A glance from our workshop!

As pure Dominican mix, that is African, European, and a tiny bit Taino Indian, we are always trying to talk about the Dominican Republic, talk about how people friendly Dominicans are, talk about our customs, talk about our Larimar and our native artisans, talk, talk and talk, for Dominicans like to talk! This time we decided to give you a glance of some of the process, cutting, shaping, polishing, of the Larimar stone and the 925 silver, to produce our Larimar jewelry. Of course we have accompanied these videos with our contagious tropical music!

We hope you like it!

MANGO, MANGO and more MANGOES

Although the Dominican Republic grows over 200 varieties of mangoes, this super delicious tropical fruit has its origin in the dry zones of India and the SE subtropical woods of Asia. This fruit is produced and consumed since 4000 years in tropical and subtropical areas in the world
(Galan 1999).

It is estimated that the fruit arrived in America around the XVII century via Brazil to Barbados and from there to the Dominican Republic. Mango is grown all over the country, but the region of Bani, in the province of Peravia, is the number one producer and has been baptized as the Mango Capital, becoming a touristic attraction, where every year the very much celebrated Mango Fair is held! It is a joyful reunion of mango lovers, producers, investors, exporters and many others who attend this fair every year.

Dominican mangoes are exported to many countries, included United Kingdom and guess what, it came once to our ears, that prince Charles has a preference for our sweet, delicious mangoes!!!

According to the mangoes exportation data, 70% are Keitt type, 15 % Tommy Atkins and the remaining 15% includes all the other varieties! May is said to be the month of the mangoes although we have mangoes growing during the whole year with concentration from April to september! The most popular mango type is the mango “Banilejo”, which apparently has its origin in Bani!

During the popular revolution of April 1965 in the Dominican Republic, my mother and her family fled to the countryside to their property close to Bani and all around the house there were many trees full of ripe mangoes “Banilejos”. The children just sat under these trees to eat mangoes without any limit!! As you might know mangoes can become a laxative if consumed in big quantities and that happened to all these kids! Still in 1965 there was no electricity in the rural area and most of those houses had no toilets but a latrines, which was used by these kids on a non stop basis! When it was time to take a bath, it was a stroll to a nearby river!! Even though it was a difficult time, they remember it as a wonderful experience, where the mangoes were the center!

Like our typical “mangu” made of mashed plantain, our mangoes is a must try when visiting the Dominican Republic.

Mangoes are high in Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium, Copper and Vitamin A and is one of the nutritionally rich fruit with unique flavor, fragrance, taste and thus promoting health benefits to humans.

In the Dominican Republic, fruits grown locally are everywhere, you have street vendors which are standing in different places in the cities and towns during the whole year with the typical fruits Dominicans love, such as bananas, mangoes, papaya, pineapples, water melons, oranges, but to our knowledge, mangoes are the number one. The Dominican street fruit vendors have been  replaced by Haitian immigrants little by little to the point that you see now more Haitian vendors than Dominicans.
Since fruit shakes are very popular in the Dominican Republic, mangoes and milk shake is also among the favorite ones!

Important notice: Pictures in this post were obtain from external sources

Holy Week in the Dominican Republic

From the earliest times, in Christianity, Holy week starts with Palm Sunday, with the celebration of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The Holy week is the last week of the 40 days season of Lent and the week preceding Easter, it is the last week of Christ’s life, remembering especially His passion and resurrection. Easter is the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, the victory over sin, death and the devil, as well as, the promise of our justification and everlasting life….

In the New World, Christianity started in the Dominican Republic, introduced by the Spanish conquerors, however with the mixture of Spaniards and African slaves, some changes in costumes and beliefs occurred. Most of our ancestors were Catholics, lead by the Roman Catholic Church.

Still in the sixties in the Dominican Republic, every catholic family would stay true to the religious traditions of that time to be observed during the Holy week!

In that time for our catholic families, going to the beach or to the rivers during the Holy week was unthinkable, inconceivable. Nobody dared going to swim on Holy Friday, for you would turn into a mermaid or something unpredictable!!

On Holy Friday, the children were ordered to stay in their bedrooms, without making any noise; food (no meat permitted) would be served in the room! The special treat would be the traditional sweet red beans! No cleaning or household job was allowed, no music could be heard but the religious or classic music! All the stores, restaurants, supermarkets, etc. were closed, everybody stayed home, watching a movie of the bible, it was like a national curfew!!

But this tradition started to change with the new generations, growing population, foreign influences and the Dominicans slowly started going to the beach, to the rivers, spending the whole Holy week at a resort or just visiting families of the countryside, the main purpose is to have a good time!

Nowadays, the supermarkets have special offers for the Holy Week, they make huge sales, and since schools are closed during the whole Holy Week, many families start leaving the city, traffic jams start slowing down and by Holy Thursday afternoon, it’s a completely different ambience! Those who stay in the city of Santo Domingo take it easy, with no traffic jam, they have the streets for themselves and driving becomes enjoyable.

