Santo DOmingo Not That dangerous

[KJS73]

I've been here several months now and feel pretty safe. Perhaps it's cause I stay in Zona Colonial but I have ventured often to other parts via the guaguas. Perhaps I'm just lucky. Though I don't wear any jewelry and I can get by with some Spanish. I alsomwalk fast and try to appear thar i know where im going. Don't know if that helps.

In any case I love Santo Domingo despite all of its problems. I'm aiming to teach English here and hope that my sense of safety continues.

 

[Rocvill214]

Only in DR huh?

Safe is when you can purchase any item you want or drive any car you want and DO NOT have always be on GUARD that some "PENDEJO" or BS cop will target you. Also walking out of a supermarket and NOT have to always show your reciept or take a ticket when you park your car so some BS guard will not think you are a theif like everyone else.

BTW and some of you believe you have so much freedom in the DR I can't tell. I never have to show anyone a reciept when I purchase a bag of Lays and a 7up in the USA, but the DR they need to see a RECIEPT for EVERYTHING some FREEDOM!!! Everybody is a treated like a theif until you show a reciept.

I guess you have never had to show a receipt at Costco when leaving?

 

[JMB773]

I guess you have never had to show a receipt at Costco when leaving?

This is the best example you could come with? Man you should have saved these key strokes. Is Costco a MAJOR supermarket in the USA? BTW don't you need a membership to shop at Costco? VERY NICE EXAMPLE!!!

 

[Expat13]

Slightly off topic but when i return to my car after being out and find a nice dent/scrape/scratch, i look on my windshield to see if the guilty party has left a card with their contact information so we can settle or claim against their insurance.
Then I wake up and realize this is the DR!!!

 

[AlterEgo]

Sent to me on FB by a cousin in Santiago.... Thought about putting it in the Clown Bin, but decided it was more appropriate here

 

[Reasonable Man]

151st and Broadway would be Washington heights, not Harlem.

IDK if it's been posted yet since I haven't read any other post but 151st and Broadway is still Harlem. Harlem runs all the way to 155th street, now after you reach 130th, and are on Broadway you start to see an immense Dominican population so most people feel as if it's part of the heights.

Edit: Caught up on the whole Harlem/Weights boundary post. My apologies.

 

[Reasonable Man]

Safe is when you can purchase any item you want or drive any car you want and DO NOT have always be on GUARD that some "PENDEJO" or BS cop will target you. Also walking out of a supermarket and NOT have to always show your reciept or take a ticket when you park your car so some BS guard will not think you are a theif like everyone else.

BTW and some of you believe you have so much freedom in the DR I can't tell. I never have to show anyone a reciept when I purchase a bag of Lays and a 7up in the USA, but the DR they need to see a RECIEPT for EVERYTHING some FREEDOM!!! Everybody is a treated like a theif until you show a reciept.

My parents own an apartment on Avenida Ecologica, right behind the Sirena of San Isidro. Since this is the closest, and only store of any kind near us anytime I stay in SD I do most of my shopping there. In 30+ trips to the Sirena in the last 3 years I have never once had to present a receipt as I left. Now this is obviously just one store out of millions but I can think of a few other places like this (IE: The Bravo supermarket in the Corall Mall.)

 

[AlterEgo]

My parents own an apartment on Avenida Ecologica, right behind the Sirena of San Isidro. Since this is the closest, and only store of any kind near us anytime I stay in SD I do most of my shopping there. In 30+ trips to the Sirena in the last 3 years I have never once had to present a receipt as I left. Now this is obviously just one store out of millions but I can think of a few other places like this (IE: The Bravo supermarket in the Corall Mall.)

I hate to say this, but I think the guards at many of the store exits 'profile' the customers. I always have my receipt in my hand when leaving La Sirena in San Cristobal, and they wave me away every time, while stopping Dominicans.

I don't find it offensive. Lots of stores in NJ check receipts on the way out, including Walmart, Sam's Club, K-Mart, etc.

I'll bet it cuts down on shoplifting big time.

 

[JMB773]

My parents own an apartment on Avenida Ecologica, right behind the Sirena of San Isidro. Since this is the closest, and only store of any kind near us anytime I stay in SD I do most of my shopping there. In 30+ trips to the Sirena in the last 3 years I have never once had to present a receipt as I left. Now this is obviously just one store out of millions but I can think of a few other places like this (IE: The Bravo supermarket in the Corall Mall.)

