, more runs… All this to a background of chanting and electronic music being blared at awkward moments…like when they were actually trying to hit the ball.

The Stars made quite a few errors, which were lapped up by the crowd

At the end of the third inning of nine, a group with ‘Banda Azul’ written on the back of their T-shirts set up a few rows in front of us. I don’t need to translate if I tell you that each person had an instrument, ranging from what looked like a glockenspiel to an enormous drum, with plenty of long horns in between. Mr Glock must either have been new to the group or been punished for a transgression - there was no point in him playing.

Great entertainment - wished they were a little bit further away!

This added to an entertaining but not particularly intimidating atmosphere. There weren’t really any away fans to intimidate, after all, and the Estrellas seemed intent on self-destruction anyway. One member of the crowd, an older gentleman with a cuddly toy tiger, seemed to enjoy this, as you can see from the end f the video below…

One of many runs being celebrated. It was 7-1 when we left.

The photo at the top of the blog is one I took with him after a brief chat. He brings the tiger - called Tigre, not overly original - to every game. With our scalped tickets costing $7 each and the average household income being $777 a month, I hope he has some sort of season ticket or deal for bringing joy and dancing tigers into the stadium.

The moment where I was on the big screen - it's
very hard to spot me behind the musicians!

We left at the end of the 5th inning as the game had been going on for almost three hours. It was only just over halfway done! Tiredness had struck as it had been a long day which had started relatively early on the other side of town to see a natural film set…

Recognise it from Jurassic Park 3?

Or from Tarzan?

This is the fourth of the Los Tres Ojos: the Three Eyes. Not a typo. The ‘Three Eyes’ contains a fourth lake. I think it’s to do with the fact that the original three are all within and covered by caves.

The caves are about 6 km from Zona Colonial

The rock is limestone

The sinkholes are purported to be about ten thousand years old, created due to the collapse of the ceiling at the end of the Ice Age. The water is from subterranean rivers which is topped up over time by the dripping from the stalactites hovering ominously above. 

I wouldn't want that collapsing on me...

Stairs take you to each 'eye' from a central point

The pictures don’t do justice to the colours or the calm at each of the three. That calm had certainly disappeared by the time we were leaving - getting here to avoid an American influx from cruise ships is highly recommended. Each had something different. One had schools of little fish floating around, another had a different colour due to the shards of light breaking through the foliage at the top.

Some of the lagoons are up to six metres deep

This one is called 'Las Damas' - the ladies. No idea why.

Getting to the fourth lake, where scenes from Tarzan and Jurassic Park 3 were apparently filmed, involves getting on board a boat which is then pulled along a rope by a worker who probably should still be in school. Always up for alternative methods of transport!

It costs 25 pesos - just under half a dollar - for the 30 second trip

Like most places, there is more to Santo Domingo than history. There is also a lot of traffic, a bit of pollution, and what seems like a lot of drinking in parks, but let’s focus on the positives of blue lakes and baseball. Wonderful contrasting experiences inside this bustling, bubbling melting pot of tourism, culture and history.

Love you all,

Matt