Re: Hamaca Disco and Boca Chica
I think the Hamaca's entrance policies are geared towards maintaining an upscale atmosphere for their target clientele of upscale tourists, with the philosophy of isolating their guests from the immediate surrounding area. It creates an atmosphere that many tourists are looking for.
Boca Chica is certainly has the most or best of MANY things. This is because of it's close proximity to the airport and the capital, giving it a high population density of both locals and tourists. It arguably the most accessible resort town in the country with one of the best beaches and the best night life, yet has less violent crime than any major city in the USA. A truly wonderful town.
NORMAN: "Unfortunately Boca Chica has more prostitutes per square meter than any other real estate that I know of in the DR. A high percentage of them have been involved in thefts. ... Serious Dominican girls from good families don't go to Boca Chica or Juan Dolio unescorted ..."
Boca Chica does have a lot of young unescorted Dominican men and women in the bars at night. In fact, it is a singles scene. Who are you to call them prostitutes? Why not just call every person that goes to a bar single, an immoral slut!
The police and media routinely charge young Dominican women with prostitution without any evidence beyond being in a tourist town, at a bar, looking good, without a man, something that millions of young Americans do every weekend, and the tourists themselves do on vacation without a problem. I've seen the media taking photos and shooting video of local girls dancing in short skirts with news titles proclaiming them as prostitutes, when in reality, they work at the bar and are paid to dance, or, they are just girls dancing for fun. Imagine that. Young women going to a disco dressed in disco appropriate attire and dancing. Those involved with this reporting should be ashamed of themselves.
The DR has a long way to go when it comes to civil rights, and in particular, womens' rights. The interaction with the locals is part of the charm of Boca Chica and the lack of it is part of the sterility of the Hamaca.
We all know that, at times, money and other things changes hands between tourists and locals. So what. So many Dominicans have their hand out, and we start planning our gift giving before we even get there! There is nothing wrong with the haves helping out the have-nots.
NORMAN: "The Hamaca depends on family trade for their business, not singles. At best, their presence will upset the wives of guests, at worst it could lead to theft from rooms."
I've been to the Hamaca more times than I can count and I would not call it a family resort because there are very few families. It is almost all adult couples. The Hamaca has the right to "gear" their business towards any segment of the population they wish. At best, the presence of single women delight the men, which comprises half the tourists at the hotel, and probably the half most likely to be paying the bills. If the Hamaca Disco is to be a bubble, protecting all from the "dangerous world" outside the resort, that is their management's decision. Perhaps it will become like the discos of Boca Chica Resort and the Don Juan Hotel -- empty.
NORMAN: "Since the Hamaca Disco is unfortunately located within easy access to the rooms, single women represent a security risk."
Oh sure. I bet there are lots of single women overpowering the tourists, robbing them, sneaking into the hotel hallways and forcing open hotel room doors in hopes of making off with cash and jewelry that isn't locked in the room safe that every room has. Nonsense.
Then all of a sudden when a woman is accompanied by a male, the security risk goes away? Some logic.
NORMAN: "I know of guests who have been lured to ambushes by groups of motoconchos by prostitutes and stripped of their belongings by the girls while the motorcycles surrounded them. I know of several murders of foreigners in Boca Chica during the last three or four years. "
Statistically, these would be relatively rare occurrences. The incident rate of violent crime is actually low when compared to other popular tourist destinations around the world, making it one of the safest. That statement makes it sound like a dangerous place when compared with places that one wouldn't think twice about travelling to. It isn't a dangerous place. One can quote various crimes that have happened in just about every popular tourist destination worldwide. So what.
NORMAN: "... it is impossible for hotel security to tell who is and who isn't a prostitute. Serious Dominican girls from good families don't go to Boca Chica or Juan Dolio unescorted because they know that they will often be arrested on suspicion of prostitution."
Ridiculous. Most locals from outside the Boca Chica area are not going to travel all the way from Santo Domingo to go to a Boca Chica disco because it is 45 - 75 minutes each direction and the return home on public transportation for a young women at 3am would not be particularly inviting. Now, what about the thousands of young Dominican girls that live and work in the area, and their friends that come to visit? To label Boca Chica as a place where no "serious" Dominican women would venture unescorted is arrogantly judgemental, and bull. You are the morality king, deciding who is decent?
I agree that the random and no-evidence-needed arrest tactics of the local authorities deters some young Dominican females from enjoying Boca Chica's scene.
JimHinsch@CSI.COM
