“PECAO FRITO” in the Dominican Republic is a must!

When visiting the Dominican Republic, a piece of paradise in the Caribbean, eating fresh fried fish at the beach is a must, it’s part of our folclor; you will get in contact with our way of enjoying life in a healthy way!!!!!

From the Tainos we have inherited our love for fish, we have good fishermen, specially for fried fish or “pecao frito” (pescado frito) as pronounced by most Dominicans. Although we are an island, fish is much more expensive than meat. Dominican household does not often cook fish as they do with chicken, the number one meat; depending of the region, fish is prepared in different ways. However there is a way fish is prepared we all love and that is fried fish at the beach!!

Practically on all the coast of the Dominican Republic, along the beach and seaside towns,  you will find fresh fish, that is, the catch of the day! There are the typical small places, made of four strong wooden posts and a zinc or palm tree roof, along the beach with a few chairs and a small table! Originally all these chairs were made of “Guano”, but during the past few years, plastic chairs and tables are substituting these chairs.

Close to the beach you will normally find rows of food stands, with a large metal “basin” , locally made, with coal used as fuel, and a large frying pan, where different kind of whole fishes are fried after being rubbed with salt, oregano, coated in flour and then deep fried until crispy! 

Most of the time, the frying oil is reused, which many natives believe gives the fish a special tasty touch!
 

When you are at all these stands you get the feeling of a  Fried Fish Fair, here you are being offered delicious whole fried fish in different sizes/weight, by some guys whose job is to bring customers to the stand they work for! The price of the whole fish is between US$ 8.00 and US$ 10.00, but it will be determined by its size/weight and type! The most popular fishes are the Loro (Parrotfish) and the Chillo (Red Snapper). 

You can buy already fried fish or you can ask for the type of fish you want them to fry for you from the fresh variety they have available! The fish will be always served with lemon slices; to eat with the fish you have a variety of fried food such as plantain(tostones), sweet potato (batata), cassava rolls (bollo de yuca) and Johnny cake  (Yaniqueque), introduced by Afro-descendants coming from other Caribbean islands!

You can also go to a restaurant in town or close to the beach, for a more refined ambience, but you will miss the typical Dominican atmosphere! A beer, normally Presidente, is ordered, as well as, soft drinks for the children and at the rythm of a Bachata or a Merengue, which are the loudly played, you will eat your fried fish! Dominicans will prefer to eat their fish with the fingers; knives and forks (plastic ones) will be ignored, to fully enjoy every bit of their fish!

Dominican Republic has it all, awesome tropical sceneries, beautiful beaches,  mountains, rivers, our unique Larimar stone and friendly people who enjoy life in a simple way!!

Funerals in The Dominican Republic

Native Dominicans are a true mixture of African, European and Indian origin. Due to this, as you may understand, we are heirs of their customs and culture, making of us real special creatures!!

This heritage is present in our daily behaviour, attitude, beliefs, feelings, etc. and this is remarkable, for example, we are very noisy, the average Dominican, speak loudly, we are very outgoing, you ask a question no matter where you are to one person and you’ll have answers from all those who heard the question and feel the need to reply too!! Dominicans are always ready to celebrate whatever occasion with a party or a get together and everybody will happily  cooperate with drinks, snacks, ice, music, etc.!

In the Dominican Republic most people are Catholics, followed by Christian evangelists and many other believers of other religions! There is also the Dominican voodoo  introduced by the African slaves, and some influence of the Taino religion! All this mix of races and religions can be observed in different religious celebrations!

For example, in the rural area, when somebody dies, he will be buried in one of his favorite or best clothes, the family will hire women, who will be in charge of crying during the funeral to give the impression that the deceased was a good person!  A delicious cup of hot coffee, food and soft drinks will be served to visitors, who will be talking and telling stories, of the person who has passed away, remembering of course only the good side of his life.

 

There will be nine days of prayers in the house of the departed soul; a table with a white cloth, with pictures of some saints and flowers, is placed in a room, where family and friends will gather to pray and enjoy some snacks, coffee and beverage. This ritual is meant to help the soul leave the house where he lived forever and on the ninth day, the altar is removed from the room. This ritual is also made in towns and cities.

Normally, in the cities, a funeral house is used, where families and friends will come to give their condolences to the mourners and it will be a come and go of people; a religious service will be held and thereafter the burial.

