Life In The Dominican Republic: Freedom in the DR vs the USA

I remember talking to a Brazilian student about his experiences in the United States. He told me that even though the U.S. is known as the land of the free, he really didn't feel that free when he was in the country. 

For example, he said that when he had a party at his apartment the police eventually came to investigate a noise complaint that one of his neighbors had issued. 

This conversation recently creeped into my mind and made me think about how freedom is different between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. 

One of the most common complaints I see from an expat/tourist facebook group called "Everything Las Terrenas" is how people say their local neighbor's music is too loud and goes on for too long into the night. 

Many group members ask why the police don't do anything about it or if there are some legal measures that can be taken to stop the noise. In most cases there are none. 

Outside of noise there are many other cases where freedom differs between the Dominican Republic and the United States. 

Prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic. Even though many brothels have been eradicated and the role of the "pimp" is illegal, sex workers do not need to worry about having to keep an eye out for the police. 

On the contrary, sex workers in the U.S. not only have to be vigilant against  possible abusive johns, but also law enforcement trying to bust their business. 

This can create a very dark situation for a group of mostly women who have no one to turn to legally speaking if they do find themselves in a precarious position. 

From my observation I would say that in the Dominican Republic there are less worries of the government enforcing every single regulation that is in the book. 

A great example of this is how many Dominicans drive. As an American, I see a lot of road behavior that I know in the U.S. would definitely get people pulled over by the police. But here getting pulled over for bad driving is not on anyone's mind. 

There are positives and negatives of living in a culture where regulations are not so heavily enforced. However, having lived in the US for most of my life I do understand and appreciate how rules are enforced. 

When there is a clear system it becomes easier for people to operate, grow and build within their community. Historically speaking Dominican Republic has dealt with a lot of political corruption which has halted the advancement of the nation. 

Even though the United States is not a perfect example and day by day becoming worse I think because regulations are enforced in many areas as it relates to everyday life and business it allows people to be "free" within the system and grow their business or personal projects without having to go through as many hoops and obstacles as in the Dominican Republic.  

So even though people call the U.S the land of the free in actuality you may be able to enjoy less regulations if you decide to live in the Dominican Republic. However if you are trying to start a business, buy property or do anything very official you may need to keep your head on a swivel as it relates to people trying to pull a fast one on you here in the Dominican Republic. 

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Scammer in Las Terrenas | Reaction to Comments

Nearly two weeks ago I reacted to a video made by a Youtuber named Free Island Girl, whose real name is Kelly. In that video she allegedly exposed Nicole, a Youtuber that also goes by the name Luna Soleil, of scamming people in Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic by charging extra for re-location services and other things. After making a video reaction about the situation some viewers questioned my research, motives and reason for talking about race. 

Research

I admit that I did not do any research prior to making my latest reaction video. I understand that does open the door to possibly making false claims about someone in a disparaging way. 

However, I never claimed my video was a news story or an official report. It's called a reaction video for a reason. I'm just reacting to what I'm hearing and forming my own opinions and ideas based off of that. 

Obviously there are many disadvantages to making reaction videos, but the advantage or the reason why I think people like it is because of the authenticity and emotion that comes with reacting to something either live or relatively close to the moment something happened. 

Also as it specifically relates to this video regarding Kelly and Nicole, I mentioned that I recommended a potential client to Nicole. After I made the reaction video that person I recommended contacted me and told me that he had set up over the phone consultation meetings three times with Nicole, but she cancelled all three times and still tried to charge him $50 for the consultation fee. 

I am not saying Nicole doesn't have any happy or satisfied customers, but that tidbit of feedback from one of my viewers does align with what I was saying in the video. 

Getting into a woman's issue 

Some people directly or indirectly commented that I shouldn't be reacting or getting involved with an issue between two women on Youtube.  To be honest I am befuddled how in the 21st century people would care about gender in this way. 

Now I could understand if the issue in question was about tampons or some female care products that I know nothing about, then in that case I could see how gender would come into question. 

However, the issue was simply related to allegedly bad business practices. I feel like anyone, male, female or anything in between, should be comfortable voicing their opinion on a large or small business who is possibly conducting bad business. 

Also I know many people who are just finding my channel have not watched my past videos. But just to be clear I have reacted to disputes amongst Youtubers when both the people were males , female and male and now female and female. 

I don't decide to make reaction videos based off of gender, rather if  I am interested in the content and I feel like I have something valuable to add to the conversation. 

Talking About Race 

I understand that travel videos can bring in a wide audience of people from different nationalities, ethnicities and races and as someone who makes travel videos  I have to be conscience of that fact.

However, I am an African-American man, proud of my blackness and I will never avoid talking about black issues on my channel. 

I understand that some people might not like that, but if that topic naturally comes to me then of course I will discuss it because it's something that is important to me. 

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Life in the Dominican Republic: Las Terrenas to Santiago

There are many ways to travel from Las Terrenas to Santiago, but in this post I will be sharing the steps I took to make this journey. 

Step 1

Determine the time you need to leave from your accommodations on your travel day. For me I needed to catch a bus that was supposed to leave at 8:15. So I decided to contact a proper taxi the night before and I told him my address and the time I wanted to leave which was 7:50 am. 

In my opinion it's always better to tell your taxi that you want to leave a little bit earlier than needed. Fortunately in my case the chofer was only 3 minutes late, but it's better not to risk it. 

Step 2 

When I arrived at the bus station I paid my taxi driver 400 pesos. Then I turned around and asked the bus conductor how much it would cost for the bus ride. He said 400 pesos. It ended up being 500 pesos because I had luggage I had to put on the bus. 

The amount of time from Las Terrenas to Santiago was about three and a half hours. We stopped several times to pick up new passengers, fill the wheels with air and one bathroom stop when we were a little bit passed a city called Vega. 

Step 3 

The most difficult part of this journey for me was once I arrived in Santiago. I needed to find a taxi, but at the bus stop there wasn't just a line of taxis waiting. Fortunately after 5 minutes I waved a taxi down.

 A funny side bit is I think the taxi was supposed to be for someone else, but I didn't realize that until I was already in the car and the taxi guy didn't seem to care so we just kept it moving to my final destination. 

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