Boca Chica - Boca Chica

Boca Chica is a municipality (municipio) of the Santo Domingo province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there is one municipal district (distritos municipal): La Caleta. As of the 2012 census it had 123,510 inhabitants, 70,184 living in the city itself and 53,326 in its rural districts (Secciones).

Boca Chica has a popular beach with the same name, located about 30 kilometers east of Santo Domingo de Guzmán in the south shore of the island of Hispaniola.

History

Boca Chica was originally developed by Juan Bautista Vicini Burgos, who established sugar plantations there in the early twentieth century. Vicini was very fond of the place but the golden era of Boca Chica was in the 1950s, when dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo ordered the construction of a modern hotel named "Hotel Hamaca", which subsequently became something of an icon. The hotel got all the more famous because it was there that Trujillo granted asylum to Fulgencio Batista after the Cuban Revolution. The Hamaca was closed almost immediately after Trujillo was killed in May 1961, and it remained closed and abandoned for more than twenty years. It was reopened in the early 1990s.

During the 1950s and the 1960s, prominent families of the Dominican Republic built several summer properties along the beach only accessible by private transportation. After the 1970s, the beach became more and more popular and public transportation helped to make Boca Chica a very populated beach; it was no longer secluded and quiet, as it had been during the '50s and '60s.

Characteristics

The short distance from the capital city (19 miles), the crystalline waters and the white sands turned Boca Chica into the most crowded beach of the Dominican Republic, especially on weekends and holidays. Boca Chica beach has immaculate fine sand. You can walk in the water and the depth will barely change, the water will be to your waist (or a little bit over) all the time. It's the most family friendly of all the Dominican Republic beaches. Boca Chica has two small islands, Los Pinos and La Matica, and two marinas. There are lots of bars, restaurants, pizza stands, souvenirs stalls and loud music all day long; all this along the beach sand very close to the shore.

In recent years, the town has become overwhelmed with tourists from North America and Europe, especially during the months of December through April. It is one of the better places to enjoy swimming in the warm Caribbean waters. In the evening, Boca Chica transforms itself into a town of party bars and prostitution.

References

Notes

External links

• Online guide to Boca Chica
• Boca Chica; Santo Domingos Badewanne