But lately, in the suburbs a new way to bury the dead person, has been introduced.  If the deceased was a drug dealer,  lived a criminal lifestyle or died by any kind of accident, rum and beer will be served or bought, loud music of songs (merengue, bachata, Dominican reggaeton and dembow), loved by the deceased will be played and danced, the cufin will be kept open so that the dead person can be touched by the mourners, family and friends attending the funeral and maybe to have the feeling that he is participating of his farewell party!! Of course there will be crying, shouts, and other sorrow manifestations among the loud music, all of which will accompany the funeral to the cemetery.

Pictures by Listin Diario and sobraodeflow.com 

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!

This is a FIRST for us!

Our First Larimar Jewelry Photo Shooting

Enjoying our Dominican "Yaniqueques"

We love our beaches, we love the sun and we love our so special and unique Larimar stone! So in our efforts to exalt the beauty of this stone, we finally decided to execute a blue thought which had been dwelling in our minds for some time: Take pictures of our Larimar jewelry with a brown suntanned color model close to the sea to demonstrate that the different blue hues of the Larimar stone really mimics the blue colors of our sea waters!!

Hanging in the sun

We took different outfits and some other items to achieve wonderful photos and hit the road to our regular rented beach house in Juan Dolio, which is approx. 25 minutes ride from Santo Domingo city. On our way we could not miss buying and eating the famous “Yaniqueque” (maybe a Dominican version of Jonny cakes) which is so well made by the people of that area.

Isaac, our cameraman in action!

It was a beautiful day, the perfect scenario to start our first photo shooting at the beach!! My, my, my, although we have been dealing with this stunning stone for many years, we were again greatly marveled with the blue beauty and shine of Larimar amidst the blue sky and blue and blue green sea waters!!!

We really enjoyed every photo shoot, we had the opportunity to be creative with all the marvelous surroundings, always with the real intention to display the uniqueness of the Larimar stone and its connection with our Caribbean sea, sky, people, the whole tropical atmosphere!!

After a few hours of hot sun exposure, we decided it was enough for this time and drove happily back home, satisfied with the job done and hoping that our customers will be delighted with our new Larimar jewelry exhibition!!

Birth of The Larimar Shop Collections

The story behind our Collections

We confess that we are deeply in love with our share of the eastern side of the Hispaniola Island, the Dominican Republic, its land, mountains, rivers, beaches, flora and fauna, and the authenticity of our people.

When we started knowing our unique Larimar stone, which mimics our Caribbean blue sea waters and clear blue sky, also frequently adorned with white clouds, so well, we fell in love with this Dominican national stone and decided to share this beauty, in our Dominican style, with the world!

The reasons that encouraged us to move forward with our Larimar project was the fact that our Larimar stone is offered many times abroad, omitting the truth that this stone is found and mined only in the Dominican Republic and at the same time the publicity of some well known Larimar designers/vendors, telling that they get the best quality of Larimar so that the low grade quality is left in the Dominican Republic for us to use! Also they have underestimated the Dominican craftsmanship and creativity to expose the beauty of Larimar with jewelry that makes it shine!

Contrary to the jewelry artisans, for example, of Mexico, Indonesia, India who learned their skills through many, many generations, our Dominican jewelry artisans hopped into this art approx. end of the sixties, and in the eighties a jewelry school was established in the city of  Puerto Plata, with the aid of the Dominican Development Agency, “Fundacion Dominicana de Desarrollo”, as well as the efforts made by Miguel Mendez (the rediscoverer of the Larimar stone and who named it ) to prepare  jewelers and traders of this unique stone. Nowadays there are several schools and projects to teach jewelry art, which has resulted in better prepared and skilled jewelry artisans. During the visit last year of our actual Dominican president Danilo Medina to the Larimar mines, it was decided to give the Larimar miners and artisans financial and technical assistance to improve their work 

In view of the above exposure, we decided to create our own Larimar collection to make clear that we count with excellent craftsmanship and creative jewelry artisans who can design and make wonderful pieces to display the uniqueness of our Larimar stone and please the different preferences!

To honor the regions and surroundings of the mountain range Bahoruco in the Province of Barahona, where the Larimar stone is mined, we have decided to use the names of the different towns and places therein.

MENA Collection, named after Mena town, located in the province of Bahoruco (or Baoruco), southwest of the Province of Barahona!

The MENA Collection was created to obtain a fresh and modern appearance to exalt the beauty of the blue Larimar stone in stylish 925 silver settings!

The MENA pendant, MENA earrings and MENA bracelet will add a “something” special, a delightful touch to women’s look!

UVILLA Collection, named after Uvilla town, located in the province of Bahoruco (or Baoruco), southwest of the province of Barahona

The UVILLA Collection is an exquisite, elegant design that gives a flash of blue bling to those women who love to wear eye-catching pieces to enhance their femininity!

