Ok, I just came back to NC after passing sometimes in las Terrenas y en la capital. Since I never care much about crime, (I am always with my friends and relatives when I visit Quisqueya), I decided to do something different: I asked everyone I met if they have been crime victims.
I was/am in shocked: more than 50 % of them have been either assalted, mogged, or their house violated. (All of them live in the capital. ) It is hard to believe that i was told to dress like a dominican: always long pants, no sandals and not hat. That I look too american and therefore a prime target.
Even more, when I was going to the airport, at 5:00 am, my friend never stopped at any red trafic light. When I asked, he told me that these are places for atracos. Yes...you figure in a city that it full of trafic during the day, at 5:00 am, it has less trafic that a cementery. He remains in the airport until day break because he was afraid of driving in the dark. (He was not happy that I booked a flight early in the morning for the same reason)
On Saturday afternoon, I went with my brother, my mother and a friend to the cementery to visit the family grave. I was told that the more people with us into the cementery, the safer. Also I discovered that not even the dead are safe. The thieves steal the padlocks from the cripts, removed the iron doors, and even go grave digging, seeking any available valuable.
When will the dominican middle class take action against crime? Is it possible? The latest news is that chief of police was replaced because he was too tough against the criminals. It seems that there were complains of human right violations...I guess some people only care about the human rights of the atracadores. (I wonder if human right criteria make any sense under these conditions.)
Any way, watch out about retiring in the capital. I have no idea about inland.
Still, I love that darn country. I took 700 photos and definitively will keep jumping into the fire with my wife.However, I believe that expat better hang around in their own communities and stay away from the capital unless being protected (if such a thing is possible in the Wild Island.) If I were to move there, I would move to LT; however, I am doing pretty well here in Greensboro, NC.
Ok...something good, I must say...darn beautiful women, we dominicans have.
It would be almost impossible to be single in Quisqueya....By the way, I was taken to the colonial zone one evening. It has a strong touch of Madrid: full of evening life, music, theater, young people. It was not like that 30 years ago. I believe that this a the main point where the fun happen today for expat. So, if I were into night life and single, I would take a hotel in that area.
Cheer.
I was/am in shocked: more than 50 % of them have been either assalted, mogged, or their house violated. (All of them live in the capital. ) It is hard to believe that i was told to dress like a dominican: always long pants, no sandals and not hat. That I look too american and therefore a prime target.
Even more, when I was going to the airport, at 5:00 am, my friend never stopped at any red trafic light. When I asked, he told me that these are places for atracos. Yes...you figure in a city that it full of trafic during the day, at 5:00 am, it has less trafic that a cementery. He remains in the airport until day break because he was afraid of driving in the dark. (He was not happy that I booked a flight early in the morning for the same reason)
On Saturday afternoon, I went with my brother, my mother and a friend to the cementery to visit the family grave. I was told that the more people with us into the cementery, the safer. Also I discovered that not even the dead are safe. The thieves steal the padlocks from the cripts, removed the iron doors, and even go grave digging, seeking any available valuable.
When will the dominican middle class take action against crime? Is it possible? The latest news is that chief of police was replaced because he was too tough against the criminals. It seems that there were complains of human right violations...I guess some people only care about the human rights of the atracadores. (I wonder if human right criteria make any sense under these conditions.)
Any way, watch out about retiring in the capital. I have no idea about inland.
Still, I love that darn country. I took 700 photos and definitively will keep jumping into the fire with my wife.However, I believe that expat better hang around in their own communities and stay away from the capital unless being protected (if such a thing is possible in the Wild Island.) If I were to move there, I would move to LT; however, I am doing pretty well here in Greensboro, NC.
Ok...something good, I must say...darn beautiful women, we dominicans have.
It would be almost impossible to be single in Quisqueya....By the way, I was taken to the colonial zone one evening. It has a strong touch of Madrid: full of evening life, music, theater, young people. It was not like that 30 years ago. I believe that this a the main point where the fun happen today for expat. So, if I were into night life and single, I would take a hotel in that area. Cheer.