Letter from Santo Domingo, 6/12/98 (cont'd)

Millner

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Nov 16, 2005
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6/12/98
THE OLD SPIRIT-LIFTER
"I left the house and walked and walked and walked. The streets here are wonderful - so lively and full of people. Still, I couldn't shake that habitual melancholy I've carried around with me since I left two years ago. Then I had a Presidente. (It wasn't even 10 in the morning.) Suddenly, everything brightened up. Life seemed worth living. I literally started singing along to the music on my walkman (Silvio's "Canto Arena"). I was happy and brimming over with good spirits. This is definitely the greatest place on Earth."

6/12/98
A SPOT OF ADVENTURE
"We arrived at Cafe Atlantico around 9. It was full of attractive women. I had three rum and cokes (very strong ones) and started feeling very drunk. I also started noticing that Anna was very attractive ..."

6/14/98
THE WAGES OF SIN
"I woke up hung over again, got up to take a p*ss, and went back to bed. My mouth was dry, my head ached, and my tongue tasted like it had been dragged through dirt and then p*ssed on by a dirty old cat. I fell back asleep and had dreams about New York in the fall. Then the electricity cut out. The fan stopped, the air became fetid, and the mosquitoes swarmed in to do their nasty work on my legs, arms and face. Despite all this, I drifted off to sleep again, only to wake up a few minutes later covered in sweat, with a large mosquito buzzing around my left ear."

6/15/98
PERTAINING TO FRUIT
"I had a real Dominican morning today. Coffee on the patio, fresh "jugo de toronja," cheese, "pan." Then J. and I went to get his car fixed. We were both hung over, so we bought fresh pineapple, mango and papaya from a guy in the street. We shoved it in our faces; juice dripped all over our mouths and hands. It was so refreshing, and so good. The pineapple was the best I've ever eaten - incredible. Then we had to go on a wild goose chase to four different places to get a part for his radiator. I bought a coconut off a guy in the street; he took his machete and sliced it open; I drank the sweet coconut water from a hole in the top. Once again, it dripped all over me, but I didn't care. The beauty of the DR."

6/16/98
A LEISURELY DAY OUT
"I left the house, walked a while and got in a public car. Three big people were shoved in the back seat with me, with another two upfront. It was so hot that I could feel drops of sweat rolling down the small of my back into my buttocks. Suddenly I felt nauseous. I couldn't breathe - so many people packed into this tiny broken down car with no ventilation - and the car stank of gasoline. The moment passed and I settled for a typical Dominican ride in public transportation. I got out at Avenida 27th de Febrero and surveyed the scene. Massive construction in the middle of the street. So many exhaust fumes it looked like someone had just set off a smoke bomb. People - brown, white, semi-brown and black - all over the place, selling fruit, newspapers and just walking around. Blinding sun and hundreds of cars that should have hit the junk heap 10 years ago."

6/17/98
SOMETHING NICE
"I saw a group of my former students, and they insisted on taking me out for ice cream. These kids are really, really decent human beings. They're smart, well dressed, friendly, funny ... not like the sullen pieces of cr*p with their baggy clothes and rap music that we have over in the States. These kids have never touched drugs, they're respectful and they're kind. I haven't seen one teenager like that in the two years I've been living in Florida."

6/19/98
SIGNS OF LIFE
"Street signs I saw around Santo Domingo today:

American Beauty Soplay
Apartamentos - With Walking Closets
Donas"

6/20/98
THE UGLY AMERICAN
"Saw a vulgar American businessman at the Jaragua. This fool was barking orders into a cell phone for about 45 minutes - so loud that I could hear it all the way across the pool area. No wonder people hate Americans: We're loud, boisterous, disrespectful of other cultures, braggarts ... stupid fools who are being overcharged by everyone from the taxi driver to the bellboy and don't even know it."

6/21/98
CONCERNING THE EX-BROTHER-IN-LAW AGAIN
"I woke up Pablito when I entered the house. As usual, he was sprawled out all over the living room floor: picture a mountain of fat that has exploded in front of a television. The b*stard stole my fan! I took it back. 'Buenos noches, Pablito," I said, and went to bed. But will I ever get my money back?
 
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