Wrx2005 and Sammon: good safety tips, but!
I wasn't sure the exchange places would be OK with the copies. And surely, taking my Schwab to Merengue was a mistake and totally unnecessary. Good point, lesson learned.
I have to disagree about one point, though.
You can negotiate all you want, but it does NOT guarantee zilch.
Unfortunately, chicas feel like they have an upper hand. Whereas I would (and did) stand my ground in Brazil, Thailand, or Colombia, for example, I've read enough reports of chicas threatening AND CALIING the cops in Sosua to know that there is little you can do. If a chica demands money beforehand and threatens to call cops, I'll pay and kick her out. I won't risk spending a night at a police station in a country where I have communication skills of a 3-year old, whereas they'll probably make me pay anyway or worse. So it sounds great in theory (and you absolutely should negotiate everything), but it guaranties nothing.
I'm not so sure about that!
[QUOTE=Sammon;2361005]In DR,
[b]No need to carry copy of passport.[/b] If you are arrested for any reason you tell them the hotel name and they will get the passport. No need to carry credit card and in fact wallet. Carry only local pesos for expenses like food, drinks. No need to carry drivers license. If stopped just show car rental papers which has all info.
Never pay money money to the chicas before the act. Lock everything in the room safe. Always negotiate compensation to avoid unpleasant surprises.[/QUOTE]I wouldn't advocate saying there is no need to carry a copy of your passport. There are always exceptions and caveats. Suppose a person is going somewhere that requires at least a copy of a passport for some form of transaction? Suppose the reason you are getting arrested is because law enforcement can't identify you, because you don't have a copy of your passport on you? If the difference from being arrested and being free to go depends on having some form of ID, it would be better to have the copy of your passport. Who wants to go to jail and have to go through how long it may take to get your passport? And hope you don't have things stolen out of your safe.
With the CC and debit card? At some point a person may have to carry a debit card in order to use it at an ATM. A CC may be used to buy big ticket items, like furniture etc. More accurately, there is no need to carry those things if you have no intention of using them, and / or especially to places where you increase the risk of losing them due to theft. But you can't say there is no need to carry them. Because that simply is not true. Men have been coming and living in the DR for years, and have had to carry their cards at some point in order to put them to use.
As for not carrying a DL? Yes, if a person is not driving. But since you mentioned car rental papers, I can assume you are talking about a person who IS driving. There is no guarantee that car rental papers alone will be sufficient if stopped by law enforcement (AMET). Not to mention not every foreigner driving in the DR is driving a rental. Suppose the foreigner owns the car? In the DR application and enforcement of laws can vary from one AMET officer to another. And being a foreigner, not having a DL on hand might make it easier for an officer to fleece you or simply fine you. If it's not a rental, there won't be any rental papers. And if you rent from a fly by night company, there may not be much info on the rental agreement to satisfy who stopped you. Worse, is if you get into an accident, not just because you got stopped. Not having a DL on your person (when driving) and relying on rental or ownership documents is not a good look.
A foreigner should have at least a copy of their foreign DL (I recommend having the original) on them when they drive.
You have to choose your battles
[QUOTE=MrEnternational;2361204]And that is exactly how it became a hustle. Too many mongers rolling over and giving in. Sometimes not being able to communicate can be used to your advantage! You need to learn when to call someone's bluff.
In a case that you are describing the only word you need to know is embajada. I am sure you have seen shows where a person gets taken in by police and the only word the person will say if they are smart is lawyer. Well, if the police come to you in DR, all you need to say is embajada.
Of all the hookers on this planet that have threatened to call the cops on me, the only one that actually did it was in Sosua and that did not work out well for her. As many Dominican cops (at least 20) have pulled me over trying to get money from me, I have given exactly 0 pesos to date and have never been ticketed or taken to jail.
Don't just sit around and allow yourself to be extorted if you know you have done nothing wrong. Hustlers are depending on you to be scared. That is the only way the hustle will work. Scared money can't win.[/QUOTE]Hey Mr. E, kudos for not letting anyone step over you. Respecto!
But let's think about it some more.
Let's say she does call the cops in the middle of the night. Then what happens?
A lawyer? Fine. Will he cost me less than 2 K Pesos?
What if she cries [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord123][CodeWord123][/url]? What if she's in cahoots with the cops (takes just one bad cop to run an extortion scam on a gringo)?
But let's say things work out great, and the cops laugh at the stupid ***** and leave. The condo I was staying at has an eviction clause if the cops are called for any reason. I can't blame them, really.
You can counter that I can stay at a hotel instead. But I don't want to. I love to spread out, LOL.
I mean, you can stick to your principles, but it's $40 we're talking about. I'm on a 5-day outing, do I really need the aggravation?
