Nov 23... Whoopsy

[Viva La Vega]

Oh yeah, busiest day of the year for travel. Flight to MIA an hour late, let's see what the connection is like.

Heading to STI so I arrive same day. Since Covid I cant get a same day connection to or from POP on AA.

Rental car will pick me up, $60 extra, that's fair. Not a real fan of the drive at night, but I guess we see!

[Bat Man]

So Thanksgiving at Flip Flop's?

Have a Turkey burger on me.

[WT3]

It should have decent crowd I've been in Sosua a couple of times for Thanksgiving including my first trip and it was always decent. I would go to Ahnvee if they are having Thanksgiving dinner again great selection and it's all you can eat

[Viva La Vega]

TSA 10 CBP 0

US Customs hall in MIA on the non resident side packed. Very few US citizens arriving, so they would occasionally let some of us, the great unwashed over to the side with no line up. Before you mention it, I got turned down for Nexus/Global entry... Must have been something I said.

Shame that since the Nato Summit in 2019 Canadians no longer get any courtesy extended. 

Pretty close to 50 minutes until I was one of the lucky ones to get moved over to the empty US side. At security, walked right up to the xray machine, no line whatsoever!

Plenty of time for something to eat and a glass of red.

Blast through immigration at STI, a few minutes for bags and outside to meet the rental car. He wanted to take the route through Puerto Plata, i was not gonna argue. Less than two hours to Sosua.

After midnight, lots of activity on the street and easily could have found something up my alley, but a little tired so the games will begin tomorrow.

I did stop at Cheers, they have done a full redo of the place, it looks great. Lots of staff, all in uniforms, I think they are in for a busy winter. Smiles kicked their ass last year, Cheers has come out swinging!

Also down that way, forget the name of the hotel but they have a new bar out front, "Roots" it looks good! Not a soul in NY Drink, but it is Wednesday, did not drive past Davids, not a car parked near Ahnvee, not a taxi, nor a moto.

[tugboaboat5393]

The Anvhee RIP !

[Viva La Vega]

I am thinking the 80:20 rule is in effect.

80% of the guys must be banging 20% of the chicas. Normally that would suggest that 20% of the guys would work their way through the balance of the chicas but... A lot of these girls are rough, I find it hard to believe they are getting any play. I am not that picky, and i gotta think the 88-98% of the chicas would not get my money.

I really think that Sosua is going to break soon. Yeah there is a shit ton of chicas and motos hanging on the "strip" but... The strip is a third of what it was. It stretches from Mile High to Montreal and down Rosen to just past Moshe, that is it. What is weird is, you would think the popo want the action to dissipate and spread out, but the tolerance for the mess that is in front of Bar Central suggests they are compressing it getting ready to be squashed.

Last night was going home maybe at 10:30, barely a sole in any of the places if they were still open off the "block", and lights were off at David's. For a sports bar, it did not open for Thanksgiving games. Might have been a little early, but even the Dominican spots were quiet and the car wash was empty.

My rolodex is stacked with a roster from Puerto Plata, in years past after a visit i would ask where they wanted me to drop them off. Merengue, the Casino, last few trips all of them just want the taxi stand so they can head home. They won't hang out in town.

[tugboaboat5393]

It should have decent crowd I've been in Sosua a couple of times for Thanksgiving including my first trip and it was always decent. I would go to Ahnvee if they are having Thanksgiving dinner again great selection and it's all you can eat

Did they even have food for thanks giving? thought the Anvhees was in its death throws,,, I concur on flips Thanksgiving dinner not to shabby  !

[Viva La Vega]

Costumbar should be a thing. I just really don't understand what is going on there, the semi gated kinda guard house, do they actually stop anything? Is there some kind of association that discourages chicas?

The beach as we know is not great, but looks like they are adding some new beach bars. And the set up with the road, the beach shacks under the trees could be very cool. Maybe they are getting some Amber Cove traffic. Lots of run down condos that could be tidied up if the area was in demand.

Which brings me to... Blackbeards. Don't slag that place. I stopped in for a beer this evening. The chicas are cute and the f--kability factor vs Sosua is WAY higher, nice to see a chica in a little dress and some makeup vs the Sosua standard stretchy adidas yoga suit uniform.

I am sure the 80-20 rule is in effect there, and i am sure some chicas head home at the end of a shift with no cash, but i would have no trouble in choosing any of the ones I saw today.

[Viva La Vega]

A little excitement on the way home.

As i said the driver picked me up at STI and i dropped him off near Jumbo on the way home. He asked me to sign the drawing of the car, fine. Did not leave me a copy. It was a decent car, best one they have given me, but yesterday a guy shows up at my place with the shitty car i usually get. Exchange is made, no paperwork.

So it's dark, coming up from the Malecon (no ATL lights never did reopen) and i am in the roundabout at Jumbo and the popo start to wave me over. I do my usual thing, pretend i don't see them and roll past. Buddy bangs on the roof and i keep going, i have a green light, go/no go? He is running after me... I stop.

