Illusion versus Reality--Why I moved away from Sosua/Cabarete

[Rocky]

PapaBenito did .. get out I mean.

Really, bad luck followed him relentlessly. It was quite amazing. And I don't think he is blaming the place ... he is still just shaking his head about his experiences.

Well, mostly spot on, but it was enough to make him move away, and he did get to believing that it is that way for everybody, and that we just put up with it.
I'm sure he didn't realize that he was an exceptional trouble magnet.
So he does blame the country, to a certain degree.

 

[BushBaby]

PapaBenito did .. get out I mean.

Really, bad luck followed him relentlessly. It was quite amazing. And I don't think he is blaming the place ... he is still just shaking his head about his experiences.

I know EXACTLY how he feels Chris - I have the same bad luck every week I go to the golf course. For some reason the 'Wind' just picks up when I take a shot & my ball goes too far left (or right ... or in the water) or SOMETHING (not me you understand) forces my ball in a different direction to that which I hit it!! Sometimes the earth behind my ball comes up & makes my club hit IT rather than the ball!!!

Practice, time & effort come to mind as ways of overcoming MY bad luck!! Maybe, as Lambada suggests, a little more time & effort at getting to the route problems could have made his life here a little bit more .................. relaxed? Good golfers make their own good luck, Bad golfers (like me) make our own bad luck by not being consistent or aware of what we are doing wrong - then taking the steps to put them right!! ~ Grahame.

 

[naturelover]

correct me if im wrong...but wasnt he the person that was argueing about the food in the "vache" place ...perhaps he goes round argueing a lot with people

 

[Celt202]

I know EXACTLY how he feels Chris - I have the same bad luck every week I go to the golf course. ... ~ Grahame.

Massachusetts golf courses have many Robert Frost holes.

"The woods are lovely dark and deep...."

PB had a bad run obviously. This country is not for everyone.

It takes resilience and adaptability to live here. The ability to bs in spanish with a sense of humor goes a long way.

I spend very little time in tourist areas. When I used to come here on vacation I loved tourist areas but the longer I'm here I like them only for the beaches. The hustlers in the tourist areas are the worst aspect of the DR.

Away from the tourist areas are real people and real life.

Papa Benito, I hope things turn out well for you in Argentina.

 

[miguel]

Talvez.....

PapaBenito did .. get out I mean.

Really, bad luck followed him relentlessly. It was quite amazing. And I don't think he is blaming the place ... he is still just shaking his head about his experiences.

Maybe he DID listened to me the first time I told him to get the F out, haha.

I think that guy even complained about the Doctor who spanked him to see if he was alive (when he was born).

 

[NALs]

This appears to be like the mosquito dilemma.

I'm sure we have all been to cookouts in the early evening and notice that some people are almost eaten alive by the mosquitos while others are hardly bitten by them. All happening at the same place and at the same time and yet, no one knows why some people are magnets for them and others are not.

Seems to be the same thing among expatriates in the DR. Some attract the bad elements much easier and quickly than others.

As for why? Who knows!

-NALs:cheeky:

 

[2LeftFeet]

Wow!!! with the luck he has (similar to mine) Argentina should be having a coup momentarily!!!!

 

[SKY]

"LUCK IS THE RESIDUE OF DESIGN"; Branch Rickey, 1949.

 

[Celt202]

"LUCK IS THE RESIDUE OF DESIGN"; Branch Rickey, 1949.

LOL

So SOL is in many cases SOD!

 

[Rocky]

correct me if im wrong...but wasnt he the person that was argueing about the food in the "vache" place ...perhaps he goes round argueing a lot with people

He was the OP in that thread, but he did not go around arguing with others.
Very quiet easy going dude, believe it or not.
You may be interested to know that I have received communications from other posters who corroborate the owner's aggresive bahaviour and willingness to fight, as they had incidents with him too.