We are also creating within this collection a variety of UVILLA pendants, necklaces, earrings, rings and bracelets to allow our customers to acquire their UVILLA piece with more or less Larimar stones!

MONSERRAT Collection, named after Monserrat, a small town also located in the province of Bahoruco (or Baoruco), southwest of the province of Barahona

The MONSERRAT Collection aims to give the Larimar beads its full glance, combined with Mother of Pearl, creating pristine designs for an appealing, natural touch to womens final outfit!

These collections are the beginning of a new challenge for our strive to place our Dominican Larimar jewelry in a higher position, showing the world that Dominican jewelry artisans and designers have learned the art of making stunning pieces, letting our national Larimar stone shine by its own!  

Larimar, the mine and the miners

Working in the mines...

When people all over the world get to know about the unique blue pectolite, the Dominican blue Larimar stone, they click on the word Larimar and the same story about this stone will show up! Who discovered the Larimar stone, when and where, as well as a few characteristics of this special blue semi-precious stone.

But what about the people who make it possible for us to wear and enjoy of the jewel of the Caribbean, the Larimar stone? We want to talk a little bit about their struggle at the Larimar mines!

Larimar slabs

The peasants, who planted “yautia” (yams) in the surroundings of the area of the Larimar mine, were the first people to get involved with “the blue stone” as they called it. They collected this “blue stone” before Miguel Mendez followed the trail of the “blue stone” until he reached the peak of the mountain and revealed this best secret to the world!

These peasants turned into miners, as they understood they could make more money at the mine than with agriculture. The Dominican government gave them the concession to exploit the mine of Larimar. All mineral rights in the Dominican Republic belong to the government. In 1985 approx. 100 miners were working at the mine and by recommendation of the government a first cooperative was formed, nowadays there are two cooperatives.

Las Filipinas

The mine is located in the highest mountain of “Las Filipinas” in the community of Bahoruco, where you will find hundreds of men, naked from the waist up, who are going every day into the deepness of what you could call “hell” searching for Larimar, some have been doing this since over thirty year ago, exposing their lives, to make some money! There is no life insurance, no emergency aid, and no 911!

Every morning when the clock strikes nine, approx. 20 men in group of five, like ant rows, introduce themselves in narrow holes, leading to underground galleries, reinforced with wood to avoid collapsing, it feels like being buried alive. To go down most of them use the wood that serves as ladder and as reinforcement of the pit walls, some use pulley, but other are afraid it might break and they will hurt themselves.

Men of all ages work with rudimentary tools, like shovel, pick and hammer, although lately some have an electric “pick-hammer” tool. Once these miners start working they will start a sort percussion sound, which will be played during eight hours, only interrupted by meal break of one hour! 

To be able to work in these infernal holes, air is pumped into the pits at eight o’clock in the morning one hour before the miners start going down.

An image of one of the many pits high in the mountain.

Actually there are about 40 holes or pits that are up to 200 meters deep. Once they find a Larimar vein they start working their way through corridors, reinforced with wooden frames, which many time become home for many cockroaches; these holes can be productive during several years. To open a new pit can cost approx. US$15,000, and not always Larimar veins are found in new holes!

Cables carrying electricity produced by the generator are introduced into different holes and 220 Volts cables are used in the pits where an electric “pick-hammer” tool is available, exposing their lives to electric shocks.

The president of the Dominican Republic visited the Larimar recently and promised to have ventilated tunnels made to enable the miners to extract this semi-precious stone in a safer way, he promised to technify the whole mining process and to make of this Larimar area a touristic attraction. Also he promised to give the local Larimar artisans the opportunity to learn the art and skill to make professional quality Larimar jewelry.  We welcome this initiative of our president and hope he will abide by his promise!!!

In rainy seasons these pit are filled with water and it takes some time before the miners can start working again.

If you want to experience their working day, no problem just take your trip to Bahoruco and the miners will be more than happy to show how they do their living!

Dominican Republic A Tropical Paradise!

Dominican Republic Has It All! 

The island of Hispaniola is divided in two parts: The Dominican Republic on the eastern side and Haiti on the western side, two countries with different languages, religions, customs, mentality, etc.

The Dominican Republic has on its north coast the Atlantic Ocean and on the south coast the Caribbean Sea; it belongs to the second largest island of the Greater Antilles, located east of Yucatan, Mexico and south east of Florida, USA, the Lesser Antilles are west.

Dominican Republic is Caribbean’s most bio-diverse country, with 25 percent of its lush land and pristine coastline, 67 protected areas, 16 as national parks, reserves and sanctuaries.

