Tourists

There was a small incident that occurred in The Sports Bar last night. For those who only want to read upbeat and positive news about the Dominican Republic PLEASE (!) turn away now.

There seemed to be a little discrepancy between a patron in The Sports Bar, and one of the buggarons. No one knows what started the dispute, but the the bottom line is that it was some commotion over money. Now, the reason I bring it up was because it occurred at/in front of the bar and David was asked to intercede. Well, first of all, the dispute has seemed to have its roots in something that happened in the past, but more importantly it had nothing to do with David, or anything that happened in his bar.

I think that this could be a lesson for those who visit and like to "mess around" with the buggarons. Sometimes problems occur, but it is all in how you handle it. Being in the lodging business I have had to deal with these situations several times. When I first moved here I assumed (stupidly) that if a tourist came to me with a story about being taken advantage of by one of the buggarons that their word was gospel. Not to be questioned. Well, I have since changed my mind. I don't get involved. It is NOT my problem. I was not a part of the negotiations, and therefore I don't know who is telling the truth. Secondly, and I know some will find this hard to believe, but some tourists lie. I didn't want to say it, but there you have it.

Now this is not to say that the incident that happened last night had anything at all to do with the tourist lying. What I do know is that David went outside to help and ending up getting drawn into some bullshit. These tourists will be back on a plane shortly going about their lives, while David will have to remain here with a new potential enemy. And why? Because there are tourists who thinks that our job is to be the police force and tell people (mostly buggarons) what they can and cannot do. As I said many blog entries ago, I have seen everything here, TWICE. If I have a client that has some problem with someone they brought home I will go and assess the situation. Sometimes it can be handled very calmly and quickly, other times both sides are non-yielding and won't budge from their positions. I then remove myself and tell them the only other thing to do is to let the police handle the matter. If you have a dispute involving 2 people here, BOTH (!!) parties are taken to the police station so that the matter can be resolved there, or before a judge. Either way it is a process that is not pleasant, AND the buggarons know this. Also, remember that prostitution here is illegal and you are subject to the laws of the Dominican Republic as long as you are here. The embassies will not get involved with any such trivial matters.

What I try to do with tourists that arrive is to tell them what I know. How they should behave and act. Who they might want to stay away from. I tell them how things are done, then they are on their own. If I tell you that so-and-so is a thief and you go with him and he robs you, whose fault is that? This is one of the reasons that I want to use this blog as a way to report some of the guys who are a problem.

Just thought it was something that you should know. Santo Domingo is like any other big city in the world, it has good and bad points. For the Gay traveler the good outweighs the bad, but I think knowledge is always key.

So, how did this story end? The cops came and he paid him the money.

Okay, that is all for today's lesson.