Hello everyone,
With great excitement, my wife and I drove south from the noise in Santo
Domingo, capital city of the Dominican Republic, on Friday, 20th,
2019. San Juan de la Maguana, my beloved home town, waited 187 kilometers away.
Our aim was to celebrate our wedding anniversary. As always, we were eager to
feel the fresh breeze of Christmas season there, whose temperature drops from
25 to 20 degrees C.
As soon as we arrived, we made plans to take a walk around EL
ARCO DEL TRIUNFO (The Arch of Triumph). We went there after
dinner. This time besides the colorful
lights, the traditional decoration included high technology. Ruth got so
excited with its beauty that she recorded a video and sent it to my sister in
Spain. Navidad sin mi Madre (Christmas without my Mom) by Tomás
Santana (known as El General Larguito)
was heard as background Typical Merengue music.
The Arch of Triumph is located in a circle not too far from the
entrance of the city. It is surrounded by The Hotel Maguana (Maguana Hotel), built in 1948; the Parque Duarte (Duarte Park); the Palacio del Ayuntamiento (Town Hall Palace);
and the Palacio de Justicia (Justice
Palace). All this is in the cross formed by Avenida Independencia (Independencia
Avenue) and Calle San Juan Bautista (San Juan Bautista Street). Lots of
memories come to my mind because I spent most of my childhood on that street,
just five blocks away.
Let me share a Little bit of the arch’s history with you. In 1939, the
dictator, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina and his companions passed through an
arch built for them in the intersection formed by Avenida Independencia and Calle
Colón (Colón Street). It seems that arch inspired some residents to make the beautiful
arch we have now. The project was managed by Guillermo Prince who was
considered the father of construction work in San Juan de la Maguana in those
times. He was accompanied by Mr. Mendoza, the master builder. They hired
workers from all over the province. The Petty Majors were in
charge of hiring the bricklayers they needed.
Whenever my wife and I have the chance, we travel to what has become her
beloved San Juan, take day and night walks around The Arch and enjoy some of the events that are held around it. I
hope you enjoyed this journey through one of the most important places in San
Juan de la Maguana, The Arch of Triumph.
To see the Spanish version of this entry, go to
To see the Spanish version of this entry, go to
Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic 2020
