What do you hate about the DR?

[Fiesta Mama]

Ignorance is not bliss ...

i must say. they have never said anything bad. except for getting called gringa or americana. i have been treated well. i'm moving there this summer.

Well I must admit, I don't know "for sure" that anything bad was being said... but considering my last experience in the DR, I sure would have felt better had I known what was being said around me (heck, I might have hightailed it out of there a little sooner)! I just don't like being ignorant to what is happening around me... a very helpless feeling.

Other things I hate - garbage (for most people, this goes without saying) and burns on your leg from the mufflers on motoconchos - made that mistake only one. BE CAREFUL!!

 

[mami]

Ouch!!!!!!!

Well I must admit, I don't know "for sure" that anything bad was being said... but considering my last experience in the DR, I sure would have felt better had I known what was being said around me (heck, I might have hightailed it out of there a little sooner)! I just don't like being ignorant to what is happening around me... a very helpless feeling.

Other things I hate - garbage (for most people, this goes without saying) and burns on your leg from the mufflers on motoconchos - made that mistake only one. BE CAREFUL!!

i'll steer clear of the motoconcho's

 

[santanatwins]

My two biggest hates

I have an idea how the Dr government can raise money for public projects and get the country out of recession......charge every motoconcho a fine that doesn't have working lights and a muffler. This alone would bring the country's coffers a windfall of pesos. There is nothing more annoying than hearing a moto drive by at 2:00 in the morning.

But the biggest hate I have would have to be the trucks that advertise discos and political campaigns. The have these sound systems that a blaring a message which you can't possibly understand because it's so loud the speakers sound like they are about to explode. I truly believe that the drivers of these trucks are legally deaf. And what a stupid idea, by the time the truck plays the entire message, it's 3 blocks away and you only hear about 20 seconds of the ad and the rest sounds like someone drowning.

 

[suarezn]

I keep reading alot about what people hate about the DR ( which usually are things that happen because people are FREE in the DR) and then I read many times from the same poster that he/she likes the FREEDOM of the DR. Am I not getting something here?

Do you like or Hate the FREEDOM that prevails in the DR? Which one is it?

You hate that most drivers always have their headlights on High beam because they are free to do so, but you like the fact that you can drive as fast as you want?

Which one is it? Do you like it or hate it? Or are most people simply confused about whether the level of freedom people have in the DR is healthy?

I know exactly what you mean. A lot of us only dislike certain things when it's going against you. For instance I hate the bureaucracy, but at the same time love the fact that you can also get any paper you want by paying off someone. Let's face it if the government was efficient and the laws were enforced then you'd have to be in your best behavior all the time and who wants that? You gotta take the good with the bad...

Mostly what I hate are things that people do for no reason whatsoever. Like is there any reason to have the high beams on all the time? NO. Is there a reason to have ten people going through reams of papers and books to see if they can find your birth record when one person could do this for everyone if they only had them computerized (This one really annoys me. I guess it's the consultant in me wanting to improve things...)? Absolutely NOT...

I will say, however, that these things are just annoyances to me...I love the freedom you have to do whatever you want, whenever and with whoever...What a country!!! I would not like to see it become like the US when it comes to enforcing the laws...

 

[Chris_NJ]

Does this bother anyone else??

One thing I see as a logistical problem is the location of the capital. My girlfriend lives in La Union and has had and will have had to make numerous seemingly wastleful trips to bureaucratic offices in Santo Domingo. Examples - her first passport she got in Puerto Plata (no problem), it got some water dammage during last yrs earthquake and they said to replace it she needed to go to Santo Domingo (luckily, a small propina ensured it would be ready same day). She has to take the TOEFL (US exam for foreign students) - only offered in Santo Domingo. Consular visits to embassies - all in Santo Domingo. To get her current college transcripts - in Santo Domingo (I really don't understand this one because the school is in Puerto Plata). The list goes on...

I don't know if she is not finding the better way to do all these things, but the capital by Caribe tours kills half a day, not to mention if you have to be there early in the morning (more time/$$ wasted for hotel in capital). Do most people use couriers for the trips when they don't need to be there in person?

The capital should be moved to a more central location or more realistically these services should be offered at least in Puerto Plata and Santiago. Because I HATE the fact my girlfriend has to waste her time and hard-earned money going to Santo Domingo.

 

[NALs]

Historically the capital would have been Santiago. It was the wealthiest, largest and most influential city in the Dominican Republic until Trujillo came and forced Santo Domingo into becoming something more than a mere administrative center. All the areas outside the Colonial Zone were built after 1930.

And for how the economy is doing right now, the Capital should stay where it is. It's making people waste money on constant trips there, but that keeps certain people directly and indirectly employed which is good for the dismal economy. Once everything gets back on it's feet, Santiago should be it!

 

[suarezn]

Personally I think it should be in Cotui (which is smack in the center of the country)...

