As 21st-century travelers, we came to an old-timed city that's coming apart at the seams with a history of its own. The smell of cinnamon wafts across the air, while anis, marjoram and cloves hanging behind the doors generate an eroticism that makes the Dominican Republic a place of pleasant mystery. This is a no-frill city. Preferences come and go as people's secrets are let out of the bag, when smells and seasonings dominate the atmosphere, whenever you tuck in roadside goat or smoked pork with just a pinch of salt and lemon.

The problem about leaving and coming back to the Dominican Republic is the eternal quest, the reencounter with the primitive, with those things that you don't see but you know they're somewhere out there. For knowing the country, you need to have the five senses on the lookout. Residents rap words off their mouths. But as time rolls on, you can tell whether they're speaking with their minds or with their hearts.

Nothing seems to make Dominicans hurry up because as old Ismael Peña puts it, “at the end of the day, everything is worked out.”

Dominicans believe in God and go to church. However, the influence of the much-feared and disregarded Voodoo is everywhere: in the magic of flowers, in the use of colors, when they evoke Papa Dios (Father God), an expression that popped up in the barracks of African slaves. They adore music and money, and love oozes out of their skin pores.

One day, while showing me the fields of orchids and poppycock, my friend Virtudes Morillo told me, “The Dominican Republic is heaven,” as if she were trying to capture the beautiful and the unknown in only five words.

ORIGINS When Spaniards landed here, Lucayan, Ciguayan and Taino Indians were the sole roamers on the premises. Cigua, the national bird, used to fly higher to the top of the royal palm trees back then. These handsome men –according to historical documents- were living a healthy life, fishing and collecting fruits. They knew, though, about weapons, because the Caribs were extremely aggressive and were seizing new territories.

Ferns were huge and poppycock used to bloom between January and February, covering sceneries that verged on the divine. Orchids and sunflowers carpeted the pathways where watercourses used to slither their way through. Hundreds of rivers were part of the Dominican geography. The Artibonito was the longest and plentiful of all (almost 200 miles) and ran through the Dominican Republic and Haiti into the Caribbean Sea.

Another river, the Yaque del Norte, was venerated as it made life spring up on both banks. Ravaging rains caused the river to overflow in November 2003, but people rebuilt their houses next to it as soon as the water level dropped.

The Yuma is 130 miles long, the Yaque del Sur is 113 miles long and the Ozama stretches out for little more that 90 miles. Other major rivers are Camu, Nizao and Mao, all named after aboriginal terms. These rivers convey abundant moisture to the hot months between March and October, with smoldering temps in June, July and August –like in most of the Caribbean. Low temperatures in Constanza and Jarabacoa, where residents say “it's always cold,” are really out of the ordinary.

HISTORY Quisqueya was the island's aboriginal name. It means the mother of all lands. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, it called it La Hispaniola, and on August 4, 1494, Bartolome Colon founded La Isabela, the first village built in Puerto Plata. However, the aborigines destroyed it and burned it down to the ground.

Columbus built a fort there, thus marking the beginning of the European colonization of the New World. A few years later, the construction of Santo Domingo began and a viceroy's domain was established. In 1697, the west side of the territory was conquered by the French, while the east side of the island remained in Spanish hands.

In 1821, Colonial Treasurer Jose Nuñez de Caceres proclaimed the independence of Santo Domingo. Yet, that moment of glory was short-lived. In 1822, the Haitians invaded and seized the colony for 22 years until February 27, 1844 when independence was restored. The Caribbean nation has since then gone through an array of convulsing political processes, including several U.S. military interventions.

LIFE AND PEOPLE Dominican cuisine combines the Spanish and local influence. Rice, red kidney beans, any kind of meat, salads and bread rolls make up the daily meal of the average Dominican household. For them, lunch is sacred, while dinner usually ends up with suds and light snacks. Shellfish and seafood are always fresh and top-notch. The most popular dishes are cassava, Dominican sancocho and mofongo (mashed plantains and pork skin cracklings). They guzzle local coffee and beer, though most international brands sell pretty well.

NIGHTLIFE This is the time when mysteries crawl out. The sky looks cloudless and the stars shine above. The streets of residential areas are almost empty, but the heart of the city is beating. People swarm over the Seawall as the waves thump, hiss and sprinkle. The Santo Domingo Seawall is a place of pleasure. Tourists come here looking for meringue and end up listening to a bachata, a soulful high-pitch melody made up of legit tones.

An eye-popping place in the south is La Guacara Taina. Along the Seawall (known locally as El Malecon), a makeshift billboard marks the entrance of a deep cave where people drink and dance the night away in a very special atmosphere.

Yet, you don't need to go to a specific place to make everything look special and motley. The Caribbean is everywhere and the blaring sound of meringue makes people sway their hips up and down the streets. It's commonplace for Dominicans to dance to the beat of this peculiar rhythm that unleashes low passions among the dwellers of this colorful Caribbean island.

By 1795, Father Labat, a French priest who had settled down on the island, wrote, “Dancing in Santo Domingo is the favorite passion and I think there's no other people on the face of the earth that love dancing so much.” Therefore, Spanish footprints in Santo Domingo are not only found in the city's architecture, but also in the music, the cuisine and the traditions. As you wander around the Cathedral Square and El Conde Street, picturesque hawkers, travel guides, translators and Dominicans that need no time at all to start talking to you, simply overwhelm visitors with their presence.

El Conde (The Count) is one of the capital's main avenues. It really strikes people's attention for its gaudiness, bustling movement, street peddlers, shoeshines and cafés. But the lively Mercado Modelo takes the cake. Vendors there show off their love potions, drinks that drive evil spirits away, all kinds of Santeria artifacts, coffee, rum, cigars, wooden carvings, amber figurines… you name it. This is no doubt the Caribbean in just one corner.

After the tour around the colonial city, you would be loaded with new scents, pleased to have come up with a new discovery and, in the same breath, eager to come back as soon as you possible can.