This is strictly theoretical, of course. No one has tried to get me pay upfront in Sosua yet, but dreadful service. Sure.
Once in Rio, a GDP demands to be paid right after she got to my apartment. I say no. She insists. I say, I'll put the money on the table, and you get it after we're done. She says no, give me the cash now. I say go to hell. She threatens to call the cops. I say here, use my phone.
She says OK, let's fuck. I say no, you've broken my Junior. That cracked her up. Surprisingly, we had a good session afterwards.
In Pattaya, a girl promises 2 hours with 2 shots, tries to leave after 40 minutes. I give her 50%. She starts crying and cursing, I kick her out, she keeps banging on the door. I call security. The end.
My RTFF tells me things are different in Sosua. Like you yourself said, Sosua is the only place in the world it's happened to you.
Not a great trip? Would you accept an average trip?
[QUOTE=Adinga;2361080]I just returned home after 11 days in So- sewer and the trip was not great.
Yes there was available pussy but most was beat up looking and the same 200 girls are on the street every night.
The scene changes on Friday and Saturdays as some additional hot girls go to Classicos VIP lounge but they are looking for 5000 pesos.
Some observations:
75 % of the working girls are Haitian.
70% of the tourists are Afro American.
Police patrols on Pedro Casante are non stop from 9 pm till 1 am. The girls cannot walk the streets unless they are accompanied by a tourist.
The chicas have become very business orientated and service was poor with average price being between 2000 -3000 pesos.
I would budget 5000 pesos per day for food drink and Chica. This did not include my hotel. Sosua is no longer a cheap vacation destination.[/QUOTE]It's low season in Sosua. Thats one reason. Enough chicas that look like anything stopped going to the usual mongering destinations for work and instead, use other ways to get hookups and make their money. Social media. Established contacts from previous encounters is a good source of securing and maintaining clients. As a result, they have guys flying into SD, STI or POP, scheduling to hookup with them. You have to know that enough chicas are doing this sort of thing. In enough cases it works out for the chica because the client may stay close to where the chica can get to the client easily. This way she is closer to her home and family.
Or she travels to where he is and stays with him. I have seen women (even with suitcases) get off the bus or pull up in a taxi or moto in Sosua, ready to stay with a guy. Women that nobody has ever seen in Sosua before. So my point is, Sosua may be dead for enough casual mongers who are hoping that their needs will be met by what Sosua has to offer on their particular trip.
Others will have adapted to not relying on what the streets / clubs and beaches have to offer in terms of women. Instead they will enjoy Sosua for it's other benefits, and secure their female company from established contacts or some other form.
As far as Sosua no longer being a cheap vacation destination? Thats a yes and a no, and a it depends on who it applies to. A lot depends on who is making the assessment. More accurately. Sosua is no longer a cheap vacation destination to whom it applies to. Not everybody may feel that way. An appropriate question to ask is, is Sosua still an affordable vacation destination? Not whether it is cheap or not. I live in Sosua, and as far as I'm concerned, I think Sosua is very affordable. I have a roster of regulars that I do TLN's with. Used to give them 2200 pesos, now I give them 3000. Been doing that for a while. I think 3000 for TLN is an affordable deal. Not cheap, but affordable. Mind you, I always established regulars way before I started living in Sosua. So personally I don't have a lot to complain about, even though the scene on the street has evolved. I don't look exclusively for my talent from the streets, clubs or beaches. Sometimes a situation just falls in my lap.
In the HBO TV show THE WIRE, Marla Daniels said to her (police LT.) husband at dinner: "The game is rigged. But you can't lose, if you don't play" You won't have a bad or disappointing trip, if you never come to Sosua to play. On the other hand, for the daring, the creative, the ones who see opportunity and the glass half full, their experience and circumstances in Sosua may differ significantly. Sosua is not responsible for adapting to our budgets. We have to take some responsibility on what our finances can adapt to or tolerate. Where in the world are the cheap destinations for mongers?
Don't feel that Sosua is expensive
Of course, compared to what? Manila? Then maybe.
Let's see. A budget yet still decent apartment is $25-30. An upscale condo or good hotel room $60-80. Villa or ocean view condo $90+.
Food is very cheap, IMHO. $15 for lunch, $20-25 for dinner with a couple beers. 35-40 in an upscale with a few drinks.
Pussy: $40-50ST, never had LT.
I didn't find it expensive at all.
The next mongering destination in this hemisphere with a beach (albeit shitty) is Cartagena, and it's substantially more. $70ST is not a small change. Higher cost of food, too. Of course, Medellin or Bogota would be dirt cheap compared to that if the beach is not important.
Sosua can still be a cheap paradise with a right chica, IMHO.