Jarabacoa Leaders

Jarabacoa, La Vega Eeli Ylítalo son of Yusi and Ifermina Ylitalo arrived to the Dominican Republic in the year 1929 at age 29 and in search of a new life, because life in Europe at the time was in suffering economically and many people from all parts of Europe began leaving, like Eeli did from Finland. Eeli came to the Dominican Republic with the idea of returning to Finland one day but what he never imagined was that he would fall in love with such a beautiful island become a Dominican citizen.

At a young age, Eeli was the director of a small but what is now a very lucrative bank. He never studied formally but did studies related to Chemistry and with this knowledge was able to them to his advantage. The reason that motivated him to come to the Dominican Republic was an article published by the Dominican government, in the presidential times of Horacio Vasquez, offering a piece of land good for cultivating. At the time, in Finland, people were worked mostly in agriculture, raising animals, and taking care of the forests.

He first located himself in the north of Santiago, where a North American company had a factory that produced starch from yuca for exportation. Eeli worked in this company for a few years. On his days off he would leave the city of Santiago to have fun. At the time the sawmills factories would bring wood from Jarabacoa to be distributed to select places, but at the time Jarabacoa was not an easy to reach location in the mountains without a roadway, for this reason all wood was brought down via the rivers, Eeli was curious as to where all this wood was being cut from and realized that this is where he would need to be in order to begin his turpentine factory in the future. This is how he made it to Jarabacoa

When arriving to Jarabacoa a field sits to the west side of the river Yaque is the property that belonged to a man named Manuel del Carmen Abreu, who is the father of the woman married Eeli. Since they lived near each other, he always kept in touch with her because she was a very social person, he also liked to be in contact with all the people around him. Eeli became close friends of the family, and in 1949, married his wife Ana Rosa Abreu. Their marriage was prosperous and she was able to accept his nature (customs, religion, in other words shelearned to live with him and accept how he was). Together they had 4 children, 3 boys and a girl.

Starting his turpentine business was a very difficult task with many obstacles; he had no money and he was foreigner with very different customs than those of the Dominicans, and he was also alone. He had only been in the Dominican Republic 6 years and it was quite the ordeal to develop his business, partially because of the language barriers and culture shock. But with hard work and dedication he was able to get past these hard times and develop his turpentine business, which is the oldest standing factory in Jarabacoa. Eeli Ylitalo supported Jarabacoa in many ways and for this he is recognized as a leader of Jarabacoa.

Sabine Mertes
Sabine Mertes offers real estate services with a focus on villas, farms, land and condos for sale on the north coast of the Dominican Republic

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Buying real estate in Jarabacoa

Buying real estate in Jarabacoa—there will never be a time when you wonder what you will do besides garden and play golf, though the area is excellent for both.

Dominicans call Jarabacoa (the J pronounced as an H) the city of eternal spring. It is the popular destination among the Dominican wealthy class during the summer because of its agreeable weather with annual temperatures ranging from 61 to 72 ° F (16 to 22 ° C). It is also where the Dominican Republic’s eco-tourism started.

Ferns along Pico Duarte trail

Ferns along Pico Duarte trail

An excellent area to own a vacation, retirement or rental home, it is smack dab in the middle of the country in the Cordillera Central mountain range, called by the locals, the Dominican Alps. The highest is Pico Duarte at 10, 127 feet (3,087 meters), the tallest mountain in the Caribbean and the tallest east of the Mississippi. An adventurous day or two-day trip is trekking the trails to the top. The Dominican Ministry of Environment has even built several lodges along the trail to stop and enjoy the views or to overnight.

A variety of mountain sports in the Jarabacoa area include hang gliding, hiking, dirt biking, canyoning, rappelling, and horseback riding over hill and dale and across streams.

Jarabacoa is a pre-Columbian Taino Indian name that means “land where the water flows,” a direct reference to the 20 rivers and streams that run through the area’s mountainous terrain. The largest are the Baiguate, Jimenoa and the Yaque del Norte replete with waterfalls. The rivers are excellent for white water rafting, canoeing, floating in tubes or panning for gold.

Yup, there is gold in them thar hills. Panning for gold is an adventurous day trip to take visiting family and friends.

Panning for gold in Jarabacoa

Panning for gold in Jarabacoa

Not only is it fun, it gets people outdoors into beautiful scenery. Kids love it, because it gives them a souvenir no one has back at home—gold they caught themselves. Priceless. At the current price of $1800 per ounce, it’s darn near so. Or they can cash it in to buy an iPad.

Three golf courses are nearby. Built among pine groves, the Jarabacoa Golf Club is the only course in the country in the mountains so your game will be distracted by spectacular views.

The Bonao Golf Club was originally built for the executives of a large gold mining company. It was designed by an assistant to Robert Trent Jones, Sr. who designed the Playa Dorada golf course on the north coast.

Las Aromas Santiago Golf Club (The Aromas) is about an hour’s drive to Santiago.
It has beautiful views of the city, Cibao Valley and the Yaque del Norte River. It was designed by Pete Dye during the same period when he built Teeth of the Dog on the south shore.

Jarabacoa’s social life revolves around the Parque Central with its church, casino and restaurants.

For more evening attractions, Santiago, the nation’s second largest city is not far. It has a variety of fine restaurants and the best night life in the country as well as major shopping chains such as PriceSmart.

Nearby La Vega has the most popular carnival on the island. It lasts for many weekends to the end of February on the 27th, when the country celebrates its independence from Haiti in 1844.

Las Vegas Carnaval

Ready-to-move-in real estate in Jarabacoa—this mountain home in Jarabacoa. Built in 2009, this luxury, two-story, 5382 ft² (500 m²) villa is 3000 feet above sea level. You get dynamic views of the Cordillera Central mountain range from three terraces and six bedrooms. It has a living room, dining area and den. A basement for a wine cellar complements the villa’s luxury along with the fully-equipped, professionally appointed, modern kitchen with granite counter tops. In the garden are coffee, banana, black berry and plantain plants. There is 24-hour security in the gated community within which it is located. For more information and photos please visit the page of this property for sale in Jarabacoa.

Sabine Mertes
Sabine Mertes offers real estate services with a focus on villas, farms, land and condos for sale on the north coast of the Dominican Republic

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