the dominican republic is a beautiful place but...

hello,

I love the Dominican Republic especially the people are wonderful but i've seen better for in the Caribbean. I know its a third world country and all and its absolutly fine with me because I like it very much but I just find it too junky. The town especially of Santo Domingo and Puerto Plata should be improved like putting your garbage in cans instead of on the streets. Just thought I would add a suggestion thats all to improve such a wonderful place. Thanks!

Pam

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

YOU ARE RIGHT--I HAVE BEEN GOING TO PUERTO PLATA FOR THE PAST EIGHT YEARS. IT HAS GOTTEN DIRTIER AND DIRTIER. IT HAS CHANGED DRASTICALLY IN THE TIME I HAVE BEEN VISITING . I HOPE THAT IT STARTS TO IMPROVE INSTEAD OF GET WORSE. DEEVEE

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

People must realize the DR is an "emerging Nation," not a Third World Country. With htis, comes all of the problems of a devloping Country, poverty, poor infrastructure etc. If you a looking for a "tropical paradise," try St Marteen, St Croix etc, they are beautiful and "sterile.

If you want to meet real people and not go to a tropical Disney World, learn to appreciate the problems the DR is experiencing as it tries to take it's place in the World.

In the DR, people struggle to live, develop their nation, improve their lives, it is not a colony, protectorate or possession of another country that solves all the assundry problems you associate with "trash on the streets"

Personallly, I like to interact with real people, not a "showcase," but I don't fault anyone who prefers "sandals, Club Med etc," make ypur decision based on what you expect, than choose the proper place

Have fun

Tom

Let's hide the truth and make it pleasing to the I

Imagine that!!!!!!!! Everyone wants the people in the Dominican Republic to hide their problems.. Or to pretend they are what they are not. This is a beautiful country if you can get your eyes off the "Filth" (I don't see it cause I'm too occupied with the people) and concentrate on the type of people you find, and the beautiful beaches. Unfortunately and Fortunately there are Tourist areas.. It's good and bad, the country needs the money, but I hate the "Attitudes" Of these people. Can't people understand that if they are going to ANOTHER COUNTRY that they need to respect the people and their culture? So here in America we dont' throw our trash on the ground.. Don't you remember when we did? I remember before the fines were enforced and people through lots of trash on the road. It's a little different, but not far off.

Let's respect these beautiful people.

JenNY

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

I am not too sure of how much opportunity you have had to travel in your life, but out of all the places I have been the Dominican Republic is more than a vacation. It is an experience that brings you to meet new people, that invite you into their homes and into their lives. There are no other people like dominicans in the world, not that I have found. In life you need to concentrate on those things that make you a better person.........and you were looking at the trash? Sorry you missed out on all the rest.

Re: Let's hide the truth and make it pleasing to t

Very true Jenny, remember the commercials with the Indian watching the car zip down the road throwing trash out the window, and as he turns to the camera he has a tear coming down his cheeck. I guess these people have forgotten that we too had our problem with trash. I too saw trash and it bothered me a little but what I did was set an example with MY trasch and taught my wifes nieces and nephews to respect their land and if they do not see a recepticle, bag the trash and take it home and burn it with the house trash. Now whern I am there with them I see them doing this without being told so it has sunk in. Perhasp in a few years when all the young grow up they would have learned the correct way as we had to learn.

Richard

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

With more tourist comes more trash etc. so if the goverment enjoys the revenue from that, and wants to continue. You have to remember that if you want to continue to squeeze milk from the cow, you have to keep feeding it, if you get my drift.

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

Pam, I couldnt' agree with you more. My husband and I just returned from 8 days in the LaRomana/Bayahibe area. I was in awe of the beatiful beaches, palm trees, and the stunning beauty of the crystal clear waters. When I left the resort though I saw the true Dominican Republic. We couldn't believe all the trash laying everywhere. Even the wonderful Alto de Chavon was trash littered. They have such a wonderful country with tons of potential. We sincerely hope they realize this and begin respecting the land and it's beauty. By the way, the majority of the trash doesn't come from the tourist as scaramooch stated, it's seen littering the towns and villages, not around the resorts. Also, littering should have nothing to do with ones culture Jenny, it's a problem that every country deals with and should be corrected.

