Day 3-027
2 hrs, 2 .5 kms

Matthew and I spent the night in Bani back in 2006, and if felt pretty boring, without much to do in town after nightfall... so my re-visit will probably be a short one.

One thing I do have to grudgingly thank the Spaniards for is the culture of "la plaza" or "Parque" as called here. Every town is built around a shady plaza with benches and a gazebo in the middle (and right now, a manger scene). This obviously makes my job of playing music in each town much easier--although I must admit that my videoclips in each town can start to look all the same after a while.

Bani also has some interesting murals--some showing ordinary village life in in 19th century Dominican Republic. Others are more militant, showing revolution heroes struggling for independence. Dominican republic celebrates two independences--one when they broke free from Haitian rule and later returned to Spanish rule (not really "independent" if you ask me) The other when they finally broke free from Spain in the late 1800s.