But at the end one can start thinking: Was the Holy Week established as an excuse for us to have vacation or was it to meditate on the suffering and sacrifice for humanity of the man called Jesus Christ, as appearing in the bible?  

“To be or not to be, that’s the question” (Williams Shakespeare’s play Hamlet)

We finally made it with 14K Gold

Introducing our first Larimar and 14K gold collection!

There is no standard quality guide for our Larimar stone in the Dominican Republic, so far the only place on earth where this unique blue semi-precious stone is mined.

With its ample variety of blue, as well as, blue green shades and patterns the Larimar stone is undoubtedly an awesome art of nature, pleasing the blue tone preference of every admirer.

However, the truth is that the deep blue shades, similar to the azure shade, are considered the top quality, for they are rare and scarce!

Several years ago, before gold price started to climb, many Dominican artisans could afford producing both 925 silver and 14K gold Larimar jewelry and to this end they only used the deep blue Larimar stones for 14K gold and the lighter blue colors for 925 silver!

Larimar Happy Hour Rings

But all this changed when the gold price became unreachable for the average local artisans, who decided to use all blue Larimar quality type they can get and buy for 925 silver jewelry.

The Larimar Shop was born after the gold price reached its highest peak and in view of that people were inclined toward buying silver instead of gold! So we decided to only sell 925 silver Larimar jewelry, but during all this time we were kind of tempted to do also some 14K gold items! 

There are three foreign gold companies exploiting the gold mines in the Dominican Republic (has it all) so we finally, very timidly, took a step forward and decided to complete the beauty of our Larimar stone with 14K gold frame, a perfect combination honoring both stone and metal mined in the Dominican Republic!

Larimar and 14K Gold Pendant

We have been excited with this new challenge, producing some of our best sellers the reversible “happy hour” rings, the Dominican classic teardrop pendants and earrings, as well as, gorgeous stone pendants with 14K gold. Of course, the prices for these items are for wealthy pockets, as you might understand, but we have to give those gold and Larimar lovers their privilege to pay the price!! 

We did a humble 14K gold Larimar jewelry start, firmly looking forward to making other 14K gold designs according to the support we receive from our dear customers!

It's all time coffee time in the Dominican Republic!

Coffee plants have their origin in Africa, and our first coffee plant is originally from Ethiopia.

In the time of the colonization of the Americas, the Dutch are said to have introduced the coffee plant (Coffea Arabica L) between 1726 and 1735 to Surinam and from the French island of Martinique to the island of Saint Domingue (the island of Hispaniola), specifically to the west side of the island, that is Haiti and from there it was introduced in the eastern side of the island, that is now Dominican Republic.

 It is believed that the first seeds were planted by the Spaniards in the provinces of Barahona, the region of our unique national stone Larimar, and Neyba. The first coffee company with industrial production and internal commerce was registered in the Dominican Republic in December 12, 1917! The coffee export business started in 1935 with the largest coffee plantations located in Barahona!

Since the native Indians didn’t know coffee and by the time it arrived in the eastern side of the Hispaniola, few of them were still alive, we assume our coffee habits started with our Spanish heritage and followed by our African heritage!

Coffee became part of our Dominican tradition; every day we start with the first cup of coffee when we wake up, before breakfast, than we have a cup of coffee when we arrive at work, then we have another cup of coffee when we take a break, another cup of coffee after we had our midday meal, then we have a cup of coffee later on in the afternoon and there are those who still have another cup of coffee in the evening.

The first thing you will be asked when visiting a Dominican family is “would you like a cup of coffee?” If you are in the city or in a town, the cup of coffee will be served pure and you will add the white or brown sugar as per your taste, but if you are in a rural area, most probably you will be served the coffee already sweetened!. The Dominican coffee is really dark black, more like a turkish coffee!

With the cup of coffee, depending where the cup of coffee has been offered to you, comes a conversation that will have to do with business, a job application, a family update, an interesting gossip, politics, sports, etc. If the Dominican coffee drinker is superstitious, specially she would love to have somebody read her empty cup of coffee turned upside down so that the drops left in the cup will form “figures” after being dried on the burner. The specialist in this “art” will foretell future and the future of the future!!!

Coffee will be the used to keep us awake, you’ll find it in the funeral house as a treat, on the street, oh yes; we have hot coffee vendors on the street!    

Within the eco tourism programs in the Dominican Republic you’ll find the Coffee Routes, which will bring you in contact with coffee agriculturists of the area, enjoy their folklore in their natural environment. This will encourage them to reforestation, to identify themselves with their habitat and activate their cultural traditions.

Consider including in your forthcoming visit to the Dominican Republic an eco tour, private or in group, and have the experience of drinking a cup of authentic Dominican coffee of the rural area, prepared either in an espresso coffee pot or made the original way, that is, coffee beans are dried in the sun, roasted and grinded, this ground coffee is placed in a homemade cloth filter, resembling a small butterfly net, “colador”, evoking nostalgia for those good old times and boiling water is then poured in the “colador”, strained or sieved and served in a typical metal or ceramic cup! This ground coffee is called “cafe de pilón”, very, very tasty!