Oldest New World Settlement

Hello everyone. Not far from Luperon is a significant landmark that we took some time to visit.The ruins in Isabela Historica, a National Monument, are from the oldest settlement in the Americas constructed by Columbus and his settlers. It was pretty cool to be standing on the spot where many years ago Columbus and some of our founding fathers may have once stood. Heck we know at least they once lived there. It was neat to feel the history around us.

Parque Nacional La Isabela has the oldest surviving remains of the first European settlement on Hispaniola (and consequently, the New World). The actual first settlement was near Cap-Haïtien across the border in Haiti in 1492, however, when Cristobal Colon returned there in 1493 everyone was dead and the settlement burnt to the ground.

The settlement at Isabela had the first church, cemetery, and other stone buildings.

They say that the first Mass in the New World was celebrated here, ie it’s a very big deal.

Unfortunately, all that remains today are the barest of foundations and some skeletal remains.

Pretty Murals

We were told that there used to be more to see however a telegram was sent to a local official in the 1950s, ~ “Clean up La Isabela, Trujillo is coming to commemorate the first settlement.” Everything was bull dozed into the ocean in an effort to clean up the area. Trujillo (a former president and nasty piece of work) actually wanted the trees pruned and the site tidied to show off to visiting dignitaries. Bummer that he did not communicate this very well because this was a great loss for an important historical site.

Not much is left of the buildings but the place itself, up on the rocky cliffs facing the Atlantic Ocean near a snug little harbor is a beautiful place to see and hang around for a bit.

Bridge crossing the river…yes it looks like it’s in bad shape but at least there was a bridge and we did not have to drive through the water like we usually have to!

Brian crossing the river…notice who is not on the bike? I walked across just in case and still did not get half as wet as he did.

This is the most exciting thing that we have done lately other than riding our motorcycle on every new road that we can find no matter how bumpy it is…:-)

Photos of our new favorite beach..it’s very secluded and beautiful!

We’re planning another road trip this Sunday to the mountains so we check it out so that when Rachel comes we will have a better idea what might be fun to do. Oh yea we are getting excited…Rachel is coming to visit us sometime in August…Woo Hoo!! We can’t wait until we have the dates marked on our calender. Hopefully we can get something posted again before she arrives but if not you know what we are up to.  🙂

Meantime we will take lots of pictures to share and I will not forget my charger for my camera this time!!

Haitian open air market in the DR. We were told that the folks selling the goods were Haitians and the clothes were donations that churches and others in the United States had provided to them. Apparently there is an over supply of clothes and shoes in Haiti and that is why they bring them here to sell. My first thought was, why are people sending stuff to the Haitians that they don’t need? After further thought and investigation is seems that this process works just fine. You see, if you send them money it will never get to the people that need it. It is not feasible to send them high quality fresh food that they do need. So send the clothes and shoes. It gets passed on to the poor and needy and they sell what they do not need and buy fresh food and take it back to Haiti.

Take care we love you all!

Jennifer and Brian