Wow this is the one I shopped at and where I pay the SKY cable bill. I had an apartment on San Isidro close to the Base. No matter if I spend 1000RD or 6000RD the always need to see a receipt from ME. I used to order my pizza from Pizza Hut on San Isidro. Everybody talks bad about Santo Domingo Este, but I LOVED IT. One day when I am old and gray I want to buy a apartment in Res. Amanda. You know the guagua that says Res. Amalia that is the one I used to go to La Sirena, but I always took a taxi home with all the bags.

 

[Frank the Tank]

After following the news over the last week or so, I have come to the conclusion that the single most dangerous place in the country right now is at a PRD meeting.

 

[Reasonable Man]

I hate to say this, but I think the guards at many of the store exits 'profile' the customers. I always have my receipt in my hand when leaving La Sirena in San Cristobal, and they wave me away every time, while stopping Dominicans.

I don't find it offensive. Lots of stores in NJ check receipts on the way out, including Walmart, Sam's Club, K-Mart, etc.

I'll bet it cuts down on shoplifting big time.

Maybe, I can see that happening in DR no doubt. But I don't think it's easy to tell I'm American. My parents are Dominican so physically I look Dominican, and when I go down to the Sirena I'm just trying to buy my crap and hurry out of there so I go in the most casual clothes ever which are basketball shorts, sandals, and a white t-shirt. Actually know that I think of it going to the supermarket to most Dominicans is like going to a red carpet event in that they have to be dressed to the 9's. I guess I probably do stand out as a foreigner because I'm "dressed down" when I go grocery shopping.

 

[Reasonable Man]

Wow this is the one I shopped at and where I pay the SKY cable bill. I had an apartment on San Isidro close to the Base. No matter if I spend 1000RD or 6000RD the always need to see a receipt from ME. I used to order my pizza from Pizza Hut on San Isidro. Everybody talks bad about Santo Domingo Este, but I LOVED IT. One day when I am old and gray I want to buy a apartment in Res. Amanda. You know the guagua that says Res. Amalia that is the one I used to go to La Sirena, but I always took a taxi home with all the bags.

Hahaha that's pretty dope. I live in Residencia Mirdador de Este, which is about a 5 minute walk right behind that Sirena on Avendia Ecologica. It's literally the only thing near by, so I spend wayyy to much time there. I also got SKY service from here, and haven't regretted it as SKY's customer service is 100x better than the customer service I've gotten here in NYC with Time Warner Cable, it's not just good customer service for the DR, it's good customer service flat out for anywhere in the world from my dealings with them.

I would always use the escalators by the back exit as I was going that way anyways, and the guard never asked me to show him anything. I love that area of Santo Domingo Este, because there's literally nothing dangerous about it since it's just a road, and a park with a couple of benches. Everything is a bit out of my way, but I feel extremely safe there.

 

[AlterEgo]

Maybe, I can see that happening in DR no doubt. But I don't think it's easy to tell I'm American. My parents are Dominican so physically I look Dominican, and when I go down to the Sirena I'm just trying to buy my crap and hurry out of there so I go in the most casual clothes ever which are basketball shorts, sandals, and a white t-shirt. Actually know that I think of it going to the supermarket to most Dominicans is like going to a red carpet event in that they have to be dressed to the 9's. I guess I probably do stand out as a foreigner because I'm "dressed down" when I go grocery shopping.

Believe me, you stick out like a sore thumb. Mr. AE was born and raised in DR, but left there when he was in his mid 20s, so he's rather Americanized. Sometimes Dominicans speak to him in broken English [mostly when he's with me :classic:]. It's the clothing, 99% of the time he's dressed like an American, while his brothers are in dress shirts, dress pants, leather shoes and socks. He's in jeans or shorts, sneakers, t-shirt or tank top, etc. Me too.

The Dominican girls and women in the supermarket are dressed to the nines, and are wearing high heels.

 

[Natu]

Let me tell you a little secret about CRIME and people who commit them.

One of the worlds biggest misconception is crime only happen in barrios and poor people commit most of the crimes. Nothing can be further from the truth. Do not factor in gang violence because that is something totally different when talking about crime and how dangerous a city is.

You are from London no? Let say you and your family move to SD and you have a nice home, cars, furniture money in a safe. Do you know who is most likey to set up in that very expensive barrio you live? YOUR OWN NEIGBORS!!! What I have learned is rich people are more jealous of each other then poor could ever be in DR. RIch people become MORE dangerous then poor people when they become desperate of losing their money. Killing robbing no problema ALL of those upper class Dominicans so many of you speak of will SET YOU UP in a heartbeat if NEEDED.