jen

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

Well, when I recently visited the DR, I got to see both the extremes of abject poverty and opulent wealth. To me, there was little difference between that and the situation here in the United States, except there seems to be more of a middle class in the US, and, partly due to climate, and partly to resource availability, the poor in the US are better off materially. For example, when I was coming over the island, arriving at Las Americas airport, I noticed both lush farmland and littered shantytowns, and on the road to Santo Domingo, there were shantytowns, and much of the devastation from a recent hurricane had not been cleaned up. It was initially a bit shocking, but after a while it was the same darn thing as in the US, if you ask me. No different than if you were leaving an opulent house in Potomac, MD and drove into a ghetto in Eastern DC, in the US. I also like the house construction and architecture of the houses in Santo Domingo; there are not those mass produced subdivisions, like in America. And made out of concrete! No flimsy plastic here!

Anyway, the people, the climate, the food, the culture, the history, and the land are all wonderful, and it makes up for the litter issue, which seems a temporary problem that can be solved sooner or later. I noticed out in the country, around La Vega, that there was not as much trash as in the cities.

Steve

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

Jen you miscontrued my message altogether, I never implied that the tourist was the cause of the trash in the DR tourist area. But what I as tring to say is that the government should try to keep the place clean if they expect to have a tourist business, it seems that they have taking the position of being a slumlord since it is indicative of the condition that most dominican live when they come to the USA. Like all slumlords they suck the money with out putting nothing in return, hence all the garbage you see in the streets of Puerto Plata.

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

Firstly the D.R. is a third world country ,any time you have a dead rotting horse corpse on the side of the road you got yourself a third world country.The Dominican Republic is beautiful even with the trash ,you must understand that without tax base ( income tax and property tax) there is not much money for clean up crews and places to take this stuff.I planning to live there soon ,I only hope that trash is my only problem.

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

Will this never ending discussion end?? It aappears that it was all initiated by Pam - by the mere mention - suggesting that the DR is differn't than anywhere else. Well it isnt - in my travels. Have you been down to Barbados, Cuba, Bahamas, England, Ukraine - is it any differn't? And mostly, our great Canada - has she got her head in the sand? Furthermore \, comments from of the US - Input into the message board - some inference is that the garbage was in the past tense. Well I got news for all - as I once spent many years. one month at a time in Flordia. And I go fishing ( Canada I speak of) once in a while, and to see all the pop/beercans/bottles, worm containers, plastic bags - you name it laying around - our great sportsman - it makes you sick. Maybe we should have a law where if you litter its a $4000 fine- like Singapore.

There I've said my piece. Again I believe my message does not contribute significantly to the Message Board, where people have legitimate questions, and expect answers to thoise questions.

Bill

Daily trash collection!

It's true that it is a bit ugly to have trash bags lying on the sidewalk, but, on the other hand, isn't it nice to have DAILY trash collection? When I moved from Argentina to the US I was badly surprisde to see that trash collection in the US is done weekly. I know that in most countries in Latin America, and in France, trash collection is done on a daily basis. (Anyone knows about other countries?)

In the US they collect trash just once a week! As a result you cumulate and cumulate trash during the week, piling it up in your basement or wherever... and then inviting mice and rats over!... because, you know, not all food remains can go through the garbage disposal in your sink. And poor of you if you forget to take the trash out in collection day!

And what about all those big containers that pile up trash (in bags and loose) in the alley next to your house during all week long until finally trash collection day arrives? Is that environmentally healthy, or does that not look ugly?

I live in Philadelphia and found myself doing the following (and also found other people who do it): because I live in a building without a basement, I must put food remains in the... freezer until trash day! If I put them in my small trash cans, I get bugs. So I have to use fridge space for my trash because in the US they do WEEKLY trash collection! I know it sounds ridiculous, and I accept suggestions if you have any.

You know, I'm not trying to say that trash management in the DR is wonderful, but at least they collect trash daily! And that's a lot cleaner than doing it weekly.

Re: Daily trash collection!

>>>>>US they do WEEKLY trash collection! I know it sounds ridiculous, and I accept suggestions if you have any.

Contract with a private agency, they will be happy to collect and bill you for service as often as you like.

Personally, I don't want to seemy towns Public Works hire seven times the amount of workers they have now and the associated tax increase. I don't see any problem storing trash in bags and I live in an Apt. with no storage either

Tom

Re: Daily trash collection!