Bahia de las Aguilas

With several mountain ranges, rivers, breathtaking, secluded beaches, awesome landscapes, friendly people, the Dominican Republic has and continues developing a very interesting ecotourism that offers our visitors of all ages the opportunity to enjoy a wonderful and exciting vacation.

With the creation of the Dominican Republic’s Marine Mammal Sanctuary for Humpback Whales in 1962, our country has been a forerunner in environment and marine-oriented protections, ensuring magnificent nature abounds.

Humpback Whales

From January thru March every year up to 5,000 humpback whales migrates to the north east coast and Samana Bay’s warm waters. Whale watching is an unforgettable tour to be considered in your visit to the Dominican Republic!

Barahona, where the Larimar stone is mined, is also an ideal place for surfers, as well as, Cabarete, which became famous for its perfect surf conditions, but there are many other water sports available, as wind surf, canyoning, snorkeling, diving and many more entertainments.

Pico Duarte

Horseback ride, mountain bike, river rafting and much more adventures are available in Jarabacoa, in the province of La Vega, which is also the gateway to the highest mountain peak in the Caribbean, Pico Duarte 3,187 meters in the Central Mountain Range.

Paragliding at Jarabacoa

Also paragliding sport is also available in Jarabacoa and other areas in the Dominican Republic.

River Rafting

South west of the Dominican Republic you will find Pedernales a bio-diverse place with abundant nature and breathtaking views and the wonderful, magnificent beach Bahia de las Aguilas with pristine waters and white sand!

Also a must see is the Jaragua National Park and the Enriquillo Lake, approx. 42 meters below sea level, the largest and deepest point in the Caribbean, where the American crocodiles, as well as other endemic species.

Thirty minutes drive from Puerto Plata, in the northern corridor mountain range, behind long stalks of sugar cane you will find, a mother’s nature treasure, the 27 Waterfalls of Damajagua, 27 thrilling rock pools and waterfalls, another unforgettable adventure, full of action, of climbing, jumping, sliding and more.

There are a variety of caves, such as FunFuncaves, and Los Haitises, a forest reserve on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, with a lot of caverns and the greatest abundance of Caribbean mangrove.

The Dominican Republic has several islets, with breathtaking beaches and endemic species, one of these islets is the Saona Island, which can be reached by speed boats or catamarans; this is our largest off shore island of 42 square miles, boasting of more than 112 species of birds, turtles, sharks, bottle-nose dolphins and manatees. On your way to this islet from Bayahibe Beach in La Romana, you’ll see the National Park of the East, an awesome sea’s natural pool, you must dip in, and a mangrove swamp reserve.

We have just mentioned a few attractions of all our country has to offer you and we invite you to plan your visit to the Dominican Republic and ask your travel agents for more information so that you will enjoy your trip in the area of your preference. The Dominican Republic has it all!!!

Oh and let us not forget our Dominican cuisine, which we are sure you will love, for each region has its own recipes!!

Discover the new thelarimarshop.com

Yes, we are beyond excited!

Desktop view

When we installed our virtual Larimar store The Larimar Shop a few years ago,  we were very excited, full of expectations, ready to fight the good battle to conquer customers from all over the world, with top quality Larimar stone and excellent Dominican craftsmanship,  good service loaded with tropical enthusiasm, efficient delivery time and more!!

From time to time we encountered some difficulty with our website, notwithstanding we did a lot of constant internet search to learn more about optimizing our The Larimar Shop site to make it an ideal place for every customer interested in our marvelous Larimar stone!  Through all our efforts during these few years  we understood that it was definitely necessary to make a new site contemplating all the desires of modern, active, updated customers!

Our hard and dedicated work has given birth to our radiant new The Larimar Shop site, which makes it easy and interesting for customers all over the world to find, select, buy that special Larimar jewel they were looking for or just fell in love with!

Tablet view

Here're some highlighted new features:

• More friendly webpage where you'll have a better view of all our handcrafted Larimar pieces.
• Now you can shop either from your Desktop or your Mobile device as our new website has been made mobile friendly for you to have the greatest experience when shopping with us.
• Now you can share all the items you love on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google + and much more, just choose!
• New options for creating your Whislist and give a hint to whoever you like!
• New filter that allows you to surf through all Larimar rings by sizes, now you can!
• Compare one item from another and select your best option!
• Want to see what's on trend check out our Tag tools and find out what's everybody craving for.

Subscribe to our Newsletter and don't miss the fun! We are now introducing our Weekly newsletter keeping all Larimar lovers updated with the latest arrivals, special offers, promotions and more!

