Jarabacoa

The valley was home to the island's native people before the Spanish arrived, but Jarabacoa as a town is a creation of the 19th century. When Haitian armies invaded the Spanish part of the island in 1801 and 1805, and Dessalines burned La Vega in 1805, many of its people took refuge in the mountains of Jarabacoa and stayed; landowners from other parts of the island and from the south followed, and the valley had a population boom.

In 1854 a military post was set up there, and the town was formally founded, because of its strategic position on the route between the Cibao and the south. It was made a municipality on 27 September 1858, and under Spanish rule a military command was created there in 1862. At its founding in 1854 it had about 2,000 people, and many of its men fought in the wars that secured independence.

Agriculture remained the base of the local economy, and in recent years its rivers and mountains have brought a large growth in ecological and adventure tourism. Growth has brought a large housing shortage, driven by population increase, tourism and migration from the countryside.

Jarabacoa's identity rests on its climate and its landscape. Visitors christened it the City of Everlasting Spring, and its mountains, rivers and natural surroundings are its main attractions for visitors.

The town's calendar is marked by the Festival de las Flores every June, when growers sell flowers, flowering plants and orchids alongside handmade crafts — a celebration of the nurseries and flower farms that are part of the local economy. The local carnival in February is one of the best known in the country, and 16 July is the day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Outdoor life is a large part of local culture. Rafting, canyoning and tubing on the Yaque del Norte, hiking in the pine forest and paragliding over the valley have created a community of guides, and Jarabacoa is one of the main access points to Pico Duarte. Like the rest of the Cibao, it is proud of its farming roots, and merengue and baseball are as much a part of life here as in the valley below.

The municipality of Jarabacoa had about 65,000 people at the 2022 census, the second-largest in La Vega province, split almost evenly between the town and the countryside. Daily life in town revolves around the central streets, where motoconchos, guaguas from La Vega and coaches from the capital come and go.

Farming remains the base of the economy. Jarabacoa is known for its strawberries, some of them exported, its coffee, processed in modern factories, and pimento and ají peppers grown in greenhouses; forest, ornamental and fruit nurseries and a wide variety of flowers add to the output. Tourism — lodges, rafting operators, guides and weekend homes — is the other mainstay.

Unemployment is high despite the nurseries and farms, and population growth, tourism and migration from the countryside have left a large housing shortage. The town sits about 500 metres above sea level, and for most of the year its mornings are pleasant, its afternoons hot and its nights mild.

Jarabacoa eats the hearty food of the Cibao. Mangú, mashed green plantain, with fried cheese, salami and eggs is the breakfast favourite, and la bandera — white rice, red beans and stewed meat — is the everyday lunch. Sancocho, the meat stew that is the national soup, suits the cool evenings.

Local farms supply much of what is eaten: strawberries are the best-known crop, and local coffee is sold in town. Ají peppers and pimento are grown in the valley's greenhouses.

At weekends families eat at riverside places on the edge of town, and lodges in the hills cook for visitors and trekkers. As elsewhere, Presidente beer and rum are the drinks of an evening out, and mamajuana — rum and red wine steeped with bark, herbs and honey — is offered as a folk tonic. Chicharrón, crisp fried pork, and longaniza, a spicy sausage, are as popular here as everywhere in the region.