I dont understand why WHY there is no sign at this effing Encuentro beach NO SWIMMING! So many people have drowned on that beach! The tourists who come from countries that have no sea or ocean have 0 idea how to behave in a wild water like on that surf beach! I think it has to be the first thing they hear at reception in hotel when they check in - to NOT swim at that beach especially alone.
What every visitor should be told, retold, told again then quizzed on is that they ain't in Kansas anymore.
'We in the Euro-Western society have become accustomed to the authorities looking after us. We expect day-glow orange warnings of hazards on the sidewalk (
pavement to the Brits); we may assume safety inspections of cars, busses, boats and everything; we expect the police to be on our side; we assume that electricity is wired according to code . . . and so on, and so on. Most of the time we get what we expect.
'It's just not true in second-world countries such as the DR. You are responsible for your own choices, actions and activities, and the safety of yourself and those you are responsible for. Get used to it or stay in the resort (and even then you're vulnerable).'
Without getting paranoid about it all, I give myself this lecture every year on the plane after the first gin and tonic. It's usually sunk in by the time we're off the Florida keys or over the Turks and Caicos. But after all these years I still find myself a little 'innocent-acting' for the first day or so.
Well that's my first post of the new year. See you in February perhaps.
wbr
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