A feature in British newspaper The Guardian focuses on what Dominicans take for granted – the car wash as an entertainment center and tourist attraction. Writer Saptarshi Ray puts it simply: “for Dominicans, the car wash is the place to party.”
He reports: “This phenomenon was illustrated recently by the erstwhile “acquaintance” of Silvio Berlusconi, Marysthell Garcia Polanco. If you’ve been keeping abreast of the sex and drug allegations surrounding the Italian prime minister, you may have read that Polanco, a model from the Dominican Republic, is famous in Italy for appearing in the ‘sexy car wash’ segment of a reality show on one of Berlusconi’s TV stations. This would cause few surprises in her homeland: in fact many would speculate she gave the idea to the producers in a moment of questionable art imitating life.”
To give an idea of the festive mood, he further explains:
“These places fill up in the evenings. Dominicans definitely know how to enjoy themselves, and booze and music stitch themselves into the most unlikely of institutions. Attendants at petrol stations can be seen taking a tot of rum – not in a belligerent or depressing way, it seems, but more as a statement: this is what we do. We saw a man on a motorbike, his wife sitting behind him, happily guzzling from a pint-sized bottle of Brugal rum, tipping us a simple cheers as we pulled up next to him. Fiesta, mi amigo is apparently the national mantra.”
“…from Sosua on the north coast to Barahona in the south, and the country’s sprawling capital, Santo Domingo, the early hours will always be filled with the crashing sounds of Dominican music, and if you’re smart and up for fun, you’ll experience it at the car wash.”
Read the story at www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/feb/16/dominican-republic-nightlife-car-wash