He is losing his mind because the shitty car has a burned out light, i know I am f--ked without the rental paperwork so i do the best thing that comes to mind and forget every Spanish word i know. But... he is not taking the tourist thing, maybe this is where the $500 pesos comes out, but i think thats best for when you have NOT done anything wrong. Documents? Well, i don't have a contract. Ownership? f--k, nothing in the car. Drivers License? I did not want to hand it over (all this is IN THE ROUNDABOUT). He is pissed. Speaking of which, i did have a beer at Blackbeards, did I have one or two glasses of wine at lunch?

I phone the rental lady, she answers i just say, "speak to this policeman" and hand him my phone (f--ker won't keep it will he?), a long conversation, he is bitching at her and I know she is apologising like crazy. i think she agreed to get it all fixed in the morning, he hands me back the phone and i just hang up. I don't feel like talking to her, me bitching about the car, or have her tell me to give him some money (gonna tell her I gave him $10K).

Buddy has an assistant and they are writing a "ticket?". Is it a warning, no details on what to do, no cash fine mentioned, best part, no last name, no date of birth, no address, no country of drivers licence (he did write the number down). He sent me on my way, and i was laughing at it when i saw it and was gonna toss it out the window but....

When I was stopped by six VERY excited popo by Playero because they saw the burnt out light, I flashed the ticket, agreed that the light was and would be fixed and they had a little conference and sent me on my way. Which brings me to Rumba!

[Dothedamthing]

@ Viva La Vega
I'm laughing out loud because my cousin and I both got hit by the po po during our Halloween visit. Usually we do like you did and try to act like we don't know what's going on and pass them by. My cuz got pulled over coming out of the Montellano area. He dropped off his regular and had the rental paperwork but no ID, seat belt off, and was drinking a beer. He played dumb tourist and apologized while pulling out 1k pesos. The officer was telling him no he couldn't accept it. My cuz placed it on the passenger seat and apologized some more. The other officer reached in the car from the passenger side and put the rental contract on the seat, took the money, and sent him on his way.

The day before I was coming back from Santiago after picking up one of my friends from the airport. I came around a curve where there is a speed bump and they had the road blocked. As soon as they saw two gringos in the car it was an automatic pull over. They asked for the paperwork and ID. Gave them everything but the officer states we have to wait for another officer to come because they don't speak English. So I said no problem I speak Spanish.  Now the dude withe the paperwork is doumb faced and staring at the others. One of them was at my window and had my phone with my passport photo on it. He gives me ba k my phone with the translator open. He typed in help out the police with a donation. I pulled out 1k and shook his hand to pass it off and we were on the way.  I always keep $500-$1k for the officer fund.

[PoonTangClan]

These police stories are hilarious. 😂😂😂

But all jokes aside, it seems like they’ve got a racket going on in regard to gringo drivers. Gringos rent a car and automatically become a police target, and God forbid that the rental car company gives you a hot car and you discover that you were unwittingly riding dirty when you get pulled over.

We all know what happened to those guys from the states that got pulled over and there were drugs or some shit in the vehicle they didn’t know about. Or was it planted? I can’t recall, but the police are definitely f--king with gringos in cars. Another reason to just reconsider and skip the rental altogether. At least on the north coast.

A gringo might be able to blend in and slip by amongst all the traffic in places like Santo Domingo, but the traffic is so bad, it might not be practical to rent a car there either.

[Dothedamthing]

It's more or less the same in most Latin countries. Honduras was the worst. I use to have to pay a monthly fee to the local police chief to keep them from having road blocks preventing my employees getting to work on time.

[Viva La Vega]

I would be shocked to hear anyone say they went to Sosua and loved what they saw.

Is it the creep cams keeping the girls away?

Police presence? They were walking, but not rounding anyone up.

Quality/quantity of the mongers? Maybe, but there still are plenty of packs of cats showing up in Kings.

Using FB, IG, Tinder? There are a staggering number on Tinder, I don't think anyone will be offended if you tell them whats up. I just miss walking into a fun atmosphere (i don't find Bailee or Kings to be that much fun) grabbing a beer at the bar, walking around, saying hi to a chica or ten.

I was hard pressed to see a good looking Dominican woman all week. Maybe they go to the casino.

[Viva La Vega]

Quick trip is over, had a few visits from the Puerta Plata crew. they could keep me busy with a revolving door of friends.

Pulled one number at kings for a next day visit to the Cabana. Cute, but won't displace any roster players.

Started with talking about travel and will end with it. Dropped the car off and was maybe 5 minutes in the priority line (get that AA credit card, got an upgrade again), not a soul in the security line up, and next to no one at Immigration. Fantastic.

All that came to a grinding halt in MIA. My watch congratulated me for exercising as I walked from the gate to enter a packed hall with maybe 6 lines open on the visitors side. It was over 80 minutes! My bag was off the carousel, good, then the hike out to the train to get a car.

A couple of blips on the rental end and it took a bit longer than normal but... Two and a half hours wheels down to driving out the rental center WTF!

Will be back in DR for New Years, Happy Holidays fellas.