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Punta Cana
Punta Cana Punta Cana
Coordinates: 18°32′N 068°22′W / 18.533°N 68.367°W / 18.533; -68.367Coordinates: 18°32′N 068°22′W / 18.533°N 68.367°W / 18.533; -68.367
Country	Dominican Republic
Province	La Altagracia Province
Population (2008)
• Total	325,244
Time zone	Atlantic (UTC−4)
Area code(s)	809, 829, and 849

Punta Cana is part of the newly created Punta Cana-Bávaro-Veron-Macao municipal district in La Altagracia, the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic. The area is best known for its beaches and balnearios, which face both the Caribbean and Atlantic, and it has been a popular tourist destination since the 1970s. The Punta Cana area has an estimated population of 100,000 with a growth rate of six percent.^[1] To the north, it borders the village and beach of Cabeza de Toro, and then the Bávaro and El Cortecito beaches. The nearest city, the 500-year-old capital of the Province Higüey, is 45 kilometres (28 mi) away, and it takes about an hour to drive there. Europeans, particularly Spanish hotel chains, own all but two of the 50+ megaresorts of the Punta Cana tourism destination. Punta Cana-Bavaro's resorts show an eclectic variety of architecture and interior design inspired by Spanish and native Dominican cultures. Areas bordering Punta Cana include Cap Cana to the south and the original tiny fishing-village of Cabo San Rafael. A 100 metres (330 ft) high cliff is located more to the south, near of Boca de Yuma town, a fishing village dated from the 16th century. Nearby, you can find the Ponce de Leon's Fortress, in San Rafael del Yuma town. This is one of the most isolated area within the La Altagracia Province though.

The province's 100 kilometres (62 mi) coastline tends to be mildly windy. The ocean waters are mainly shallows, with several natural marine pools in which visitors can bathe without any danger. North to South the main beaches are: Uvero Alto, Macao, Arena Gorda, Bávaro, El Cortecito – all north of the cape – and Cabeza de Toro, Cabo Engaño, Punta Cana, Juanillo – south of the cape.

Bávaro is an area starting from Cabeza de Toro until Macao Beach. As the hotels started to rise along the East coast, Bavaro itself became a center of services with shopping malls, fast-food stores, drug stores, fine restaurants, banks, clinics, workshops, supermarkets, and schools. The major town in the district is Veron, now bigger than Higuey in territory, a spontaneous -and poor- urban development running along the original road from the west. Veron, last name of the French proprietor of a timberline business in the early 1930s, is now the base-city for hotel workers and related. It has, besides Bavaro, one of the only four gas stations in Punta Cana. The very next is located 48 kilometres (30 mi) west in Higuey, at the Fruisa crossroads, with a new Texaco gas station opened April 2010, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Macao beach, and the new Shell gas station close to the airport (on the highway Coral) opened at the end of 2010.

The Punta Cana International Airport is one of the busiest and best connected airports in the Caribbean. In 2008, Punta Cana received 3,758,109 passengers, making it the busiest airport in the country.^[2] The airport serves more passengers than the Las Américas International Airport in Santo Domingo. Grupo Puntacana built the Punta Cana International Airport in 1984 to facilitate tourism in the area. It was the world's first privately owned international airport.

Punta Cana is listed 79 in the top 100 places to visit before you die. (conducted by U.C.L.A)^{[citation needed]}

Climate[link]

The weather is fairly consistent all year, with an average temperature of 30 °C (86 °F). The hot and humid season lasts from May to October, and during the day temperatures might reach 35 °C (95 °F). From November to March, temperatures during the evening are around 20 °C (68 °F). Very little rain falls around the area, primarily because of the mostly flat landscape, a combination of savanna and mountains.

Punta Cana International Airport

Activities[link]

Punta Cana, part of the newly Punta Cana-Bavaro county, is considered the major resort area in the Dominican Republic with 28,000 hotel rooms. Puntacana Resort and Club (the first one, 1969), Cap Cana, Palma Real Villas and Roko Ki are some of the leading developments, and Roco Ki and Punta Perla in development.

