Lots of Negatives

[bronzeallspice]

jeez, bronzie..i am shocked! i thought you loved the place! now you tell us that you are about to turn tail and run?

i am here, and will stay here, because i am just too darn lazy to pack my stuff, and move on. maybe i am not a sporting man, so i am afraid to gamble. unlike dv8, there was a time when i did like this place. not any more. you have to struggle too hard just to tolerate the people. i have no problems if the tv goes off, or the internet is slow, or there are apagones. my problem is that the place is just too backward. it is still in the 19th century. for instance, a couple of my fellow posters here have communicated their desire to buy some decent headphones, and they had to buy them through ebay and Amazon. there is nothing here. i went to the most recognized hi-fi store in the capital, to check on some stuff, and the so-called premier authority in the country had never seen a headphone amplifier! makes me feel like i am living in medieval times. i went to San Juan 30 years ago, and even way back then they had stuff there that has not yet been heard of in this country.

for me, it is just too middle ages. the thinking of the people, the lack of simple common sense, and the lack of simple information is irksome

i do, however, like the inner generosity of the people. maybe , for me, that overrides the negatives. i am getting up there in years, and when i get sick, these are the people i know will make sure i die a comfortable death.

At first it was paradise, I said to myself I could live here until the day I die and then reality sunk in. :tired: By mistake one day I left the front gate open, went to the backyard to water my garden. Then about 30 minutes later I realized my mistake, went to lock the gate and when I looked towards my left, my ladder was missing! Some asshole came in and took it. One of my sisters who lives here has been robbed twice, now she has a security system, cameras, and an electrical fence. That's no way to live.

 

[the gorgon]

At first it was paradise, I said to myself I could live here until the day I die and then reality sunk in. :tired: By mistake one day I left the front gate open, went to the backyard to water my garden. Then about 30 minutes later I realized my mistake, went to lock the gate and when I looked towards my left, my ladder was missing! Some asshole came in and took it. One of my sisters who lives here has been robbed twice, now she has a security system, cameras, and an electrical fence. That's no way to live.

i once spent 7 months bidding on a single item on ebay auctions. it was a hand made digital to analog converter for a cd player. it was made in Hong Kong, by hand, at the rate of 1 per week, by some guy in his basement. the snipers beat me every time. but i persevered, and one friday night i beat them. i joined a select community in the world, of being one of only , maybe 50 people in the world who had this device. one night, some cretin jimmied my sliding door, and stole it. he had no idea what it was. nobody in the DR knew what it was. he could not use it. he could not sell it. but he stole it, just because it was there.

worse yet, it had a custom cable attached to it, without which it would not work properly. he took out the cable, and left it on the bed.

 

[InsanelyOne]

I vacillate wildly when it comes to the DR. My partner and I have been here 4 years and at times I feel I'm going insane and other times I'm very content. I'm going through a content phase now however I do see us moving back to the States at some point. We really want to have a family and that's not particularly feasible for a gay couple in the DR. If we could adopt here, I might actually stay. (We've bandied about the idea of paying a girl to be a surrogate but that would never work in this country. Talk about painting a bullseye on yourself!)

 

[bronzeallspice]

i once spent 7 months bidding on a single item on ebay auctions. it was a hand made digital to analog converter for a cd player. it was made in Hong Kong, by hand, at the rate of 1 per week, by some guy in his basement. the snipers beat me every time. but i persevered, and one friday night i beat them. i joined a select community in the world, of being one of only , maybe 50 people in the world who had this device. one night, some cretin jimmied my sliding door, and stole it. he had no idea what it was. nobody in the DR knew what it was. he could not use it. he could not sell it. but he stole it, just because it was there.

worse yet, it had a custom cable attached to it, without which it would not work properly. he took out the cable, and left it on the bed.

LOL! Dumbass criminal!

 

[the gorgon]

LOL! Dumbass criminal!

i was almost moved to tears. then i realized that he left my 17 inch laptop right there on the bed. talk about dumb!

 

[curious29]

I am here for 7 months, going back in July (so it would be 9 months in total).
there are other interesting destination in world, too....I did here what I wanted to do: learn decent spanish and write book (in progress).
I feel like wasting time here last weeks, so I'm going back.

 

[Africaida]

For the OP. Most of the people who post are going to be the ones who have a complaint. Those that are contented with their situation have little need to mention it.

The DR was not a first choice for me. Sri Lanka was, but when my wife from there died an early death from cancer, I gave up on that option, despite buying land on the ocean north of Colombo. I just checked Google Earth for that area. That region alone of Sri Lanka has grown more than all of the DR in the past 10 years.

