Barahona

Barahona is a noisy, smoky midsize city; it's the least cosmopolitan city of its kind in the Dominican Republic. The primary mode of transportation is the motor scooter or motorcycle, and there's an eternal buzz from them, which escalates on Friday nights when everyone in the entire region seems to come into town to party. It's also a college town with two centers of higher learning, UCATEBA (Universidad Catolica y Tecnologica de Barahona) and the Barahona campus of the UASD (Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo). There's a Malecón (seafront promenade) that comes alive on weekends. You'll find some of the more popular Dominican seafood restaurants there. The colorful and lively market, open daily, is a good photo opportunity and great place to meet the locals. Victorian houses give Barahona a little charm, and there's a lovely central park, but some of the streets are still unpaved. A relatively young city in a country whose roots reach back to Christopher Columbus's family, Barahona was founded in 1802 by General François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture, an important leader of the Haitian revolution.