Guayabal is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

(''

municipio ' (, ) and ' () are country subdivisions in Italy and several Hispanophone and Lusophone nations, respectively. They are often translated as "municipality". In the English language, a municipality often is defined as relating to a single city or ...

'') of the Azua

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

Location

Guayabal lies 725 meters above sea level at the confluence of the Arroyo Guayabal in the Rio Cueva. The coordinates are 18°44'56 N 70°50'11 W (from Google Earth). A trail goes through the Arroyo Guayabal to Constanza. Constanza is about a two-hour drive, yet the roads require the use of sports utility vehicles. Guayabal is about 20 km (50 minutes if using the public minibus, Guagua) north-east of Padre las Casas, and about another 2 hours, in the Guagua, away from the province capital

Azua de Compostela Azua de Compostela, also known simply as Azua, is a municipality (''municipio'') and capital of Azua Province in the southern region of Dominican Republic. Founded in 1504, Azua is one of the oldest European settlements in the Americas. The town i ...

Society

Guayabal administrates some smaller villages alongside the Rio Cueva. These villages are accessible solely with offroad capable vehicles. Some include: Periquito (20 min. west), Arroyo Corozo (15 min. east), La Guama (30 min. south-east) and El Recodo (2 hr.'s south-east). Being that Guayabal is difficult to access its residents are very dependent on Padre las Casas for many goods and services. There is much poverty and as such there is a lot of emigration in search of work. Yet, during

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

, Navidad, or

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

, Semana Santa, the town is repopulated.

Economy

The economy is dominated by the cultivation of

beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes t ...

(habichuelas),

peas The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

(guandule),

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated a ...

(yuca)and

calabash Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. It can be either harvested young to be consumed ...

(auyama). The meat and dairy industries, once successful, have given way to agriculture due to the high availability of arable land versus the limited availability of land suited for raising livestock. The production region, called Loma or Cerca, covers all the hillsides up to the top of the highest mountains, some of which are over a kilometer above sea level. The cost of an acre of land is about $4000RD or about $100 USD. The most common mode of transport is on

horseback Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

Tourism

There is little tourism; Guayabal has two small hotels. One has the usual amenities of a hotel, it includes a bath, a T.V., and a ventilator, but these rooms serve mostly reserved by business travelers. There is one restaurant in the town. The tourists that do come to Guayabal or, Padre Las Casas, are usually on their way to the city of Constanza.

References

External links

*
Wikivoyage about the Dominican Republic
Populated places in Azua Province Municipalities of the Dominican Republic {{DominicanRepublic-geo-stub