Punta Cana has 12 professional golf courses that were built in 1991, from designers such as Jack Nicklaus, P.B. Dye, Tom Fazio, Nick Faldo and Nick Price. Punta Espada, along with Teeth of the Dog in Casa de Campo figure among the very first 50 best golf courses in the world^{[citation needed]}.

Many other tourist facilities and attractions have been established in the area, catering to the large international market. Watersports are well catered for, with diving and boat trips available. One of the most popular tours is to Saona Island (also known by its Taíno name Adamanai) located about 100 km west, which is popular for scuba diving.

The Basilica Catholic Monument, built in 1962 and designed by two French architects, in Higuey, the 500-year-old capital of the Province, is a popular cultural attraction.

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Punta Cana

In the Christian New Testament, the Gospel of John refers a number of times to a town called Cana of Galilee.

The marriage at Cana[link]

Cana is very positively located in Shepherd's Historical Atlas, 1923: modern scholars are less sure.

Among Christians and other students of the New Testament, Cana is best known as the place where, according to the Fourth Gospel, Jesus performed his first public miracle, the turning of a large quantity of water into wine at a wedding feast (John 2:1-11) when the wine provided by the bridegroom had run out (see Jars of Cana). Although none of the synoptic gospels records the event, mainstream Christian tradition holds that this is the first public miracle of Jesus.^[1] However in John's gospel it has considerable symbolic importance: it is the first of the seven miraculous "signs" by which Jesus's divine status is attested, and around which the gospel is structured.

It is still a matter of discussion among theologians whether the story talks of an actual material transformation of water into wine, or is a spiritual allegory. Interpreted allegorically, the good news and hope implied by the story is in the words of the Governor of the Feast when he tasted the good wine, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now" (John 2:10, NRSV). This could be interpreted by saying simply that it is always darkest before the dawn, but good things are on the way. The more usual interpretation, however, is that this is a reference to the appearance of Jesus, whom the author of the Fourth Gospel regards as being himself the good wine.^[2]

The story has had considerable importance in the development of Christian pastoral theology. The gospel account of Jesus being invited to a wedding, attending, and using his divine power to save the celebrations from disaster are taken as evidence of his approval for marriage and earthly celebrations, in contrast to the more austere views of Saint Paul as found, for example, in 1 Corinthians 7 [1]. It has also been used as an argument against Christian teetotalism.^[3]

Other references to Cana[link]

The other biblical references to Cana are in John 4:46, which mentions Jesus is visiting Cana when he is asked to heal the son of a royal official at Capernaum; and John 21:2, where it is mentioned that the apostle Nathanael (usually identified with the Bartholomew included in the synoptic gospels' lists of apostles) comes from Cana. Cana of Galilee is not mentioned in any other book of the Bible, nor in any other contemporary source.

Locating Cana[link]

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There has been much speculation about where Cana might have been. In his Gospel, the author makes no claim to have been at the wedding himself. Some Christians regard the story of the wedding at Cana as having more theological than historical or topographical significance, but most do not. Likewise, some (but not all) modern scholars hold that the Fourth Gospel was addressed to a group of Jewish Christians, and, very possibly, a group living in Judea.

There are four villages in Galilee which are candidates for biblical Cana:

1. Kafr Kanna, Israel;
2. Kenet-el-Jalil, Israel;
3. Ain Kana, Israel; and
4. Qana, Lebanon.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1914, a tradition dating back to the 8th century identifies Cana with the modern Arab town of Kafr Kanna, about 7 km northeast of Nazareth, Israel. However more recent scholars have suggested alternatives, including the ruined village of Kenet-el-Jalil (also known as Khirbet Kana), about 9 km further north, and Ain Kana, which is closer to Nazareth and considered by some to be a better candidate on etymological grounds. The village of Qana, in southern Lebanon, is another candidate for the location. Many Lebanese, Christians and Muslims, believe the village to be the correct site. This is not a matter on which certainty is ever likely to be achieved.

References[link]

External links[link]

• John 2 in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
• Comprehensive list of online resources and references relating to John 2:1-11 at The Text This Week
• Entry on Cana in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913
• Entry on Cana in Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)

Coordinates: 32°44′42″N 35°20′18″E / 32.745°N 35.33833°E / 32.745; 35.33833

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