Los Alcarrizo

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RON

Guest
Can anyone tell me if Los Alcarrizo is a city,town,village or other; and what is life like there. Is this the heart of Dominican culture?
 
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Duarte

Guest
Los alcarrizos is akin to a township. It's right outside the capital city of Santo Domingo, going North on Duarte Highway. You can hardly tell where the capital ends and Los Alcarrizos begins. I would say it's a blue collar neighborhood. I've heard it is somewhat dangerous, but I can't attest to that. People tend to exagerate. I've never actually been in there, I just always went by it on my way to my hometown of Cotui. I wouldn't say this is the heart of Dominican culture. I don't think any place is the heart of the culture for that matter, Since "culture" is found everywhere.
 
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Becca

Guest
Los Alcarrizos is a great place. The taxi drivers didn't like it much. The people are friendly. I think one of the bad parts of it is that the power goes out a lot. I lived there for six months and plan to move to that area again soon. I will be down there in Jan. visiting "family" and friends. If you have any questions email me.
Becca
 
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Loren

Guest
Da hood

Alcarizzos is the capital of tiguerasos! That is the capital of drug dealers and hoodlums and if you go you better have a posse, maybe take some union bus operators from Nagua to protect you. I was in Alcarizzos once on new years eve and it was like devils night in Detroit, they were setting fire to stuff. If you stop at a stop sign you will get carjacked. If you drive, dont take a car, take a Unimog or an M1-Abrams or else you will fall into a hole. The roads are tricky too.

I remember the first time I went there, and I was like: "DAMN! This place is ching?o!" There were some friendly people but a whole lot of hoodlums, including the cops. I was stopped by a cop in Alcarrizos and he wouldnt let me go till I gave him some loot. I am serious, I would not make up bad things about a place to be mean.

I got a Dominican friend up here working and his wife lives in Alcarizzos and I asked him: "Why is where you live so messed up?" He said that Balaguer ran a dragnet operation in the capital once and that chased all the Tigueres to Alcarrizos where they set up shot. I dont know if that is true or he was pulling my leg but that is what it seems like happened. dont take anything of value. If you are a non-Dominican Jork Gringo be especially careful.

Lots of good bachata there though, in the colmadones.
 
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Becca

Guest
Re: Da hood

Loren, I don't agree with everything you said about Alcarrizos. It is a very nice place. I loved it there. Yeah there were some bad places, but it was great. In fact, I even lived in one of the bad parts and if that is what you consider bad then you are a wuss. Alcarrizos is great.
 
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"The Tourist Watcher"

Guest
Los Alcarrizos is what Watts is to LA, Cabrini Green and the South Side or uptown is to Chicago and The South Bronx or Audubon Avenue and 180th. St. is to New York. You cant find a worse neighborhood in Santo Domingo. Even Capotillo is better. If you met someone from there, call emergency 911, your life is at stake!!!!
TW
 
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Loren

Guest
Loren the wuss...

I had a good time there too, but it is a hood. I don't mean to be hard on the place but the only place I have ever been, ever! in the D.R. where I have felt the slightest bit nervous was in Alcarrizos. The first time I went, I was sure I was getting set up to be rolled, but luckily I wasnt. The person I was with from Alcarrizos warned me not to stop at the signs or we would surely get jumped. The cops DID shake me down in Alcarizzos. I DID see people setting stuff on fire all over the place, roving mobs of thugs, or maybe they were union bus drivers. They were NOT holiday revelers, so don't anybody start with that.

I also have friends in other poor neighborhoods, including Los Mameyes, Villa Francisca, Tres Brazos, etc. I will walk down Duarte at 4 in the morning like its nothing. I have never been to Capotillo, but I hear it's "full of culture."

Sorry if I am being too hard on your homeys but it's my opinion / experience and I submit it respectfully.
 
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"The Tourist Watcher"

Guest
Re: Los Alcarrizos-Emergency Becca!!

Ron: For the life of God, dont listen to Becca. Your life is in danger. Dont go to Los Alcarrizos. You dont know what you are getting into. I repeat, this is the worst neighborhood in the Dominican Republic, bar none. And Duarte, since you are from Cotui, another dangerous and raggedy town, you should not give opinions about places you dont know. The only culture in Los Alcarrizos is the culture of crime.
TW
 
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"The Tourist Watcher"

Guest
Re: Becca, you should be banned from DR1

Becca: I have never believed in censorship, but if anybody deserves censorship is a person that recommends, specially to a foreigner, to visit Los Alcarrizos. This is tantamount to issuing a death sentence to someone. It is utterly irresponsible. My friends, this is a place where taxi drivers do not take you there if you pay them a ransom. And taxi drivers go everywhere, even Capotillo. Even if you take an UZI in one hand and a Glock in another, you would be dead before you hit the center of town. This is Hellsville!
TW
 
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Loren

Guest
I too, recommend avoiding the place.

It is a dangerous place. I stagger around anywhere, at any hour of the night in the D.R. Rich or poor neighborhood, but NOT Alcarrizos. I have seen it with my own eyes. 4 or 5 times.
 
R

RON

Guest
WELL THAT WAS SURE AN EYE OPENER. I HAVE BEEN TO PUERTO PLATA TWICE AND HAD A GREAT TIME. I JUST HAPPEN TO KNOW SOMEONE WHO LIVES THERE AND WONDERED IF IT WAS WORTH SEEING. I THINK I'LL STAY ON THE NORTH COAST WHERE I MET MY FRIEND; AND SOMEDAY FIND OUT FOR MYSELF WHAT THE REST OF THE ISLAND IS ALL ABOUT. THANKS EVERYONE!!!
 
