Story 29: QT in the DR

A few years ago my brother and I went on a trip to the Dominican Republic. There were several memorable moments including: Staying at the 5 star Melia hotel in Santo Domingo, having rum punch along their Malecon in an old fort, and getting shaken down by the local police. For some reason several people in the DR are frequently “thirsty” code for “give me a bribe,” or I will give you a hard time.  I gave a few bribes to at least one police officer who hand’t had drink in a while or so he said, but when we were in a bank in Puerta Plata I drew the line.

  Puerta Plata is beautiful place but at the local bank, a security guard  pointed his shotgun at my brother’s head, and pulled the handle back menacingly. Our guide said the man was surprise surprise “thirsty” but on principle I gave the guard nothing. For God’s sake we were exchanging money in a bank. That should be enough. Luckily nothing happened to either one of us.

  Another highlight of the trip was when we were in the town of Cabarete, home to some of the best nightlife on the island with restaurants right on the beach.  A great place to watch the sunset.  On our last night, Bruce and I were enjoying Irish food at an Irish restaurant. When to our amazement, Bruce spied the custodian from his high school dining with a local African-American woman, presumably a prostitute.

  Bruce talked to him for a while and then the man whispered  with a wink, “Just don’t tell anyone.” and we never did. However, I joked with Bruce that when he went back to work in the fall, the custodian’s number would be on speed dial. If Bruce had even one piece of paper in his wastebasket the custodian would come running, even if he was helping the principal. Oh, the power of blackmail.

  On another occasion we drove to a town called Jarabacoba. If Cabarete has the best nightlife, Jarabacoba, has some of the nicest weather, because it is in the mountains and has nice cool air. Bruce and I did many enjoyable things in the town ranging from white water rafting in a sometimes smelly river, horseback riding to two waterfalls, and relaxing at a dude ranch called Ranch Baguate.  On our last day, it was suggested that we try riding quads 
(four wheel vehicles with wide tires.)

  Things seemed to be going well at first, but strangely the four wheelers had hand brakes like a bicycle that took some getting used to.  I wasn’t very comfortable driving mine, and had a bad habit of edging towards a ditch on more than one occasion.

  Bruce didn’t seem to have any problems. I was amazed how little kids would come out of ramshackle houses and start waving as we rolled by. I wanted to tell them, “Kids I don’t know if I can stop this thing,” but I never got the chance.

  At one point Bruce and our guide got ahead of me by about a mile, and I found myself going out of control and ended up getting lodged into a side of building after I crashed the quad.

  Bruce came back after  a while and asked what happened, but I simply shrugged.  After switching quads, I started to get the hang of it and eventually made it to the waterfall, and most importantly got back to the ranch unhurt.

  Life Lesson 29: When you travel, people often say “When in Rome” to encourage you to try everything local: The food, the drink, the women, sports, etc.  Which I agree with for the most part, but don’t forget the quote “Knowledge is power”  because rather than being in the dark about local customs and people, knowing how to drive can take you a long way. It’s the difference between getting to your destination or finding yourself stuck in one.