Gift - in Spanish - "regalo". As a gringo, foreigner or visitor, in Dominican mentality - you are "supposed to " (but not forced to) give them something. Like chocolate, new shoes, [...read more...]
Gringo - it will be actually you, meaning any foreigner in Dominican Republic. Actually they dont use this phrase that often - "americano" or "italiano" are used here much more frequently. There is no hostility in naming foreigners as gringos - Dominicans are usually very friendly people and have nothing at all against any foreigners - especially if they stay in DR and support local economy. So if you will be called per "gringo" it will usually mean that you are not from Dominican Republic, and nothing more.
Also, in theory, in South America "gringo" name is used usually for someone from North America, but people in Dominican Republic may use it for any foreigner from any country (as usually they know nothing about outside world and world's countries). So gringo= just foreigner and it's nothing wrong in being called like that in Dominican Republic
"Gringos" in Las Terrenas. Actually - mostly Italians and French people and other Euro guys
Haiti - neighbour of Dominican Republic, sharing the same island Hispaniola with DR. Some people say that to call Haiti as a "country" is way exaggerated, as [...read more, 70 % of content inside...]
Two black as tar Haitian guys. Near Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
Haiti was a first country of free Black People that freed themselves from slavery. African traditions are still vibrant and cultivated in Haiti - like voodoo, its music and so on. And besides the fact that Dominicans are actually mix of the white and black people - they dont like their black neighbours, considering them as some "low life forms".Of course - not every Dominican will agree with this statement, but I would say that most of them - yes. If the Dominican sees his black neighbour, [...read more, 70 % of content inside...]
I remember, like one time I met some Haitian guy in some dominican town near the Haitian - Dominican border. When i asked him about his country - he was complaining a lot , telling me that there is no future at all for it . He complained about roads that are frequently unpaved in Haiti, about salaries, about quality of the products and so on...And he was amazed how the Dominican Republic is well organised and well governed. Well... Let's say that I - being from Europe - i didnt share this view with him (as DR would be organised)
There are few reasons why things in Haiti are so bad.[...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
Haitians - are the biggest foreigner's population in Dominican Republic. There is only one big difference between them and other visitors in Dominicans -Haitians, in 99 % of cases come to Dominican Republic to find work. Could you believe that ? To look for a job in Dominican Republic, where usually people earn no more than 250 usd/month for work in sweat and hot 10 hours/ day. So if the Haitians come to find work here, what kind of situation do they have in Haiti actually....? As you probably may imagine that - it is even worse.
In most cases Haitians work [...read more, 70 % of content inside...]
Helmet - motorcycle helmet. In theory - the thing that every motorcycle driver should have. In DR - [...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
Honesty - dominican honesty. As a hardcore traveller, who spend a lot of time tasting "real" DR, totally outside of AI resorts and expensive hotels - I may say one thing about Dominicans : they are honest in 99 % of cases. So it is a pretty good rate, isn't it ? I am talking about hotel owners/ managers here, taxi drivers, shop sellers, waiters in restaurants, office clerks, motorcycle mechanics, and so on - all the people that you will usually meet in your life of independent traveller. I excluded though dominican women from these statistics as with them it would be probably much,much lower....😉
So when I came to Dominican Republic I was expecting that [...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
Humble - Dominicans are usually nice and humble people. Most of them. They of course have their bad sides and sometimes they change when they emigrate to richer countries and start to earn 1000's of dollars - but usually they are always humble. And that's what I saw during my stay here.
Husband - in theory and in other countries - partner of wife and - her husband. In Dominican Republic is not so frequent case though - many dominican men, usually treat manhood as a "sperm giving" and nothing more. So they are basically like representants of the whole dominican population [...read more, 80 % of content inside...]
Kindness - during my stay in Dominican for over year and meeting hundreds of Dominican people - I may say that they were all kind to me. I dont recall if I would be ever treated with some kind of antipathy or agression here - maybe it was because I treated them in similar, good way ?
Dominicans are usually kind, humble and generally very nice people
Some people may say that this was because I was their customer and client - and you always treat your customer in good way. But it wasnt totally like that. The people here are just nice. There were hundreds of situations, when nobody expected any payment from me - and they were just kind as always.
Lonely mother - "phenomenom" very popular in Dominican Republic. Lonely mothers (and especially young ones) get support in raising their children mostly from their families; and many of them - from rich foreigners who support these girls/ women in exchange for services and companion.Why ? Because dominican husband left them, like they usually do.
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