Higuey is a city in the east coast of the Dominican Republic. It blessed by the sun and by our Lady of Altagracia. When I close my eyes, and think about that town that saw me grow up, I just see that place where everybody is happy and is always trying to give their best. The city where the sun rises and paradise is just thirty minutes away. I miss every moment that I lived there. Higuey is my happy place; I lived wonderful moments in its streets, in my grandparents’ house, in my neighborhood and my old school. All those little places make Higuey my perfect place. Salva Leon de Higuey or better known as Higuey, is a city full of culture and traditions.
Higuey is a city that has a little of everything. It has beautiful fields, farms that help us to work in agriculture. Higuey has beautiful views, from the top of the mountain I could see a big part of the town. It has huge fields that allow us to plant and grow our food, and to raise cows, horses, goat, etc. My family is a big fan of agricultures and farms. My aunts and uncles own many fincas (we own the house and property around, including rivers and closes areas), my family owns around 4 fincas where we like to go spend time to run away from society. One of my favorites one is the one where the horses and mango’s trees are. “Hacienda Roma” is the name of one property, where we have a big house with 2 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms, two kitchens, one inside to make coffee and snacks and a big one right outside to cook in bigger portions. The house I located on top of one mountain. Outside of the house, there is a big pool and a terrace that allows us to see the beautiful fields, and we also have all kind of fruits, like mango, cherries, limes, Spanish lime, cashew, and many more. We also have horses, I used to ride horses around the farms, I loved riding the horses up and down the mountains, looking for the cows and visiting the pigs. Riding a horse gives me the feeling of freedom. My favorite place to go riding the house, was the mangos’ trees that were inside a lake, now we go in the cars and eat the mangos.
We also have rivers that provide water for our crops. I used to go this river called Anamuya every weekend with my family. We used to cook by the river over a wood fire. Typically, we would cook rice with pork or rice with chicken, or we would just make a sancocho, a traditional soup made with different meats and vegetables, with a slide of avocado next it at the time of eating. One thing that used to do was walking around the rivers and getting to know different places by the river. One day I found a hidden place in the river that was covered by trees and surrounded by rocks, it was like a natural jacuzzi. However, it was a little hard to get there, I used to go with cousins because it was a place to relax and I we would have calm and warm water. Because I loved walking by the river bank looking for small shrimps, even though I couldn’t touch them because I’m allergic to them, I was always walking up and down and discovering new things.
One big tradition in Higuey is the Agricultural festival called AGANI. This tradition is a big one for my family, because of the competitions between farms. In this festival, they do presentations about everything that has to do with agriculture. And also do competitions between farms, horses, and cows. I remember one year I got there at 9 am, with my grandfather and cousins, and it was the day for the exhibition of horses, my uncle’s horse won 1st place, my aunt’s horse won 2nd place, and my cousin’s horse won 3rd place, we were there the whole day celebrating. AGANI is celebrated every year from August 14 to August 16.
We also have beaches like the paradise of Punta Cana, which is a very touristic place because of its white sands and blue water, millions of tourists visit those beaches yearly. Punta Cana is a resort town, it also has connection the wonderful beach EL Macao, where my family and I used to go to spend time together or to celebrate parties. Our beaches face both two big oceans, The Caribbean Sean and the Atlantic Ocean. In Punta Cana we have the important resorts brand, like Hard Rock, Barcelo, Melia, and others. A resort in Punta Cana is really the paradise. Most of the resorts are all included, food, alcohol, beach and pool activities. El Macao, is a beach that is great for surfing, because of its big waves. This beach is very popular for spring break, because it’s a there is not an entrance feed and you are allowed to put camping tends to pass the weekend during spring break.
Another tradition in Higuey is the celebration for the protector of the town, Our Lady Altagracia (Virgin Mary), every January 21st. I remember watching on the TV stories of people that commute from one side of the country to the other side walking in order for them to thank Our Lady Altagracia. That celebration is celebrated in the Basilica of Higuey. This cathedral was made in 1970s, as a big monument in honor of Our Lady Altagracia, the doors are made of bronze and covered in 14k gold. This cathedral is one of the most important cathedrals in the country. Inside the basilica it’s a portrait of the Our Lady Altagracia (Virgin Mary), the portrait in a gold frame covered and protected by a crista box.
Although it is agricultural and paradisiac, Higuey is a big city. it is full of houses, apartments, etc…, but there is one special house that makes my heart full. My house, where I lived for fifteen years, the most beautiful fifteen years of my life. It is a beige and light brown house located in a low-income neighborhood, though I always felt like the richest person inside that house. It is a house with three bedrooms, each of them has access to the rest of the house. Mine was the first one. I was never allowed to paint in any color but beige or white, because my grandparents wanted all the rooms to have the same color on the walls. Writing about it makes my eyes watery and my heart sad, because every corner inside that house is full of memories. I was there last summer, and the doors are still dark brown, the white rocking chairs on the porch, the cherries trees in the patio, and the smell of all different food prepared by the neighbors, in the air.
Unfortunately, we can’t have everything we want. I can’t stay in Higuey because life has better opportunities to complete my dreams. At this moment, I am following my American dream, but my heart is in Higuey in that small house in that big town. I wish I could go back to those days when I was a kid and used to go the farms with my grandfather to work with cows, riding horses and feeling free in those huge green areas. I wish I was swimming in the rivers and cooking with wood on the river bank, or just sitting on the sand looking the ocean. Higuey has it everything!!