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criss colon

Guest
Come on "TW",I bet we both "know" some talented young ladies from Los Alcarriso! I find them to be "charming"! Criss
 
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"The Tourist Watcher"

Guest
Re: Los Alcarrizos

You are right Criss, Los Alcarrizos has lots of nice girls, but you have to meet them outside.
TW
 
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Skip

Guest
You are being rossly mislead on Los Alcarrizos

I have been going there for three years ~10 times by very willing taxicab drivers. It is confusingly huge and a long ride from the center. 150-200 pesos is reasonable if the cabbie or you knows the address, otherwise they may get lost and stop for directions.

My girfriend who lives there is a fine person, as well as her family, and the neighbors are friendly and normal. I hope none of them are reading these messages this week. Their area is middle class and yes there are many poorer areas I would not walk in at night, though I have in the daytime without incident, usually enjoying the people I've met along the way - just like in every other part of the country I've seen.

It is smart to be both streetwise and _not_ cynical when you visit poor countries with people who are, for the most part, as smart and decent as the Dominicans really are. Most people there are just fine.

It is also fascinating to lurk here and observe the occasional stereotyping of poor Dominicans and their neighborhoods by some expats and unfortunately by some Dominicans also.

Skip
 
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criss colon

Guest
Re: You are being rossly mislead on Los Alcarrizos

It is one thing to "visit" the DR.,and yet another,to "live" here!!!You only "visit", so you don,t know the differance! Come "Walk a mile in our shoes" then you will see! Don,t worry about anyone in "Los Alcarrizos" reading anything on DR1,they don,t have a computer,and if they did,"Se fue la luz,se fue la luz!!!" Criss PS. my wife,s "barrio","es mas "caliente" que "Los Alcarrizos"! so no ignorant remarks about how we don,t "understand" the "PO Folks"
 
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"The Tourist Watcher"

Guest
Re: You are being rossly mislead on Los Alcarrizos

Hey Skip: You are a very much inlove man to say Los Alcarrizos is a safe middle class neighborhood. That just goes to show you how naive and undocumented foreigners who fall inlove with inner city divas are. You have never been to a middle class neighborhood if you believe Los Alcarrizos is middle class. The people in that barrio are the lowest of the lowest.

Middle class neighborhoods are Bella Vista, The lower half of Mirador Norte,Gazcue,Evaristo Morales. How could you compare an area like Los Alcarrizos with these middle class neighborhoods. Most streets in Los Alcarrizos have no pavement. The major form of transportation is motoconcho(motorcycle cabs). The entrance to it from Duarte highway is the ugliest of any neighborhood in this hemisphere. It has the highest crime rate of Santo Domingo, by Police statistics and it is the center of violent strikes in the city, second only to Capotillo.

Naturally, some drug dealers and Dominican Yorks have built some big houses, mostly very tackily decorated and painted with weird colors and overdecorated fences that would be an embarrassment anywhere else. These people were slumdwellers from New York, who are used to living like ants, close to each other and using the sidewalks like extensions of their homes and cannot live in decent neighborhoods, where loud music and vandalism is not allowed. Los Alcarrizos is one of the noisiest spots in DR and has more colmadones, bars and prostitution spots than any other barrio. It is simply a disgusting neighborhood comparable to Cite Soleil in Port-Au-Principe, Haiti. It is also a center for the AIDS virus. Almost 10% infection rate, second only to Haina with 15% HIV infection. People there have seen many acquintances and family members die of AIDS. I have never seen one.

TW
 
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Loren

Guest
Remember the "Sexy Ranch Car Wash"

That used to be on 27th waaaay out on the west side almost near the rotunda? Alcarrizos girls work there.
 
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"The Tourist Watcher"

Guest
Re: Criss,tell us about your wifes barrio! *DC*
 
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"The Tourist Watcher"

Guest
Re: Skip for $200 a cab will drive you

Skip: For $200 pesos a hungry cab driver will take you to the middle of a tire burning, rock throwing strike in Licey Al Medio. The real fare to Los Alcarrizos should not exceed $80 pesos from downtown Santo Domingo and most inner city locations. But You have to pay the "salvese quien pueda" surcharge to take you there. Many cabs drivers have had flat tires there and had to just take off running to save their lives. Of course, I can understand why foreigners and tourists go for girls from these ghettos. They are easy pickings. They are poor, desperate for someone to inmansipate them and save them from a boat to Puerto Rico's shark infested waters. Ands they have nice bodies and are very sexy.

Here are the top 10 spots where foreigners pick up their girls:
1)Sabana Perdida 2)Los Alcarrizos 3)Los Minas 4)Capotillo 5) Herrera 6)Las Caobas 7)Villa Duarte 8)Villa Consuelo 9) Cristo Rey 10)Villa Mella. Also Los Frailes is very popular as well as Boca Chica, Andres and Juan Dolio. San Pedro de Macoris is the next town's favorite. San Cristobal is fertile ground and Haina is the #1 far suburb, but it is also the capital of AIDS.

You will never see a tourist say,...My girl is from Piantini, or Avenida Anacaona or Los Cacicazgos, unless is the maid.

TW