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The Dominican Republic is apart of the Caribbean nation in North America. The population is about 11.23 million and the official language is Spanish. The capital of the DR is Santo Domingo. Their currency is called Dominican Peso. It is most known for its really pretty beaches, resorts, golfing and its most unique for welcoming people with a great sense of humor. The DR was founded on February 27th, 1844 and on November 6th, 1844 the flag was created. The flag was created to represent the fight for independence. On the flag, it is the only one to carry the Holy Bible on its flag.

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As of right now, there isn't a lot of good news going on with Dominican Republic but the D.R. is leading Latin America in GPA growth and there is an average annual rate that is bout 5% per year since the 1970's. They have a stable politically and a positive impact of the lower interest rates become more apparent. They are also providing tax incent for investment in tourism, film production and renewable energy. The air force is promoting several new elite athletes.

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Dominican Republic has a bunch of different traditions, there is one where in February, they have a carnival with music, food, street dancing and parades. They also run away from the Cojuelo Devils. The devils dress up in scary masks and in flashy costumes. Dominicans have four pillars, Prayer, Community, Service and Study. Other traditions are La bandera: a trio of flavors which is a mix of three different foods, rice, beans, and chicken. It is usually eaten around lunch time. There is Dance at the rhythm of Perico Ripiao, which is a dance and musical ensemble. The coco loco is a traditional drink served with food.

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There is a bunch of things to do in the Dominican Republic, it is mostly going into the water but is still fun. You can go on many boat rides and go snorkeling, there is a lunch a trip to go to Saona island for a day that has lunch and an open bar, you can go on a buggy tour for half the day to the Water Cave and Macao beach, there is a monkey and plantation tour, and there is a full day of a tour at the Blue Lagoon and 7 different destinations. There is a bunch more but it is mostly water activities and snorkeling. You can go an a hike and see many different beautiful things like the Zona Colonial, you can go in a cable car to see more of the Dominican Republic, there is always the hard rock casino, and lastly you can see the beautiful islands in the Dominican.

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The Dominican has a lot of great foods that are delicious, I'm going to be talking about 7 popular ones. For the first one, this dish is usually served for lunch and Dominicans eat it at least four times a week, it is called, Bandera Dominican. The next food is Sancocho, it is a stew that has many different meats, tubers, and vegetables. There is also different ways to make it like adding 7 different meats to it. Mofongo is a traditional dish that is mashed and fried together with salt, garlic, broth, any extras, and it has a base of green plantain. It can be served at any time of the day. This next food item is usually eaten for breakfast and it is made with green bananas. It is Mangu and they got the name from Americans saying "man, this is good". Next is Cassava dumplings, it is a local snack that is made out of cassava and is filled with cheese. This next one is a traditional food prepared for the Christmas holidays but can be eaten at any time. It is wrapped up in a banana leaf with plantain, seasoned meat, and it brings many tropical flavors altogether. It is the Plantain and beef packets. The last food item I will be talking about is Beans with candy and coconut. It's made with sweet beans, condensed milk, coconut milk, cinnamon, and it is decorated with biscuits.

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The traditional dance and music in the Dominican republic is called Merengue. It is a mix of the African and French Minuet, in the late 1700's and the early 1800's, it was made. It is based on a repeating five-beat rhythmic pattern called a quintillo. It was invented by two people that are unknown. There is and importance to the merengue because it attracts people from different social classes, it helps promote coexistence and respect towards other people, communities, or groups. There is multiple songs that are merengue such as, “Compadre Pedro Juan", by Luis Alberti, "Abusadora," by Oro Solido y Raul Acosta, "Bailar," by Deorro ft Elvis Crespo, “Con La Mano en el Piso y con La"(pompi)," by Mala Fe, "Esa Muchacha," by Los Hermanos Rosario, "Guayo," by Elvis Crespo ft. Los Illegales, "Moviendo Las Caderas," by Oro Solido, "Suavemente," by Elvis Crespo, "Tu Me Quemas," by Chino y Nacho, ft. Gente de La Zona y Los Cadillacs, “Samba Merengue,“ de Harmonia do Samba, "Ojala Que Llueva Cafe," by Juan Luis Guerra, and “La Duena Del Swing,” by Los Hermanos Rosario

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Even though the Dominican has a lot of sports, it is most known for their baseball. There is a lot of baseball players from the Dominican but I'm going to be talking about Julio Rodriguez. Julio a.k.a., J.Rod, is a player for the Seattle Mariners and plays center field. He is one of the best players on the team. At 16, he signed with the Mariners and began his journey. He started with the Dominican Summer League Mariners in 2018, which is for rookie leveled players. After that, he played with Class A West Virginia Power in the South Atlantic League, but missed part of the season due to him fracturing his hand. After that, he got promoted to the Modesto Nuts in the Californian League. Once that was done, he moved to the Arizona Fall League for the Peoria Javelinas. That was all in 2019-2020. In 2021, he started to play for the Everett AquaSox which is where I used to live. I have seen him play a couple times there and for the Mariners too. He got moved to the Arkansas Travelers that same year. Before he went to the Mariners, he played in the All-Stars Futures Game. He was the number one prospect person on the list for the Mariners. On April 8th, 2022, he started his MLB career with the Seattle Mariners. On May 1st, he hit his 1st home run in his professional career. He became the fastest Mariner to hit 30 home runs and he made MLB history by being the first player to have 25 home runs and 25 steals in his first 2 seasons. He has love for his home country and donates when he can.

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Some of my favorite things about the Dominican Republic is basically everything. All the tradtions and stuff like that really interests me. I found it really fun to do the project because it showed me the ways and how things are done.