Boca Chica experience...

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Berzin

Banned
Nov 17, 2004
5,898
550
113
I stayed in Boca chica for a week in October and wanted to share an experience that seemed unreal. I met a girl who worked at a bar next to my hotel and asked her to accompany me to one of the outdoor food vendors. It was late at night and I was too lazy to head out to Calle Duarte to eat, and I felt safer accompanied by a local travelling along the beach at night.
We went back to where she worked and I sat down and ate my food. It seemed that I attracted a crowd of young guys who just mulled around us. She knew them all but it still made me feel uneasy.
I finished my chicken and plantains and set the plate on the sand for some stray dog to finish the bones. A young kid who was sitting behind me jumped up and shooed the dog away with his leg, grabbed the plate and stuffed everything that was left on the plate into his mouth.
I realize that poverty in the DR is quite different and so much worse than anything I have seen here in the States, but that incident still leaves me shocked.
 
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ricktoronto

Grande Pollo en Boca Chica
Jan 9, 2002
4,837
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The street urchin taking the food sounds normal, having a bunch of tigres and other idiots hanging around is not usual . You could tell them to buzz off of course.
 
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jrzyguy

Bronze
May 5, 2004
1,832
22
0
yeah...the street kids are heartbreakers.

However i dont succumb to getting shoe shines etc....till perhaps my last night...then i way over tip the kids..give each kid a hundred pesos or so...I also bring some small sized shirts etc to give when i leave (not before or you will be hounded your entire stay). ANd quite often i have seen chica-chasers with their sankettes who let one or two of the kinds dine with them on duarte.

i tend NOT to dine on duarte...but rather at d'nancy or fernandos. Both have good food...but are not on the main strip....so you can dine in privacy.

My last evening in B.C. this haitian dude that i had talked to durring the week just sat himself at my table (i was dining alone) and just started going at my plate of food. I had to really cuss him out before he would leave. (he was a really obnoxious man...if he had a good personality i MIGHT have offered to buy him dinner).

SO it is not just the kids that are hungry there....and if you are going to experience life outside of an AI then you WILL have to deal with the poverty. But certainly...there are small things that you can do while there. It might not solve the problem...but it is appreciated.

It is something that people should be aware of before traveling....

Can any of the regulars weigh in on how to deal with the street kids? I dont want to sound like a heartless gringo traveler.....and like i said..i DO help out with small things before i leave. Is this the proper way to go about it or not.

jj
 
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liam1

Bronze
Jun 9, 2004
843
30
28
the problem with the kids is, you give one of them and he'll go tell every kid out thre that you're giving money away and they'll rush you whenever and wherever they see you. on the other hand you really do feel bad for them cause you know they're not on the street by their will. i usually stay at hotel europa there, so when one of the kids asks for money i tell him to shine the security guy's or david's shoes and i'll give him money, so that way you give them money but it doesn't look like you're giving it away for nothing and you don't get bothered as much.
 
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DMAO

New member
Oct 30, 2004
143
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liam1 said:
the problem with the kids is, you give one of them and he'll go tell every kid out thre that you're giving money away and they'll rush you whenever and wherever they see you.
... when one of the kids asks for money i tell him to shine the security guy's or david's shoes and i'll give him money, so that way you give them money but it doesn't look like you're giving it away for nothing and you don't get bothered as much.
Click to expand...
Good point!
Good idea!
 
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