Souvenirs to be had in the Dominican Republic

When you go to the different islands in the Caribbean; they each have their “specialty” souvenir item. The Dominican Republic has two. They have canvas paintings and Larimar jewelry.

Every store, shop or hut that you go to will have paintings. Some are beach scenes with palm trees and boats, some are village scenes with the native Dominicans and some are Taino symbols. The first two are self-explanatory. As far as the Taino symbols, the early DR natives believed that a supernatural being created the world and all things (rain, wind, fertility etc) were attributed to spirits that controlled them. Each of these spirits is represented by a figure. You’ll see these figures in a lot of paintings.DSCN0344

My larimar bracelet
My larimar bracelet

Larimar can only be found in the Dominican Republic. This stone/gem resembles turquoise but you’ll see variations of white, light blue, blue/green and deep blue. The deeper the color, the more rare the stone. The stone was first discovered in 1916 but was denied authorization to mine. In 1974, it was rediscovered and renamed from Blue Stone to Larimar after the founders’ daughter Larissa and the Spanish word for sea, (mar). You will find this stone set in beautiful, fine jewelry along with diamonds and other gems. You will also find it in more wallet-friendly pieces so everyone can bring home some of this beautiful blue stone.

The Dominicans are also known for their cigars. We had the opportunity to go to a cigar “factory” in Bayhibe to see them hand rolled. Dominican cigars can be brought back into the United States; Cuban cigars cannot.

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