The beautiful city of Bani'

February 2, 2013

We spent today outside of the massive, frenzied city of Santo Domingo in a beautiful small town called Bani'.  The drive was incredible, weaving through enormous mountains rising straight out of the Caribbean.  Our driver, Wellington, is a madman and a genius (as a driver of course)  - calmly whipping our large tour van past small motorcycles holding entire families with 2 inches of clearance.

We had another wonderful workshop with music students-  all of which are outgoing and happy to jump on stage with an American Rock and Roll band.  We are all really impressed with the musicianship of these kids...and their ability to pick up on our traditional American grooves quickly and adeptly. 

Everyone here is trying to teach us to dance- it's a source of great national pride.  I shot this little video of an English Class that went nuts over having some blue eyed gringos around.  The class quickly turned into a Bachata and Merengue class... 

We had a wonderful lunch at a magnificent seaside restaurant...eating octopus, conch, shrimp, langostino, and grilled grouper.  Feels like home to me.