Things that amuse me about living in the Dominican Republic

Living in a developing country has it's challenges as things seldom turn out quite the way you anticipated, but there's something I find liberating in having my expectations continually challenged. I'm forced to keep things in my life flexible, forced to adapt and adjust as things around me change. You have to always have plans A through Z, or no plans whatsoever, since you never know where you'll end up, what you'll end up doing, or who you'll end up doing whatever it is you end up doing with!

And then there's the simple fact that you can get away with doing way more of what you want to do without having to worry about rules! As a kid I used to ride on trucks, sneak into fancy resorts to use the pool, climb trees and eat fruit, and whenever we'd get pulled over by police my dad would have me cry and that generally worked (I was younger and cuter:-).

There's also the issue of safety, or general lack there of. When I was little I remember at the fair by the fort at the end of the malecon in Puerto Plata I'd ride on these swings that spun around really fast and went pretty high up in the air but, because it was the DR, there weren't any safety straps, which added an element of excitement. I mean, what's the point of a ride if you're not actually risking injury?!

Seat belts, who needs those? Apparently only the people in the front seat according to Dominican law, hence our riding in true hippy style from Sosua to Las Galeras.


On the topic of safety, I'm pretty sure anyone can wake up and decide that he wants to be an electrician. What other possible explanation could there be for this monstrosity of wires I found at a restaurant?


Or the fact that electricians feel it's safe practice to lean their ladders on active electrical cables like this guy:


And on what planet is this a good idea?


I seriously once saw a guy lighting his cigarette next to the propane tank's fill valve while steering his motorbike with his elbow. Come on peeps!

And what about road rules? My dad and I have often discussed how amazing it is how few accidents there are here given the apparent chaos on the streets. They don't even have lanes painted on most of the roads, there's no problem with creating extra lanes when you want to, passing on the right is no problem, there are cows, kids, and people selling stuff in the middle of the road, and everyone goes at their own pace, which means some people seem to be barely moving while others are zipping by like they've got a hot date waiting for them. At first this all seems intimidating, but after a while there is an appearance of a system. Basically you honk to let people know where you are, when you want to pass, and when you don't want to let someone into your lane. My dad feels safer driving here than in the US because he says that here you can safely assume that everyone drives crazy, so you just watch out and do your thing. In the US you assume everyone knows what they're doing and are following the rules so you can get away with zoning out, which means you're not prepared when that random guy defies the rules and accidents happen. However, my dad insists that when accidents do happen here they're really bad, especially when public transport is involved since there are so many people squished into the three respective types of public transport, or Publicos: Guaguas (vans), Caritos (cars), and Motoconchos (motorbikes).


Yea, it's pretty typical to have at least one person leaning out the Guagua door holding on for dear life.

Fact: My dad and I saw seven people on a motorbike last month and none of them were babies. I challenge you to top that sighting!

I love riding on publicos because you never know who you're going to meet. You might get to ride with a baseball team!


These kids looked about junior high age and they were hilarious. They told the driver he could only stop for women, which became comically problematic when there was a group of women with one man and the kids tried to let only the women on board. The man did not find them so amusing.

I love it!

There's heaps more that I find amusing about living in the Dominican Republic, but it's siesta time (another enjoyable practice)!