I think it boils down to whether you are a city or country person. I'm definitely a city person, and I like SD, I'd live there in a torre in a New York minute. Mr. AE, on the other hand, grew up in SD and despises it.
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Why is the capital so ghetto ?? Is the rest of the country like that ????
I think it boils down to whether you are a city or country person. I'm definitely a city person, and I like SD, I'd live there in a torre in a New York minute. Mr. AE, on the other hand, grew up in SD and despises it.
Most of SD is ghetto, but if you grew up in any major city in the US this shouldn't surprise you. There are pockets that will not give you a ghetto vibe.
First time going through the neighborhoods around the botanical gardens I was like wow, "I'm not in ZC anymore toto" ( the dog not the...)
I do wish the Gov. would de-ghetto ZC. Also remember people with money doesn't mean the have manners. Now that's ghetto.
First time going through the neighborhoods around the botanical gardens I was like wow, "I'm not in ZC anymore toto" ( the dog not the...)
I do wish the Gov. would de-ghetto ZC. Also remember people with money doesn't mean the have manners. Now that's ghetto.
I dislike Santo Domingo as well as a city, but getting used to it more and more. When back in the 50,000 habitants town I come from I feel I arrived in some place where time stood still and the same people still cycle everyday their same route wearing the same coat they were wearing before I left.
On the other hand, the lack of (economical) activity would drive me crazy 'en el campo'.
I must add: for a big, modern city Santo Domingo lacks (affordable) place to entertain when you have small children.
On the other hand, the lack of (economical) activity would drive me crazy 'en el campo'.
I must add: for a big, modern city Santo Domingo lacks (affordable) place to entertain when you have small children.
I used to think exactly the same every time I entered Pedro Brand or joined Autopista Las Americas........until I moved into an apartment in one of the many nice areas in National District. I am here because of a need to be mobile for business internally and with an airport nearby getting me to the islands, Miami and onwards, and Panama. I have thought about relocating to Punta Cana because the flights are even better but that would be at a loss of the wide variety of things to do in SDO which is also where my young lady studies. But PC is isolated at one end of the island so SDO wins hands down.
The traffic and apparent chaos on the roads distorts ones views. Spend time in the central areas with all the modern amenities, new torres and a younger growing affluent society and it is different, and to add to that one is relatively close by road to all worthwhile parts of the country (East Coast and La Romana c 2hours, Samana/LT c 2 hours, Mountains c 1.5 hours, Bonao and rios 1 hour South West c 2.5 hours) for a weekend break.
SDO has surprised me and is no way a ghetto on the large part........the outskirts were so impoverished when I first visited back in 1983 with cardboard dwellings along side the old Duarte road to Santiago. Even some of the poorer barrios aren't that bad by world standards and certainly don't discourage me from passing through.
I am a country boy at heart and I no doubt will retire to the country....the campo here......and still exploring where.
I wish. I have extremely noisy neighbours whose only redeeming features is they are very musically talented, drunk or sober.
It really is the best!!! I have a great time in the Sosua ghetto then I slink back home...
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I once was in Bangkok, a city full of Agora Mall and Blue Mall style malls. The hotels have shuttles that take people to shop there. I found it so strange. What I was told is that the tourists had "time" for shopping, and that was why the malls were popular with tourists. Also, they had lots of European brands, and tourists got a tax kickback upon leaving. I would think that most of the tourists will spend the cash saved on taxes at the airport mall that is quite big. Win win for Thailand.
So after that I stopped asking why tourists would be interested in shopping malls...
For some people, shopping is the reason they travel. My ex worked in Sawgrass Mills in Broward County and they were deluged with Argentinians, Venezuelans, Brazilians and finally Chinese who chartered trips to Florida that included a day with Mickey and Pluto and two or three days shopping.
Stuff that sells online for $15.99 they enthusiastically snapped up for over $50. They wanted gifts for all their friends, since apparently for many of them travel to the US and gifting all your friends that did not get to go was a way of acquiring social status, like those giant stone coins on Yap in Micronesia, or the giveaway ceremonies of the Kwakiutl of British Columbia.
And I come back with three pairs of Larimar earrings. To each his own.
Stuff that sells online for $15.99 they enthusiastically snapped up for over $50. They wanted gifts for all their friends, since apparently for many of them travel to the US and gifting all your friends that did not get to go was a way of acquiring social status, like those giant stone coins on Yap in Micronesia, or the giveaway ceremonies of the Kwakiutl of British Columbia.
And I come back with three pairs of Larimar earrings. To each his own.
I once sat next to a lady in the plane to Santo Domingo, I think from Europe. She bought a tax free roll of toblerone in the plane for about 10 dollars, probably as a gift for whoever she would meet in Santo Domingo. That same rolls cost about 150 pesos in the supermarket in DR.
For me, there is nothing like hitting a ghetto for some fun and then heading back to my recluse in the suburbs.
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I think that you are using the wrong word here. You head back to your REFUGE. (A place like Superman's Fortress of Solitude, perhaps).
When you separate yourself from others you are a RECLUSE.
el refugio ~ the refuge, but el recluso in Spanish means something more like 'prisoner in solitary'.
a recluse is more like an ermita?o.
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I think that you are using the wrong word here. You head back to your REFUGE. (A place like Superman's Fortress of Solitude, perhaps).
When you separate yourself from others you are a RECLUSE.
el refugio ~ the refuge, but el recluso in Spanish means something more like 'prisoner in solitary'.
a recluse is more like an ermita?o.
While I am certainly more of a suburb type person, I could live in San Francisco or San Diego in the USA. I spent 10 years in the San Francisco Bay area and enjoyed it very much. It is really one big city with signs to demarcate the different cities. I would not want to live in Santo Domingo in the DR. I don't even like visiting. Santo Domingo seems to have its own special kind of "suck" and not the Sosua kind.
I used the correct word.
I have to pass by Fulton to get to work everyday in Jersey City. I see thousands of people everyday during my commute. I then hit the hood from time to time because that is where my people, family are at.
Then I head back to my refuge and become a recluse for the night. lol
I do see where you are coming from though. I need people in my life once in a while.
Many a times, I rather be by myself.
I believe that is what I said: you are the recluse, and where you dwell is your refuge. ?No es as??