Am I the only person weirded out by the Dominican Republic?

[ghostsofgiants]

There are people nearby talking about going there. I don't think most people realize it's the same island as Haiti. One half of the island is war torn and impoverished and the other half is tourists in resorts. Am I the only one weirded out by that? I don't think a lot of people even realize those things.

[bigwillq]

1. My boyfriend has visited there several times.

He once took his daughter on a "reality check" visit.

Most people (and I don't have any stats to back this up as to how many of those who visit DR go here but) go there on retreat to a place called Punta Cana, which is one largest and fastest growing destinations in the Caribbean. That is nothing like what DR really is like.

However, my b/f didn't take his daughter there. He took her to the county. He is Puerto Rican but could pass as DR, so he didn't have any issues. He took her to see just how poor it is there. He took pics and videos and it was so sad to see how conditions are down there. Little kids were begging my b/f for money, goods, clothes, food, etc.

He bought them many things but he said when he gave them a pencil and pad they acted like it was gold. :( :cry:

[TZ]

2. I can pretty much guarantee

that those people who go to the Dominican Republic are NOT gonna venture out of the tourist zone so that won't matter to them.
I've been to some Caribbean islands and its very easy to stay isolated from impoverished areas if you want to...
FWIW, one of my favorite trips was to Aruba because I went with a friend who have relatives there so I was able to get a real feel for the island and its fascinating Caribbean Dutch culture..

[hippywife]

3. I've never been but

have been to Puerto Rico on a business trip which I stretched into a long weekend vacation. Real class clash there, too, as in all of the Caribbean. And it's a real dilemma because if people didn't go on vacation there, there are no jobs for the people to earn any kind of living, but at the same time you feel absolutely horrid living the high life while they all live in slums.

Yeah, it's a situation made for wierding out anyone with a conscience.

[TZ]

7. Yeah I've been to PR

Heaven and Hell...Some of the most gorgeous lush scenery interspersed with abysmal poverty....

[hippywife]

10. It really is terribly sad.

Places like that are really difficult to be for very long at all. :hug:

[skygazer]

4. It has to do with the way it was colonized

Haiti was colonized by France while the Dominican Republic was colonized by Spain (there was some sort of agreement to partition the island somewhere in there).

France intensely colonized, enslaving the native populace and bringing in African slaves to grow and harvest sugar cane, etc. Spain initially did the same in the Dominican but their focus on other areas (mainly the North and Latin American mainlands) meant that they let it lapse somewhat.

Which meant that in Haiti there was severe environmental damage from clearcutting and overuse of resources while on the other side of the island, forests and undergrowth were able to grow more freely. Also the weather patterns worked in such a way that the eastern (Dominican) side of the island gets more rain.

The Haitian revolution was followed by a series of corrupt and ineffective leaders who just made the situations worse. Dominican leaders weren't a lot better but had more to work with.

In the end, the countries ended up in the condition they are now and the Dominican Republic is able to embrace tourism because they have some resources left to support it. (If you want to read some interesting stuff about the connection between environmental damage and political collapse, read Jared Diamond's book Collapse - that's where I got a lot of that info). :hi:

[SoCalDem]

5. US v Mexico

one pretty rich, even with the financial debacle
the other dirt poor (tourism & smuggling seem to be all that keeps it going)

San Diego/Tijuana


Haiti, for all its troubles is a beautiful place with wonderful people.. I have been there 3 times, and have been amazed at how hard those people try and how friendly they were.

A horrible succession of bad leaders ruined their country..something we can begin to identify with:(

Dom Rep is nice too..but if you have been to Miami beach or San Juan..well you've been to most of the Dom Rep.. except for Las Perlas or Marguerita Island:)

[SoxFan]

6. I guess I'm not

I live in an area (the Merrimack Valley) where there is a sizable Dominican population. I bump into folks from the DR every day, and DR flag stickers are a common sight on cars, along with those of Ireland, Greece, and Bosnia.

[ghostsofgiants]

12. I don't mean by the country or the people...

I mean the disconnect between the two VERY different realities on that one small island.

[Lost-in-FL]

8. I feel the same way about Alaska.

With the weird ass characters like the Palin's naming their kids Truck, Fella, and Tonka. One half of the state is full of idiots while the rest live in skiing resorts.

[Haole Girl]

9. No, you are not

I felt the same way about going to Roatan, Honduras.

[Yavin4]

11. Most of the World Is Like This

A privileged few, and others mired in poverty. I was recently working in Bangalore, India, and I went to a place called Electronic City where the big IT firms are located. As you drive along the highway, you see nothing but abject poverty of the worst kind. However, once your inside of the industrial park, you feel as though you're Silicon Valley. The industrial parks are tree lined, lush campuses with American fast food restaurants.

[ghostsofgiants]

14. I know, but the Dominican just seems like a really extreme example to me...

That people are blissfully unaware of. Though I guess that's true of most places as well.

[Yavin4]

16. There's A Mall In Bangalore

That has all the gaudy excess of a Vegas casino. It even has an open air amphitheater, and just behind it, you see a small shanty town. The shopping district is littered with women and children begging for money.

[ghostsofgiants]

17. Mike Davis and David Harvey have a lot of good books about this type of stuff.

The way neoliberalism has created this kind of stuff. It's fucked up.

[HughBeaumont]

13. "Our Dumb World" calls it "A Great Ballpark in a Bad Neighborhood".

1891 - The Dominicans are captivated by a complex base-progression game played by the North Americans.

:rofl:

[malta blue]

15. My family hails from the DR and my mom lives there.

There is poverty there as well, and people are aware of it.

Just like there is poverty in India, and yet people travel there as tourists.

[AbbeyRoad]

18. Half of my family is Dominican so I can't say I'm weirded out by it

I get what you're saying about the creepiness of extreme poverty in such close proximity to tourist resorts, but, unfortunately, I don't think it's that unique a situation. There is poverty within the DR too. It's not all resorts.

The Dominican Republic has had a rough history of its own. My dad came to the US in the late sixties, just a few years after the US invaded to prevent "a second Cuba." I wonder if many people know about that. It was before my time, but I think it's kind of interesting. If you're not already familiar, here's a link to the wikipedia page on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Power_Pack

There are also several videos on youtube. Here's one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNyY3x43e3M

[mitchum]

19. "Cheap holiday on other people's misery"