My estranged Dominican husband gave me some interesting insight into the Dominican trash collecting system. He told me that most people where he comes from just dump the garbage in the street in front of their houses. I said that it was disgusting. He said that the people were too poor to spend money on garbage bags. He said that the garbage collectors don't even wear gloves if they don't have any and they pick up garbage with their bare hands. I said that a person could catch some serious diseases like that, and who would want to be a trash collector then? He said that the slightly retarded who can work do that, or the old men or people who can't read or write do that work. I mean no disrespect to anyone; that's what he told me. Anyway, he thought that it was hilarious and fell over laughing when I told him that our garbage collectors are called sanitation engineers and had to have a high school diploma and they make alot of money. He asked why they make alot of money and I said that it's heavy and hard work. He said, "It's much harder without bags and gloves."

Re: Daily trash collection!

My experience with DR trash collection has been that until recently, trash collection was not reliable. They locals used the "sweep and burn" method. All trash would just get dumped in a pile outside their doors. Once in a while, they would sweep up the trash around their house into a pile, dump some kerosene on it, and burn it. In the poorer neighborhoods, one could walk through on any given night and see various fires burning to one side or the other. There usually wasn't any electricity at night and the fires were part of the flavor one experienced when visiting these neighborhoods at night and provided some of the few navigation points, with no light and all.

I've seen construction workers with torn up hands from no gloves and bare feet or completely destroyed sneakers. Passing by, I couldn't help but imagine that those jobs must be as bad as a job can be, filthy, hot, and miserable.

Recently a friend got a job as a bank teller bank for RD$6000/mo. (US$2.30/hr), a relatively good salary and more than many hotel managers earn. I commented how in the USA, a bank teller is one of the lowest paid jobs there is. We tend to pay more for the jobs that nobody wants to do, especially dirty and labor intesive jobs.

In the DR, there is always someone willing to work no matter what the job is so they don't have to increase the pay for lack of supply. A bank job in the DR however means selecting the cream - the well groomed, refined, and educated.

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM

Re: Daily trash collection!

Hi,

I am aware of the trash problem in the DR. My best friend lives in Santiago in what is considered a very nice neighborhood. She tells me that when she throws out her trash people take the bag and dump her garbage on the sidewalk. She says that they even bring their trash in front of her house to be picked up and that at times the truck does'nt show up for 10 days.

I saw something in Queretaro, Mexico that I thought was a neat idea. Everyone has a pole in front of their homes about 3' tall with a wrought iron basket attached to the top of it. This is where the trash is put for the truck to pick up and that way the animals (dogs, cats, rat etc) cant get to it before sanitation does. It also looks decorative when its empty.

chao!

Re: Daily trash collection!

they've tried putting decorative containers out in puerto plata,but they all get stolen sooner or later.

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

I see big rotting deer carcasses here in Ohio on the side of the road, are we a 3rd world country, too? (are you referring to that dead horse near Juan Dolio, is that still there?)

The Dominican Republic is not a poor country. Nor is it a rich country. Go to Nicaragua or Haiti, and you will see what I mean. There is a real consumer market in the Dominican Republic, and a thriving, growing population with disposable income.

3rd world country, is a political, not economic term. During the cold war, countries were divided into their political leanings. First world was nato & allies, such as British Commonwealth, and US buddies. Second world meant Warsaw pact and soviet friendly countries such as Cuba. Third world meant nonaligned countries. These countries didnt pick sides, so usually didnt get much aid or strategic support. This would make the Dominican Republic solidly a first

Re: the dominican republic is a beautiful place bu

I see big rotting deer carcasses here in Ohio on the side of the road, are we a 3rd world country, too? (are you referring to that dead horse near Juan Dolio, is that still there?)

The Dominican Republic is not a poor country. Nor is it a rich country. Go to Nicaragua or Haiti, and you will see what I mean. There is a real consumer market in the Dominican Republic, and a thriving, growing population with disposable income.

3rd world country, is a political, not economic term. During the cold war, countries were divided into their political leanings. First world was nato & allies, such as British Commonwealth, and US buddies. Second world meant Warsaw pact and soviet friendly countries such as Cuba. Third world meant nonaligned countries. These countries didnt pick sides, so usually didnt get much aid or strategic support. This would make the Dominican Republic solidly a first world nation. Cuba would be a 2nd world and Haiti would be a 3rd world country.