#28: El Merengue

If you'd asked me 3 months ago if I liked the merengue, I only would have had a vague knowledge of what you were talking about. If you'd asked me the same question 2 months ago, I would have made a face. One month ago, I would have shrugged indifferently.

But today, I'm in love. The merengue is a type of Dominican music that was born right here in the Cibao Valley, although it's popular all over Latin America. The Hispanic Caribbean (DR, Cuba, Puerto Rico) is famous for its music and dance styles (think salsa if you haven't heard of merengue). Unlike most of Latin America, the Caribbean has very little indigenous influence, thanks to the Europeans who killed them off 600 years ago. However, there exists a huge African influence due to the importation of slaves to work the sugar plantations. (Thank you to Luis Felipe Rodriguez, my Historia del Caribe professor, for imparting your wisdom.) When the slaves arrived from Africa, they brought with them a beat. As the saying goes, the rest is history. African beats and Spanish language merged and evolved to give birth to a variety of musical styles, from el merengue to la bachata to el bolero to el sol to reggaeton. Today music and dance are some of the defining elements of Caribbean culture. You're bound to hear it blasting from storefronts and car windows, and it's not unusual to see a couple do an impromptu dance or two in the middle of dinner.

Like I said, I wasn't always a fan of the merengue. It kind of got on my nerves, actually, and my friend had to convince me to even try to learn the dance. I didn't even realize how much it was growing on me until Friday. I was on another one of those indescribable adventures that one can only find in the Caribbean. We took a boat out into a park of little islands called Los Haiteses off the Samaná peninsula. I could've sworn that we were in a scene from "Jurassic Park", and when we got off the boat and into kayaks to explore the mangrove swamps, I was pretty sure an ancient dinosaur would show up any minute. After kayaking, we explored caves that had been inhabited by los Ciguayos, indigenous peoples who lived here centuries ago. Since we didn't end up getting eaten by a T-rex after all, we got back on the boat. To no one's surprise, Omega El Fuerte (a popular merengue singer) started blasting through the speakers. I was already blissfully happy; how can you not be on a gorgeous boat in the middle of the Caribbean? But I couldn't sit still. The rhythm was too alluring, for me and everyone else. When one of the sailors held out his hand to invite me to dance, I just about jumped out of my seat. 

That night, we asked around and found a great hole in the wall place to dance. And dance we did, till 3 in the morning to be exact. And being white lends itself to all kinds of piropos along the lines of "You're such a good dancer! Well, for an American." and "Don't you want to move here so we can dance together forever?" (I was enjoying myself so much at the time that I was a tiny bit tempted.) If anything has redeemed for me the craziness that is the DR, it's music and dancing. It's the long nights at the discotecas and the music streams out from every street corner that make it every bit worth it.