- Thread starter DominicanAbroad
- Start date
Living in the Dominican Republic? Here's how to be a better expat
Where they came from, who planted them, we have no clue, but on our property are these tiny, ridiculously hot peppers that grow all the time. I used to bring them to Lindsay/Matilda who loved them. With her gone, they’ll go back to growing and reseeding themselves until someone else with an iron stomach appears. 🌶
How come this thread has moved from being about "How to be a better expat" to "Cooking spicy food"?
Because the original post was , in a word, silly, and I am being nice. Making up their own definition of what an expat is, for example.
Finding spicy food is far more relevant for us "expats".
You Sir have defined yourself within the Dominican community and by the authors inferences are part of the white European supremacy of a once beautiful island.
You Sir have defined yourself within the Dominican community and by the authors inferences are part of the white European supremacy of a once beautiful island.
He did all that by himself? Color me impressed!
Indeed, I am far more powerful than I ever realized. Thank you for noticing.You Sir have defined yourself within the Dominican community and by the authors inferences are part of the white European supremacy of a once beautiful island.
And what of me Dominican citizenship and my Dominican island born wife, pray tell?
Right! That's part of the problem with a piece that generalizes people. I think the world has had enough of that bs. I just wonder if all foreigners and their monies left the RD, how would the Dominican people fair? Would it be considered a developing nation? There is a happy medium in all things. JMO
Moral of this story: A left wing nut job talks to and observes some "expats" in Cabarete and composes an op-ed piece stereotyping her encounters with said expats. What could go wrong with that approach? Read the piece and see how we "can be better expats" .
What's ironic is that the author - who in her blind racism rails against Caucasoids - is herself descended from the same people who invaded, raped, and pillaged this island. How conflicted must she be? Additionally, she frames herself as a "free thinking" progressive feminist, yet posts self-objectifying pictures of herself on social media. "Hey everyone, look at my big butt. I'm so woke!" It would be funny if it weren't so sad.
I feel badly for the poor thing. You should too.
Well, I can answer that question with another question. Why is the current president trying so hard to get "tourists" and foreign investors here? I know we "expats" are not considered tourists, but still, we spend more on the local economy than the average Dominican, and most of that money is made overseas.
Are you sure about that?
Despite it includes restaurants, most of which have nothing to do with tourists, and it includes hotels frequented by tourists and by locals, most of what is created in tourism is limited to that sector. In 2020 it was RD$64 billion, hard to say how much of that was from tourists. Plus and take certain other sectors such as commerce (most commerce is basically Dominican) that could receive some input from tourists.
Yet, personal consumption which is overwhelmingly Dominican was RD$340 billion. Not only is RD$340 billion considerably more than RD$64 billion, but most of the country's economy has nothing to do with tourism.
Right now most international tourists in the Caribbean are Americans helped by allowing flights and the difficulties of getting to popular vacationing places for Americans in Europe due to Covid related restrictions. Outside the USA, Americans are travelling mainly to Mexico (Cabo San Lucas and Riviera Maya/Cancun), DR, and Jamaica. PR probably is among the leaders right now, but si ce technically PR is a domestic place it wasn't counted for American international tourism.
As for why Abinader is doing much to attract tourists and investors, well that's what all presidents since the first administration of Leonel in the second half of the 1990's have done. Why would Abinader be different? Pandemic or no pandemic, he would be pitching the DR left, right, and center.
You sir, are the one exuding B.S.
The DR is not ruled by white European supremacy, rather worn out slogan.
The DR is being ruled by a few powerful and wealthy Dominican families.
The few gringos who became citizens and have a Dominican family, are not part of Dominican power structure.
As for how much of that is from expats, particularly commerce, is also up for grabs. It must be a very small part if we take into consideration that places where expats do have a strong influence such as Sosúa are few and far between, can count them with the fingers of one hand. These places tend to be small towns and villages.
Don't believe many of the conspiracy theories out there. I once saw a video where a British guy claimed that the owner of his Santo Domingo building (American) told him that the country is controlled by 5 families, then government officials, and then was the remaining 90%. Had to chuckle at that! I can name way more than 5 families tht are old money and highly influential and that's not taking into account that the new money is much more numerous than the old money at the moment. Then there are people that no one "knows" where they got their money from and those are addittional.
Then he went to mention other things such as that he notices a lot of people exhuding well being and comfortableness, so he concludes that the 90% are mostly not poor. He never gives the impression that maybe the owner of his building told him BS and hence the contradiction between what he was told and what he sees. Apparently, that couldn't be the case. lol
Abinader has personal interests in the tourism area as well. He tried and failed a couple of years ago to reopen the resort near Pearla Marina in Cabarete. That could be a reason that AI resorts have been "job 1" at reopening here in the DR.
As for expats spending more per person, that total amount of money from we expats pales to insignificance when it comes to AI tourism and the cash lost from Cruises.
Was it Rodney Dangerfield that said "We get no respect"?? jajajajaj
You Sir, Need a lesson in thread reading comprehension. But you are forgiven, Peace!
Reminds me of the old say, " Believe none of what your hear and only half of what you see"!