SPGringo,
What are people living off of now days?
I used to stop at SPM on my way to the deep East (Higuey, Bavaro, Punta Cana) and back then factories close to the university were full up with thousands of employees. Clearly remember the turmoil driving through it.
The Malecon was my preferred place, the music, food and people were a mixture for great times.
The Western Unions all around town always seem to have a line at least 15 deep, every day, from open to close, so people are receiving money from whatever "sources" they may have in this big world of ours.
Baseball is still a very big business.
Motoconchos are probably the number one form of work for men, right up there with loansharks, oh, I mean prestamistas.
After that, every corner has a barber shop of anywhere from 1 to 4 people who can only offer buzzcuts that take an hour to complete.
There are hundreds of "upstart" boutiques, usually the girlfriend/wife/sister/aunt or so forth of the guys who run the barber shops, who buy their cheap, knockoff, crap clothing by bulk in Santo Domingo, and sell here (or try to) at inflated prices.
The best employers here are probably CEMEX, the Cable companies, McDonalds, Jumbo and Iberia.
As far as the Malecon, it's gone down hill as well. The Hotel (Hotel Macorix) closed down, taking it's late night disco with it. One other disco, Mi Sitio, has also been shuttered for a few years now. Leaving only Caf? Caribe as the malecon's only disco, or venue for live music on the malecon. In the last few years though many visiting artists have been opting to play at a disco across from Jumbo. Two big colamadones on the malecon have also been shut for several years now, leaving only the "casetas" and the street median for people to sit and drink. All in all it's pretty depressing, and nothing like the way it used to be.
