It's so lovely and quiet in Santo Domingo

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MariaRubia

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I am absolutely loving it now that everyone has disappeared from the capital for Semana Santa. So lovely and peaceful, almost zero traffic, you can whizz around town really quickly, you can park, even the weather is perfect. Today in the Colonial Zone I stopped and it was absolutely silent, I think that's the first time that's ever happened, even in the pandemic I can't remember hearing absolutely nothing at all.

We were saying today that we should slip out and build a few walls on the entrance roads to stop anyone coming back in. I'd happily chip a few nails to help lay bricks.
 
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MariaRubia

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Seamonkey said:
But I'll be going to SD next week. May I go??? lol
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Yes, we will let nice people in, provided you're quiet. And don't wear lycra, no speakers on top of cars, no shouting. And you must drive correctly and not cut across red lights and give way to other drivers. These are the new rules.
 
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NALs

NALs

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Jokes aside, there was a time when permission was needed to settle in the country (in reality, to go anywhere in the dountry beyond your town or campo; there were military check points every X amount of kilometers in every road through the countryside and it was required for everyone to stop in each and give explanations of where they were going.) Many people were even deported from the capital to their campo for settling illegally. One of the benefits of that is that the city didn’t have many areas that could be considered a slum. If it wasn’t for that, SD would had slums since well before the 1960’s and 1970’s, which is when the current slum started.
 
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NALs

NALs

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No just that @NanSanPedro, travelling abroad wasn’t easy either. Every single time a person needed to take out a passport, which may or may not be given. You had to give explanations why you needed the passport. Once granted, you went and when you return to the DR, you had to give your passport back to the government. You also needed to handover notes of all your expenses during the trip, the hotels you stayed at, etc. This was required information from the government.
 
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MariaRubia

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NALs said:
Jokes aside, there was a time when permission was needed to settle in the country (in reality, to go anywhere in the dountry beyond your town or campo; there were military check points every X amount of kilometers in every road through the countryside and it was required for everyone to stop in each and give explanations of where they were going.) Many people were even deported from the capital to their campo for settling illegally. One of the benefits of that is that the city didn’t have many areas that could be considered a slum. If it wasn’t for that, SD would had slums since well before the 1960’s and 1970’s, which is when the current slum started.
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OOoooh I like that idea. We could deport all the trashy people to Sosua. (and cue 1000 DR1'ers from Sosua making nasty comments to Maria...)
 
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MariaRubia

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NALs said:
No just that @NanSanPedro, travelling abroad wasn’t easy either. Every single time a person needed to take out a passport, which may or may not be given. You had to give explanations why you needed the passport. Once granted, you went and when you return to the DR, you had to give your passport back to the government. You also needed to handover notes of all your expenses during the trip, the hotels you stayed at, etc. This was required information from the government.
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Similar to Cuba I am guessing. Was this under the dictatorship? I spent quite a lot of time in Cuba and I remember that you couldn't just move to a new city, you needed to get permission. And permission to leave, and everything was complicated.
 
NALs

NALs

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MariaRubia said:
OOoooh I like that idea. We could deport all the trashy people to Sosua. (and cue 1000 DR1'ers from Sosua making nasty comments to Maria...)
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Expats might declare Sosúa an independent city state and make English the second official language.

They even have the airport in their municipality. Great way to get in and out with never to entering the DR. lol
 
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Gadfly

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Sosua is an independent state in the country of puerto plata. Many residents have private helipads.
 
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Jan

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Santo Domingo Este
www.colonialzone-dr.com
The quiet continues. Saturday was wonderful. This morning the dogs and I walked to Mirador del Este. No traffic. Aziza got to run and play with some of the dogs in the park. Buenagente, the Old Man, just sits and watches. The tennis courts were full of tennis players. Not many joggers. But, it all ends later today when the masses return. Boohoo.
 
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NanSanPedro

NanSanPedro

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Boca Chica
yeshaiticanprogram.com
JD Jones said:
Nice to see Digesett is out in force this weekend:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1774204788709704047
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For the first time that I've seen, they were at the airport peaje around 430 this afternoon. They had ticket books in hand. My guess is they were checking for marbetes because I didn't have a seat belt on and they ignored me. Also, they did not f up traffic, which is greatly appreaciated. I think they reserve that for the imeciles who can't read/understand Spanish and get in the wrong lane.
 
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