 

[hifiman]

Give Papa Benito 5 years and he will have nothing good to say about his new digs.
He'll keep chasing that paradise until he realizes paradise is a state of mind.
hifiman

 

[Chris]

If I had to deal with an armed robbery in my home, as well as an all out gunfight in the place where I went to to get out of my home, and then a cover-up by the owners and no answers ... as well as a car accident all in the first 5 months of living in the DR, I would probably also have packed up and left.

 

[Rocky]

If I had to deal with an armed robbery in my home, as well as an all out gunfight in the place where I went to to get out of my home, and then a cover-up by the owners and no answers ... as well as a car accident all in the first 5 months of living in the DR, I would probably also have packed up and left.

Agreed, and that's not all.
I know of one more middle of the night scary incident he had at his home that he did not mention.
I'm telling you.
This dude had more bad luck that you could imagine possible.

 

[whirleybird]

This appears to be like the mosquito dilemma.

I'm sure we have all been to cookouts in the early evening and notice that some people are almost eaten alive by the mosquitos while others are hardly bitten by them. All happening at the same place and at the same time and yet, no one knows why some people are magnets for them and others are not.


-NALs:cheeky:

Have to say that I agree 100%. When I came here on holiday I was eaten alive and had very bad reactions to mosquito bites.... this also happened in the first 3 months I lived here but gradually they seem to have become less interested in me!! Not sure if it is me getting used to them or them getting used to me or perhaps it is just a state of mind - I wonder?

 

[jrf]

So, bad luck...

How much of it had to do with it following him? Seems not since Rocky says he's a good guy (which if he says so it's so)

how about his girlfriend? did she bring/attract some of these 'ill events' ?

did he just really offend someone or their family in some way?

I am grappling for SOME reason other than 'just bad luck'

(hope he is well - just the amount of RD bashing and such doesn't scare me in going but I feel an attachment to the island and getting kinda tired of hearing this kind of stuff)

 

[Lambada]

I'm sure he didn't realize that he was an exceptional trouble magnet.

I like Sky's quote of 'Luck is the residue of design'. In the same way I like 'luck is preparation meeting opportunity'.

Being an 'exceptional trouble magnet' is not a passive activity. It isn't something that happens to us with no input either on a conscious or unconscious level by ourselves. Sorry, PB may be a lovely guy and all that but either he, or his choice of friends or his location may have all played a part in being a trouble magnet. They will not be the reason necessarily but they may be contributory factors. It was Aldous Huxley I believe who said 'When life appears to be working against you, when your luck is down, when the supposedly wrong people show up, or when you slip up and return to old, self-defeating habits, recognize the signs that you're out of harmony with intention'.

Or as someone else said 'Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.'

 

[tflea]

Agree w/HiFi

Seems like a logical thing to me.
Also agree with Lambada's sayings as well and will add, "chance favors the prepared mind." I don't remember who said that but he/she was referring to luck.
The Golden Rule, rules.

 

[Victor Laszlo]

Not exactly Aldous Huxley, but...

since we're getting all philosophical...

For the Papa Benito's of this world

Born under a bad sign
I been down since I begin to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

Hard luck and trouble is my only friend
I been on my own ever since I was ten
Born under a bad sign
I been down since I begin to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

I can't read, haven't learned how to write
My whole life has been one big fight
Born under a bad sign
I been down since I begin to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

I ain't lyin'
If it wasn't for bad luck
I wouldn't have no kind-a luck
If it wasn't for real bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

 

[Rocky]

Albert King? Cream? Booker T. Jones? William Bell?

since we're getting all plilosophical...

For the Papa Benito's of this world

Born under a bad sign
I been down since I begin to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

Hard luck and trouble is my only friend
I been on my own ever since I was ten
Born under a bad sign
I been down since I begin to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

I can't read, haven't learned how to write
My whole life has been one big fight
Born under a bad sign
I been down since I begin to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

I ain't lyin'
If it wasn't for bad luck
I wouldn't have no kind-a luck
If it wasn't for real bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

 

[Victor Laszlo]

The Albert King version (abridged), written by Booker T. Jones and William Bell sez Google.