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In the center of Las Galeras village, the suites and apartments are built above shops around a courtyard garden. Accommodation is spacious with air conditioning, fans, and tiled floors. Apartments have sofa beds in the living room. Suites are large single rooms with a sitting area, kitchenette, and bathroom.

Old-fashioned Hispanic courtesy is important. For example, greeting those present when entering a room.

Elections every two years keep party rivalry keen, though most are skeptical about politicians’ promises.

Legend has it that polo was introduced in 1954 by the Indian maharaja Jabar Singh, who was hired to teach the dictator Trujillo’s sons. Its main home is now the exclusive Casa de Campo resort, where only the seriously rich can play, under the eye of the maharaja’s sons. Visitors are also allowed to watch the matches during weekends.

Up in the hills from Cabral is a scientific enigma – a stretch of road that appears to run upwards, but in fact descends. Take off your handbrake and see.

An alcohol-free punch of mixed juices makes a refreshing change from its rum-blended relative.

The ambience here is of a European club, but, although there’s music, there’s no dance floor. The club has several rooms, and bars that are decorated in different colors – a rainbow theme that is continued in the cocktails and ice.

This deservedly world-famous lager-style brew is usually served so cold that it’s almost frozen.

One of the many types of spiny plants that cling precariously to life in the parched desert regions around Barahona and Monte Cristi is the opuntia , known among the locals as tuna . It produces pretty flowers on its plump water-retaining pads before the pinkish and very hard-to-handle fruits appear. The inhabitants of the Dominican Republic consider the flesh quite a delicacy.