42 posts tagged “santo domingo”

In Puerto Rico, there's a hype about Dominican beauty products. From hair products to weight loss products. To think that Puerto Ricans haven't seen half the products available here. I'm especially amazed by all the hair products. They promise to fix your hair no matter what the problem is. Dominican women are obsessed with their hair I guess. To tell you the truth, I've tried a product or two and I haven't found anything special yet. I suppose most of the profits go to beauty salons. For example, if you go to the salon with your hair washed and you want it blow dried you will probably pay the equivalent of $2.25. If you go without your hair washed and they use a generic shampoo and conditioner and then they blow dry it, you will probably pay around $3.40. But if you have it washed with one of their famous products you will have to pay $4.25 more or less. The difference is not much in dollars but in pesos it does make a difference to the average Dominican pocket. For the dollarized mind, even the most expsnive option is still very cheap compared to the $25+ I have to pay in Puerto Rico.

What's the deal with golf being so popular these days?  It seems that playing golf equals prestige or something.  I find it so boring!  You can see the "wannabes" (Puerto Rican med students) at the Dominican Republic heading out with their gear to play Ping Golf at the many golf courses available in Santo Domingo.

The relative humidity of Puerto Rico is high, about 80% throughout the year.  I think, it is more or less the same in the Dominican Republic (even though they will tell you it varies during certain months of the year).  I've lived in Puerto Rico all my life, so I should be used the humidity here.  And I am.  I don't really mind it, except for those times when I have my hair done and the humidity makes it all frizzy and stuff but that's something else. 

Anyway, if I am to used to Puerto Rico's humidity, I should be used to the Dominican Republic's too, right?  Well, NO.  The worst thing is that the place where I feel the most humidity is inside the apartment.  And I hate it.  Sometimes I say that apartment is like a cave: dark, with no direct access to sunlight, and very, very humid.  You can feel it in the walls, floors, furniture, etc.  I really, really wish my husband could move.  I'd be so much happier somewhere else.  But I don't think that's happening soon.  Plus, he is in the final stages of his degree so he'll be coming back home soon.

For now, I should be thinking about getting a few Santa Fe dehumidifiers to place around the apartment.  Maybe I won't be sneezing all the time that way. 

• I don't miss my bed there, nor it's " silk bedding ".  Note to self:  buy new sheets to take there!!
• I don't miss the Internet connection there as it sucks and wouldn't allow me to download anything.
• I don't miss the noise, and I don't miss the ever present smell of diesel, and I don't miss the crazy drivers.
• I don't miss the expensive cheap clothing, or the lack of good stores, and I don't miss the price of chicken breasts and good meat in general. 
  
• I don't miss the Dominican rice.  It tastes weird.
• I don't miss the disrespectful Dominicans and their lack of manners, and I don't miss the fact that they always want to rob you or take something from you.
• I don't miss being in a dark apartment, with no windows, and very little access to the outside world.

• I miss my husband.
• I miss the cheap collective transportation that does not exist in Puerto Rico.
• I miss getting my hair done for $4, my eyebrows waxed for $3, and my nails done for $4.
• I miss the colmado, if only a little.

As you can see there are more things that I don't miss than the one I miss.  Except that I miss my husband, and that makes the things I don't miss seem unimportant if I have to go back there.

I've been MIA.  Internet access but no computer.  My husband took it back to the DR while I find the way to buy a MacBook.  Yes, I'm still fixated on that. 

I've been feeling a little bleh and even though I have a million reasons to feel that way, I can't really point to anything in particular. 

I would love to take a vacation all by myself.  Maybe go to Nevada, and stay at one of those reno hotels?  Right.  Santo Domingo sounds most likely.

How convenient a shower stool would be?  I totally want one!!  I am lazy like that.  I would spend the entire day in the shower.  Haha.  It would be great when I have to shave or wash my hair.  I'm loving showers here.  The water pressure is great and there's hot water.  In the Dominican Republic, apart from not having a water heater, the water pressure is so low that you don't feel clean when you're done with your shower.  I think that's why both water heaters we had broke.  They burned or something.  Also, they were electrical water heaters and with the electricity going out every few days and the voltage changes, no electrical equipment is safe. 

I forgot to mention that the reason we went to Puerto Plata is because one of my husband's classmates was getting married there.  Which brings me to another subject: shopping.  They wanted the guests to be dressed in white so out I went for the white dress hunt.  The very few malls around here have very few stores and these stores carry very few variety.  So nothing I found at the malls.  So, out I went and walked down the Churchill avenue (mind you, they pronounce it "Choorcheel" here).  There are lots of stores down this road.  After going into every single one of them, I found a dress I semi liked at the last store I went.  By this time I was tired and I only wanted to get it over with.  After getting it ironed, I suppose it didn't look that bad but it was an adventure in itself to find it.  Oh!  I love the comoodity of the Puerto Rican malls where you go and walk around in air conditioning and there are tons and tons of stores and it's highly possible that you will find what you are looking for in the third store.

I swear, there are more and bigger furniture stores here than clothing stores.  Riight, dress up your house and walk around naked.

I am so pissed.  It seems like everybody is doing drugs at the colmado these days.  And it's mostly PRican dudes who are here for other reasons that study medicine.  It's ridiculous!  These are medical students, people!!  It pisses me off that whenever I'm at the colmado (mind you that I'm often the only girl there) I have to watch some stupid fella doing a drug transaction or something.  It makes me want to puke.  I mean, if you want do drugs, that's your business but please don't make me a witness of your stupidity.  Have some respect and at least do it in private.  I can already tell who some of the drug dealers are (mostly taxi drivers, yeah).  Guess I'll talk to the owner of the colmado and ask him to offer some drug rehabilitation services.  I am no prude, but please, this is too much.

When all banks (where we exchange money: US dollars for Dominican pesos) are closed, the only option is to go to the hotel down the road, and change money in the casino.  They're exchange rate is ridiculous, if the dollar is at 33.90 pesos, they will exchange it for 33 pesos...you almost lose a peso.  Enough when you are exchanging a couple hundred of dollars.  I've never played at this casino, but it's really cool.  The poker tables are neatly organized and very clean, and the slot machines will ask for a token instead of a coin.  My question is, do they accept Dominican coins or do you actually have to buy a token?  Maybe they call the coins tokens?  I don't know.

Hmm.  I am at the apartment, and I can smell cigarette smoke as if someone was smoking next to me.  I would normally be disgusted, yet today (after a jumbo Presidente Light), I don't care.