American Thrown Off The Guagua

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cavok

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Jun 16, 2014
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American Thrown off The Guagua


My neighbor from Tampa, a "newbie" here in the DR, was recently returning from Jaibon(about 35 miles NW of Santiago) to Santiago. Shortly after he got on the guagua, the driver got into a very irritated discourse with the other passengers telling them they had an American on the guagua. He doesn't speak much Spanish at all, but he could tell that, what ever the driver was saying, he was not happy with him being there.

Shortly afterwards, he demanded to see my friend's "papers". He showed the driver a copy of his passport. The driver was not satisfied at all and demanded that he get off the bus - they were in the middle of "nowhere" at that point. He insisted that the driver continue to the next town - which he reluctlantly agreed to do. All the other passengers were saying - no, no, don't do that.

When he got to the town he asked for his money back(200 pesos). The driver would go to give it to him, and then would repeatedly taunt him by quickly pulling the money away as soon as he reached for it.

I'm not familiar with this part of the DR. Anyone know why there would be such antagonism towards an American in this area?
 

Cdn_Gringo

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Wow, that's odd. The need to make money in this country usually placates most antagonisms at least for a short time.
 

dv8

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black american? if so, he could have been taken for a haitian. jaibon is close to villa elisa, i believe. i've been in that area before. military checks are more frequent there. maybe the driver thought he was going to get into trouble for having an illegal haitian ride with him.
 

Jaime809

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black american? if so, he could have been taken for a haitian. jaibon is close to villa elisa, i believe. i've been in that area before. military checks are more frequent there. maybe the driver thought he was going to get into trouble for having an illegal haitian ride with him.

I doubt that was it. Showing the passport would have calmed that situation down because American = money, regardless of skin color.
 

cavok

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black american? if so, he could have been taken for a haitian. jaibon is close to villa elisa, i believe. i've been in that area before. military checks are more frequent there. maybe the driver thought he was going to get into trouble for having an illegal haitian ride with him.

Yes, but he doesn't even remotely resemble a Haitian. He's not very dark skinned. Villa Elisa is where he got off and caught a private cab to Santiago.
 

dv8

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I doubt that was it. Showing the passport would have calmed that situation down because American = money, regardless of skin color.

plenty of haitians with fake papers. and a poor black and white copy off the passport is often not good enough to distinguish features and identify the person.
 

Jaime809

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plenty of haitians with fake papers. and a poor black and white copy off the passport is often not good enough to distinguish features and identify the person.

Good point; I still think there's more to this. Like maybe this is the cheap guagua and they objected to a "rich" foreigner using it.
 

cavok

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plenty of haitians with fake papers. and a poor black and white copy off the passport is often not good enough to distinguish features and identify the person.

Also, like I said, he driver immediately recognized him as an American(probably becuase of his English accent with the few words and phrases he does know) and was complaining to all the other passengers that there was an American on the bus. My friend couldn't understand exactly what he was saying, so he didn't know what the driver's gripe was.
 
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plenty of haitians with fake papers. and a poor black and white copy off the passport is often not good enough to distinguish features and identify the person.
Bull****. The fact he spoke American English kicks any concept of "might be Haitian" in the balls. Black Americans looks relatively little like Haitians, muscle mass, better diet, greater weight and fashionable clothing attribute to that.

What happened was they thought this guy was a Federale(La DEA). And that driver had illegal cargo on that bus. He had to get that American off before he got discovered and wound up in a Supermax in Miami.

Sent from my SM-J327T1 using Tapatalk
 

GringoRubio

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Sounds like a giant misunderstanding over some mystery. I'm a big fan of local buses and the driver usually looks out for me.
 

GringoRubio

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Bull****. The fact he spoke American English kicks any concept of "might be Haitian" in the balls. Black Americans looks relatively little like Haitians, muscle mass, better diet, greater weight and fashionable clothing attribute to that.

What happened was they thought this guy was a Federale(La DEA). And that driver had illegal cargo on that bus. He had to get that American off before he got discovered and wound up in a Supermax in Miami.

Sent from my SM-J327T1 using Tapatalk

That's entirely plausible. I bet it's some odd ball thing that your friend either didn't understand or wasn't included in.
 

jd426

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I highly doubt it was the 200 Pesos which bothered the driver ..
ie the RICH Gringo theory .. Not even sure how paying $200 pesos to sit packed like a sardine among Dominicans is such a TREAT for the Senses , to make anyone Jealous of the Gringo who is enjoying this luxurious Ride in such a Sweat Box.
Unless, was he FLASHING jewelry , or paying with like a $2 Mil peso bill cuz that is all he had in his wallet ? i doubt it ..
So it still, just makes no sense .. if anything they should be HAPPY that the Gringo is trying to be like regular Dominicans .
there is a lot more to this story..
and no , i don't think it was subtle Racism either ..
 

cavok

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Bull****. The fact he spoke American English kicks any concept of "might be Haitian" in the balls. Black Americans looks relatively little like Haitians, muscle mass, better diet, greater weight and fashionable clothing attribute to that.

What happened was they thought this guy was a Federale(La DEA). And that driver had illegal cargo on that bus. He had to get that American off before he got discovered and wound up in a Supermax in Miami.

Sent from my SM-J327T1 using Tapatalk

That's sounds like a very possible explanation. And you're right - he's big - about 6'1", over 200lbs, and muscular. Doesn't even slightly resemble a Haitian. And there were many Haitians on the bus.
 
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