This is a petal from the flower of the now-extinct species of algarrobo tree whose resin was the source of all Dominican amber. Without this single species of tree, the fabulously rich community ...

You can get an up-close look at the Dominican Republic's beloved amber in this Victorian mansion situated in downtown Puerto Plata. There are two floors worth of amber specimens, some fossilized.

Little did I know that some two decades later, I’d be standing at a place that made those childhood daydreams possible–the ...