Santo Domingo is a Traffic-inferno Dante's Hellhole

[rubio_higuey]

Frank, you are right, unfortunately Santo Domingo's Traffic-inferno Dante's Hellhole took a toll on me last Friday.

I set off at a 1 pm from hotel where I was staying going north on Maximo Gomez past Kennedy. AC in the car blowing on full, but the car was like the steelworks oven in Pittsburgh regardless. Did what I had to do there, then headed east to Zona Oriental to Mella / Sabana Larga. On a meeting there, I drank 7 glasses of water. After I left the meeting the fever set in and hellhole headache. Had to do some other stuff in SD Este up and down along CD Gaulle. When I finished I looked and felt like a crap, could not digest one drop of water because I would be vomiting it (fortunately no puking), headache like crap and fever running around 38 degrees at least. I checked myself into ER of the only nearest hospital I knew about (CM Integral on Sabana Larga) and spent two hours there. IV, some meds, and two hours rest. Was ready to travel back to Higuey. Spent Saturday at home with tremendous headache and light fever.

It WAS Dante's Hellhole in SD traffic last Friday....

 

[KateP]

Have to go up this Friday bright and early for my residencia. NOT looking forward to it... My planned route is Migracion, med tests, Pricesmart, HOME.

 

[Makinater]

Feel free to come visit us anytime, dv8. Zona Oriental is our home, although we're often downtown a lot. Doesn't take much to get there if one chooses a good route. And if one isn't going there during rush hour. By the way, Frank is just being negative. I think the traffic in Santo Domingo is very safe and orderly. Everyone is obeying every law and people are quiet. There are no exhaust fumes and it's very easy for a foreigner to get the hang of it. No but seriously, it's like dv8 and Frank says. Lots of opportunities in the city, but the traffic and the street life is somewhat of an "acquired taste", to be honest. And come on - who sells "fresh" fruit on La Duarte. It's not like I want to buy a mango that contains more lead than a gallon of your average gasoline.

 

[Makinater]

I take ativan with me, and I deal much better with the traffic. We get lost on the way out to GH EVERY TIME! Takes an hour at least more. We always find our way to where we are going coming in fine though.

The Wife has a heart attack about the craziness. I like it 3 lanes = 6 lanes of traffic.

Ativan is great. I always use it when I operate heavy vehicles. Like 10-12 mg a day. Like you say, one doesn't care that much about traffic problems (or having one's leg amputated, or anything else to be honest) with a bit of Ativan in my blood. But I do have a disturbing suspicion that all the car crashes I have caused lately may have something to do with these pills, although I'm not sure.

 

[Wishing you well]

Wow....what would any of you do if you have to endure this daily as some of us have?

 

[chrisdr]

Frank, I have to say I love your posts but it isn't really that bad is it? I have been living in SD a few years and dont get me wrong, some days I go crazy in the traffic but you get used to it... I refuse to go anywhere between 7.30am - 9.15am and 4.30pm - 7.00pm (some exceptions of course). If you stay away from the big through ways (if possible) you can get around pretty easy.

The above was my response as a car driver...

Riding a bike is totally different and I agree with a lot of what you say - I count myself lucky so far but its like a ticking timebomb waiting for someone to change lanes and take you out... but hey you either love the city or hate it!