After 10 years living full time in the DR, I understand how to deal with the situation as it is. The power, the police, the pompous idiot corrupt politicians, etc. might eventually drive me to a "second retirement", but not tomorrow. I do reserve the right to complain from time to time.

I heard a lot of good things about sri Lanka. I dream about vacationing there.

 

[Africaida]

I could never see myself living in DR as a single mom with no family ties there.
Could totally envision the loneliness DV8 is talking about.

 

[Chirimoya]

What a shame that the same old crap has taken what could be a productive discussion off-topic.

 

[Africaida]

What a shame that the same old crap has taken what could be a productive discussion off-topic.

Amen Chiri !

 

[keepcoming]

This started out as a very good and interesting post, like to see other peoples thoughts. But some have taken on their own agenda as usual...Anyhow..sometimes I do think about leaving. Been here now over 20 years. It is not just one issue that makes me think about it, it is all things combined. My parents are getting older (we all are) and have more difficulty traveling here to see us. Some days I just get tired of the same old crap but that could happen anywhere. There are many positives to living here and I would not trade my experience here for anything but some days between the electricity problem, crime, political corruption, traffic, garbage thrown everywhere, the constant "no es mi culpa" culture, etc,,, it makes me wonder is it time to move on. But then I will go out on my balcony and watch the sunset over the ocean and think all is good in paradise. But believe me I do have my days and no matter if I stay or go this place will always be very special for me.

 

[CARIBETORNO]

Well it is pretty loco place to live. I can understand why it wears some people down. I am not to worried about the police. I just sik the wife on them jajajaajajja. I guess i do not hear the noise much. It not for everyone i guess. I hate NYC some people love it.

 

[Robert]

What a shame that the same old crap has taken what could be a productive discussion off-topic.

Don't worry, bunch of infraction points given.

Daywalker, Chip, the gorgon don't post again in this thread.
You do, get ready for a VERY long vacation.

 

[dv8]

thanks, robert. i wanted to say this thread was originally very interesting, especially with posters presenting positive approach in general admitting now to their reservations. it is also good to read about the good that outweighs whatever bad we already mentioned. this thread is a bit therapeutic...

 

[Mauricio]

It does surprise me the number of people that are considering to leave. Did something really change in DR that 'we' are getting more and more unhappy here?

 

[Robert]

insightful, coming from Mr. DR1 himself. Robert, if you could elaborate on why you are done

Before I arrived in the DR, I had lived and worked in 6 other countries, so the whole new place, experience wasn't new to me. Despite that, I fell in love with the people, craziness, freedom, beaches etc.

The past 18 months I have been doing lots of travelling around the planet, spending less and less time in the DR. This has been an eye opener and made me realize what I have been missing, what I love and what I don't need in my life. One thing is for sure, I don't need to listen to the excuses, wait for progress and deal with the daily BS that the DR has served up the past 15 years. Of course it's not all bad and the good often outweighs the BS in most cases.

But...

I'm in my mid 40's and the clock is ticking. You get one shot at life, so I have decided my remaining years will be on my terms and what I want to do. How that evolves is anyone's guess right now, but to date I'm loving it!

 

[waytogo]

It does surprise me the number of people that are considering to leave. Did something really change in DR that 'we' are getting more and more unhappy here?

That's the problem....................
Waiting for change that's just not happening.................
I've been living in Santiago 7 years and everything is exactly the same...............
The very poor are still that...............
The hungry and homeless are still that...................
Oh, but the Capital has the Metro............whoopee............

B in Santiago

 

[the gorgon]

I guess you cannot read. See my post #54.

Enjoy your 30 day vacation.

 

[bob saunders]

Have things got worse? I mean I know there is more of a drug culture here than when I started coming here in the 90's but I have seen other changes that are positive. I see a lot of people exercising, taking care of what they eat, taking computer classes, English classes, and consuming less alcohol.
I've also noticed considerably more cars, more bad driving, more Haitians, and generally more rowdy behavior. The criminal element has increased, judging by the news but we haven't personally been touched by it, however we know people that have had their houses broken into. I guess the big question is, if you leave are you going to a place that is better? For me the positives outweigh the negatives.

 

[artistdani]

Someone once told me that if I decide to move to another country, the problem is that I will be at the new place too! LOL. In other words maybe the change needs to happen from within first. That said, yes the DR can be very trying but oh so beautiful... and relatively affordable! And it is only 1 hour away from Miami!