Our main goal is to capture all those Larimar customers who are looking for genuine Larimar stone jewelry, with good craftsmanship, variety of designs, sizes, prices, traded by honest, transparent vendors, guaranteeing their purchase!

We invite you to share with us the experience of the new The Larimar Shop, a true Dominican shop with genuine Larimar stone in all its variety of blue and blue green shade, designed and handmade by local young artisans!

The Beautiful Story of The Larimar Shop - Best Larimar Jewelry Online

Since several years my daughter Angie had been motivating me to start a retail business of Larimar products the two of us, I with my more than 17 years experience in Larimar whole sale business and she expert in business administration, including several technical areas with regard to online shopping… a perfect match!!!!

Between 1992 and 1993 a German tourist guide invited me to work spare hours in a tourist shop on commission basis because of my knowledge of different languages (Spanish, English, German, French and Dutch.) At the beginning I was reluctant to do so, but after she insisted, mentioning the urgent need of the owners of this gift shop to have somebody who could easily communicate with the tourists, I accepted and in that shop was the first time I noticed the Larimar stone and became fascinated with it… each piece was different, with a variety of blue, deep blue, blue green colors combined with white and/or grey, just like our beaches and sea with its blue sky and white clouds. Still today I enjoy every piece of our national Larimar stone.

A few years later I met a manufacturer of Larimar jewelry who asked me to work with him, promoting his jewelry abroad on wholesale basis. He, his wife and I have become very good friends and during all these years we have built up very good business relationship with many customers in many countries.

Angie and I want to reach and serve those who just want to buy one or just a few pieces of our Larimar 925 silver jewelry manufactured in the Dominican Republic by native artisans and at the same time we want to offer any other locally handcrafted jewelry mounted with any other stone mined in our country.

You cannot imagine how we enjoy every time we pack and ship a Larimar piece it means for us sharing this beauty with other people in the world offering the best we can at a price each pocket can afford according to their demand!!!!!!!

Greetings!

Cleo

Want to visit our website? Everything from Larimar Rings to Larimar Bracelets. Go to www.thelarimarshop.com

Larimar Stone Treasure of the Caribbean

Larimar was originally discovered in the year 1916 in Bahoruco/Barahona, southwest of the Dominican Republic, by the Spanish born priest Miguel Domingo Fuertes Loren, who reported this discovery to the archbishop Nouel in Santo Domingo. No mining action was taken at that time.



It was not until 1974 the American Peace Corps Volunteer, Norman Rilling and the Dominican Miguel Mendez, rediscovered this stone on the beaches of Barahona, close to the alluvial of the river Bahoruco. This stone was analyzed by several geologists, as well as the Smithsonian Institute in the USA and they all agreed that this stone has a volcanic origin and belongs to the group of  pectolites with the exception that this is the only blue pectolite found in the whole world until now.

The mines are located in the mountains of Bahoruco in the province of Barahona, southwest of this second largest Caribbean island. Most mining is open pit, with miners using only pick, shovel and hammer to break the weathered basalt in search of this Larimar stone. Efforts have been made by the Dominican Government to modernize the mining system. So far the available quantity in the mines is unknown, which makes the supply of this fascinating Larimar stone uncertain in the long run.

This semi-precious stone was named after Mendez’s daughter “Larissa” (abbreviation) and the Spanish word for sea “Mar”. Like the Caribbean Sea, Larimar gemstone reflects the different blue colors, from deep to light shades and jade green, often sparkled with the white and grey clouds color, peppered now and then with dendrites.

 

Larimar has also been named ”Atlantis Stone” by several new age philosophies, who believe that the island (Dominican Republic) was part of the lost continent of Atlantis associating it to the healing stones, including several other properties.

Larimar is in high demand and exported to several countries all around the world where it is mainly used for jewelry, among theme Larimar rings, bracelets, pendants, earrings and Larimar Necklaces. The settings of the Larimar jewelry will tell you where it was made!! Dominican artisan use very simple 925 silver settings whereas the artisan from India, Indonesia and other Asian countries have a more elaborated silver settings giving it a ancient look. 

Prices of Larimar Stone, as well as, Larimar jewelry will depend on the stone quality and craftsmanship. The deeper blue colors are more expensive than the lighter blue colors, but what makes this stone so unique is it marvelous variety of blue, blue green colors and patterns, making of each jewel something special!

If you'll love to indulge yourself with the best Larimar Jewelry on the web then you should visit our website www.thelarimarshop.com where you will find Larimar Bracelets, Larimar Pendants and Larimar Earrings just to name a few of the top quality jewelry we have in there.