Having to go to the capital to get things done is just another example of complete government inefficiency. Why should a person need to go to Sto. Dgo. to get a plate for their car? It's ridiculous!!!

It all stems from the lack of a customer service oriented government culture. To them you're not their customer, but just another person whom they can try to extort money from...

If I was president this would definitely be at the top of my agenda. All their processes need to be looked at in depth and all non-value added activities should be removed from the process...

 

[Chris]

Do you like or Hate the FREEDOM that prevails in the DR? Which one is it?

Let's not get too carried away here... I love freedom, I hate poopoo on eggshells.... simple! But more seriously, the issue of freedom, how people experience it and the good, bad and ugly could be a good thread if you'd like to start it...

 

[jsizemore]

poo poo on egg shells

If poo poo on egg shells is the price of no homrones in the food I will take poo.
JOhn

 

[mami]

urban legend

If poo poo on egg shells is the price of no homrones in the food I will take poo.
JOhn

there are no hormones in poultry. its an urban legend.

 

[mariel]

if i recall correctly...

...i hate the garbage the most. then in second place those camionetas selling stuff or early morning vendors.

at the moment i don't remember many things - i might come back after june

 

[ricktoronto]

I am beating palmsandgarbage to the punch...

I understand it is possible that there may be a bit of wee quantities of garbage about. Pity.

 

[Chris]

I understand it is possible that there may be a bit of wee quantities of garbage about. Pity.

And dead donkeys and children playing on the streets and green clothed cops that demand 100 dollar bills from us. :classic:

But mami, most commercial poultry farms where they raise birds for slaughter use hormones to achieve quicker growth of the birds and fatter birds.

And Mariel, why do you not like the early morning camionetas selling stuff... that's where I buy most of my vegetables?

 

[Captdavid]

There is nothing much I can add to this thread. You guys have covered everything. We are all aware of these problems, but are the Dominicans aware of any of it? They just have no idea that there is a better life. I wish everything that was said here could be published in the Dominican newspaper, in the front page. I wonder if it would help in some way.

For those of you who would rather have poopoo in your egg, please don't. You can get salmonella!!!!!

Corky

 

[VirginiaGomes]

Yes we are

There is nothing much I can add to this thread. You guys have covered everything. We are all aware of these problems, but are the Dominicans aware of any of it? They just have no idea that there is a better life. I wish everything that was said here could be published in the Dominican newspaper, in the front page. I wonder if it would help in some way.

Corky

Yes, we are aware of it too and it annoy us to not end.

 

[jsizemore]

double standard

When I talk to some of my choipo friends they will tell me that what they do is the dominican way yet the same people talk about how bad it is in the DR and how much they want to go to america. No understanding that the American Dream can be had with a little self discipline.
John

 

[x_man]

I could do without

big time developers, small time real estate people (except escott),
two-stroke motorcycles, and greedy people without respect for the beauty and fragility of nature. x.

 

[mariel]

And Mariel, why do you not like the early morning camionetas selling stuff... that's where I buy most of my vegetables?

usually i'm sleeping by the time they pass on my street shouting their merchandise. especially a camioneta shouting a certain soap that will improve the skin, fade the "manchas en la piel", etc.

 

[Bok]

It's the small things.....

- I?m getting used to nine cars divided over four lanes when I?m on Churchill crossing 27th, but I hate drivers who don?t use their yellow blinking light to advise their turns.

- I?m getting used to Spanish commentary in games, but I hate local commercials overlapping during breaks and not stopping in time, robbing homeruns, baskets or goals from a live transmission. (Even worse if it?s his Baldness with a propaganda message paid for by the taxpayers.)

- I?m getting used to the heat, so I hate cinemas and restaurants that crank up their A/C to Eskimo-level just because the one they have is working and there is power at the time, turning what should have been a nice night on the town into a dash for the car and a drive home with absolutely no A/C.

- I?m getting used to people not keeping appointments, but I hate it when they don?t call and advice their delay or no-show. (Especially these days when we have assigned craftsmen to jobs in our new home. We?re currently running on the 4th week of a 2-week job looking to enter the 5th week as Semana Santa is coming up.)

Well, :cross-eye it?s the small things???.

BR Bok (aka mr Pib)

 

[XanaduRanch]

Really?

And Mariel, why do you not like the early morning camionetas selling stuff... that's where I buy most of my vegetables?

And when do they EVER come out here? To sell to the mosquitos and the cows? Obviously you have a second house, or buy these things elsewhere. Because in four years of living here I have never had any vegetable truck out here in el Choco.

And yes it IS annoying. I can see the truck, I KNOW what's on it. Why do I have to HEAR that they have carrots? The answer is, I DON'T. If I want something, I will go. If I do not, I will not. No need for the loud speakers. Unless it's just to scare the mosquitos away. In which case I aplaud.

Tom aka XR Give me ambiguity. Or, whatever.