Good evening Frank, thanks for the kind words and appreciation of my writing style, just as I appreciate yours. Hopefully this week I'll get over to Caberete and we can argue about who pays for the beers, I'm definitely looking forward to it. It would be a pleasure to meet you in person. I would also love to see big Frank, it's been a while since I've been there.
Thanks for taking the time to comment on the posts and now I'll give you the same courtesy.
OK, gloves back on.
Pedro Clisante is not "over dramatized." Unfortunately, Pedro Clisante is the heart of Sosua. it always has been. It's what the tourists see when they walk through Sosua. Pedro Clisante is not Disney Land, brother; this is not Hannah and Barbara amusement park for children. It's an adult playground catering to adults. Period. And anyone thinking otherwise should get their eye-glass prescription refilled. Pedro Clisante is a Girls Gone Wild episode; it's Twilight--only the girls have bigger fangs, and unlike in the movies, they really do bite, and they bite hard...and that's no joke. This is not me trying to be funny here.
Try allowing the girls hanging out on Pedro Clisante to sit next to you and hang out with you or your friends. See what happens? Get back to me about that. They want money for their time. time is money to them. Try wasting their time and see what happens when you try to get up and leave. They're not their for your amusement. They're out working; they have children to feed, and this is their business hours.
You are proving my point. Pedro Clisante is Sos?a's main street. And this one 250 meter section of Pedro Clisante contains the infamous Classicos, D'Latin Drink, Rhumba, El Toro, El Flow, and further down CMP and Passions. And realistically the real strip that gets the most attention is from Classicos to just past the corner where the Rhumba bar is, maybe 50 meters. And from about 5:00PM until 2:00AM this strip certainly is not "Disney Land", brother. It is absolutely an "adult playground catering to adults". Period. NO ONE THINKS OTHERWISE.
That's the problem, the majority of "adult entertainment" is compressed into this small area from 5 until 2 and then moves from there to the Starlight Disco (formerly After One). Everything that happens there is amplified due to the close concentration of the bars and their patrons. More patrons, more prostitutes, more "deliquentes" all jammed together. It feeds on itself and disproportionately magnifies the problems.
Literally hundreds of people compressed in the streets and in the bars of this 50 meter strip. So now everything that goes on is seen by hundreds if not thousands of eyes. One incident happens and it get's witnessed by a disproportionately larger amount of people because of this concentration, and it almost immediately gets posted on websites like DR1 as well as others by a disproportionate amount of people. Not representing the 40,000 inhabitants of Sos?a, but the hundreds of patrons within that 250 meters of Pedro Clisante.
Let's be honest here, take DR1, it is a very disproportionate representation of the average person who works and lives in Sos?a. And many of the posters are the very same patrons who visit or have visited that spot on Pedro Clisante, thus the over dramatization.
Not only that but the same applies to how the witnessing of an incident gets disseminated locally whether through "legitimate" local news reporting or through general gossip.
Detras del Rumor, TV Costa Norte Ole TV, et.al. All reporting the same incident with the inherent embellishments. Five motoconchos see the same incident and now there are five versions one more sensational than the other. Or a group of prostitutes, who regularly travel here to the north coast, are working on this 250 meter strip of Pedro Clisante. Five from Santiago, three from Moca, eight from Santo Domingo, seven from La Vega, six from Jarabacoa. You now have 29 versions, again one more outlandish than the other, spreading throughout the country in a matter of a couple of days.
And what is mentioned first in everybody's account? So and so got arrested in Sos?a or I saw fulana in jail in Sos?a. Not the 250 meter notorious section of Sosua but just Sosua, And so begins or continues the insidious process of Sosua's bad reputation, the typical "chismeria". And now it all becomes over dramatized whether on the internet, on the news, in town, in the citys and campos where most of the prostitutes who come to the north coast to work come from. On and on.
Believe me, NOBODY is trying to say that spot is "Disney Land", brother. Sure there are prostitutes, hustlers, robberies, etc. in that area, but it is disproportionate to Sosua as a whole and just the nature of the beast that it is over dramatized.
And YOU fall right into this with your following reply right here on DR1 . . .