I read these threads and always read" you need to have a better set of friends, stop hanging out in barrios, date a woman from a upper class family" and I just sit back and smile. What some of you have to understand a Dominican is Dominicano FIRST regardless of the barrio they live in. That is why the upper class try so hard to distance themselves from the barrio people. Do some of you believe the people of Piantini or La Castellana have NO BLOOD on their hands PLEASE!!! They want outsiders to believe that we are upper class,so we have no need to cheat, rob, lie and kill.

The reason why I never got played in DR, " HOW R U GOING TO PLAY A PLAYER"

wha....?? I don't even....

Dafuq are you talking about??

This comment is the biggest load of bull**** i've ever read..

 

[frank12]

I don't even know where to start here...Ok, first, i don't find SD dangerous. i don't find it kinda of dangerous, I don't find it pretty dangerous, no, i don't even find it slightly dangerous.

When my friend, Rob, was teaching at Carol Morgan for 2 years (AP calculus & math teacher), i lived with him for two years straight, three days out of the week--during my days off. i drove up from Cabarete every single week, for two years straight, parked my motorcycle, and then walked that city like a mad man every evening, everywhere--sometimes with my girlfriend--at all hours of the night--every evening. Why? because i'm not going to walk around in the scorching heat in the afternoon sun when its hotter then hell outside. Hence, i walked only in the evenings.

I've walked that city--from the Colonial Zone to Winston Churchill, from Gaspar Polanco to Mirador Sur, from Bella Vista to the Malecon, and never once did i have a problem. Not once, not ever, two years straight.

I have a video camera and like traveling, anyone here willing to pay my gas money to SD--about $2000 pesos round trip--i'm willing to walk around any neighborhood of your choosing. Anywhere! You draw up a map of the streets you want me to cover--give me the "exact" route you want me to follow, and i will do it, and i will record it, and i'll put it right here on DR1. I'll be gone for about a month, but i will be back in the middle of February, we can do it then. I'll walk any street, anywhere of your choosing. I don't own a gun, taser, knife, or pepper spray. I don't own any of these things and i don't want them.

And that crap about not being able to drive around SD in a Land Rover or an SUV because, as a foreigner you will be targeted by AMET or the police, is just a bunch of heresy and crap. Stay off your cell phone while your sitting at the intersection where AMET like to stand, and wear your seat-belt, and they won't bother you. Keep your seat-belt on and stay of the cell phone and AMET is going to hassle you. And as far as the police are concerned, just keep your car papers--registration, insurance, etc, in order and you won't have to give them any money. I mean, how is it, after driving here for over 30 years, i have not managed to give one peso to any police? If your papers are in order, you have nothing to fear. period.

Yes, i have been pulled over numerous times on my motorcycle, but i just sit tight, act very polite, play the poker game (I have all my papers in order). they let me go. They have to let me go. They can't keep you if you have everything in order and your being polite. I think people screw up here when they get in a bad mood and then start acting stupid--impatient, nasty, etc. Just keep calm, don't say anything stupid, don't do anything stupid, in fact, don't even open your mouth. Remember, it's a poker game...they'll get tired of looking at you and let you go...as long as you have all your papers in order and you're being polite.

I'll be waiting for anyone willing to come up with $2500 pesos and a route they want me to walk. I'll walk it and i'll record it, and then we'll see if it's that dangerous out there. Remember this: Your only handicap in life is your attitude.

Frank

 

[pollogringo]

they'll get tired of looking at you

Who could ever get tired of looking at you, Frank? :cheeky:

 

[NV_]

With all due respect Frank, as a cuban american living full time in S.D. since 1997, I can without a doubt tell you that the amount of crime, muggings and robberies, have definitely been on the rise and still rising. Especially in the last 2-4 years.

I do agree that you are master of your own destiny and if you put yourself in iffy positions you're going to pay but random crime is also on the rise. Sister-in-law and wife were almost mugged by a 15yr old with a 10" kitchen knife in the middle of Las Praderas park (one of the safest sectors in the capital) while walking through (we caught that little $hit and if he didnt learn his lesson well...). Almost 6 months later, same sister in law was robbed at gunpoint, along with 6 of her friends, less than 200 ft from the last attempted mugging. A few months back a friend of mine was robbed in a carro publico, at gunpoint no less. About a month ago a good friend of mine was robbed at gunpoint, along with 4 of his friends, in the parking lot to the Botanical Gardens.

Its the luck of the draw, sometimes you get lucky , sometimes you get robbed. Hmmmm... that should become the motto for the DR.

When it comes to the cops though, have everything in order and they can suck it. No matter what they say, you are in order and dont have to give 1 stinking centavo to these mouth breathers.