Sosua jail cell is packed every evening with people getting out of control and doing crazy things. A New York State attorney who lives in Blue Fish--inside Perla Marina--had another New York State Attorney friend visiting him and his family. when he and his friend went out to have a beer, a girl introduced herself and invited herself with them back to the restaurant. he hadn't been on this island for one day. she wanted to have sex. he said no. she wanted to be paid for wasting two hours with him. he said no. she grabbed his Iphone and ran down Pedro Clisante with it. When he caught up with her, she started screaming bloody murder. the police came running and asked what was going on? He didn't speak a word of spanish...he didn't even understand the question. The girl was holding onto the IPhone and wouldn't let go of it. She told the police he had sex with her and refused to pay. The police hauled him off to jail and locked him up inside a 6 x 6 foot cell packed full of people. The friend--who is a New York State attorney--pleaded with the police. The police refused to let him out until he paid the girl, and paid the police for assaulting the girl on the street--which involved holding her arm so that she wouldn't try to smash his Iphone on the sidewalk. she kept biting him on the hand while he was holding her hand which held his Iphone. She was trying to smash the Iphone against a concrete wall--breaking the screen. This is not an isolated incident. this is a nightly occurrence and an easy way for the police and girls to make money. I think its called blackmail in other parts of the world. He had to go to an ATM machine and withdraw money in order to pay her and pay the police. Yeah, Sosua is a great place.
Your own hyperbole makes my case, "Sosua jail cell is PACKED EVERY EVENING with people out of control and doing crazy things" and "this is not an isolated incident, THIS IS A NIGHTLY OCCURRANCE".
Sos?a jail is NOT PACKED EVERY EVENING with anybody, sure on most weekends the activity increases and when the police do an "operativo", then yes it is packed, but every eveining. No. And your attorney story a NIGHTLY OCCURANCE? No to that one also.
Sure it happens, I'm not ignoring the fact that "people have been robbed, scammed or pickpocketed over the years" But it is disproportionately more than the rest of Sos?a. Nightly? Come on Frank, you're making it too easy for me to prove my point. Sad story about the attorney though.
Now contrast this with sitting at Lax, Onnos, Kahunas, O'shay's, Mohitos, or whatever bar on Cabarete beach other than Bambu. You think the Norwegians want money for talking to them? You think the Canadians or Europeans want to be paid for indulging them?
Ok, I'm game.
Now contrast this with sitting at Bologna, Marua Mai, The Waterfront, Josephs, Baileys, Parque Mirador or whatever place other than around the Pedro Clisante strip. You think the Norwegians want money for talking to them? You think the Canadians or Europeans want to be paid for indulging them? You think the Italians want money to have a cup of coffee with them? (I had to add that or I'd be in trouble with Claudio and Eduardo from Bologna.) I think you get the point.
By the way, you notice I'm not touching Bambu, but I could, and VERY EASILY use the same hyperbole to bring to light incidents that have happened at Bambu as well as other places on the beach in Cabarete, but I'll just leave it there.
But most likely I've been living here 90% longer than you have...unless you been here since 1964.
Once again, congratulations. But I wasn't comparing the amount of time I lived here with you, I was stating, that just as you have posted that you . . . "have lived in both towns for longer than most people have been members here on DR1.". . . So have I. We both win the prize, but you definitely get first place, I'll humbly accept second, my first time in Sos?a was 1984. So congratulations, again.
Except that Perla Marina is no closer to Sosua than it is Cabarete, and you have to drive to Sosua from La Mulata, El Choco, Ocean Village, Sea Horse Ranch. You certainly aren't going to take to the highway and start walking down Highway 5 all the way to Sosua. Now contrast this with Cabarete--the whole length of the town can be traversed by the beach...and you can continue on for another 15km if you want to sea horse ranch
Cabarate, as i've already mentioned numerous times, has 15km of beaches that stretch from La Boca river all the way to Sea Horse Ranch--inlcuding Encuentro, Rincon, and numerous others.
What is actually Cabarete has nothing near 15km of beaches, and ALL the places you mention in those paragraphs above are IN Sosua. However, I will address this in my next post about the general logistcs of Sosua and Cabarete. Except for this . . .
CMC is not within walking distance of any neighborhood in Sosua...except for the ones directly behind it--coming from the back--.
Those are the neighborhoods I was referring to when saying they were within walking distance, but once again, none more than 2 minutes away by car or moto from just about ANY spot in Sos?a. But quite far away from Jose O'Shays. And please don't take my constant mentioning of Jose O'Shays as an indictment of any of your posts. But in the same manner you like to use Pedro Clisante as the "heart of Sos?a", I use Jose O'Shays as the heart of Cabarete. It's just a reference point, but if you like I'll use Bambu.
As far as individual restaurants, bars, clubs, beaches, etc. I won't go into them point for point. Like I said before both places are BEAUTIFUL and have there outstanding points. Again I like both. And just as I concluded my post I said as you quoted . . .
And this is Sos?a's fort?. This is what makes Sos?a different.
Different? Yes. Better, no. it's a subjective taste.
Maybe you didn't comprehend my posts, I NEVER said better, DIFFERENT, yes, better, everybody can decide that on their own.
But just for the record, I will admit, to ME personally, I like Sosua better, that's why I live here.
Again, looking forward to the beer.
