Did I Mention There's A Boat Party Tomorrow?

Man oh man...

The longer I stay here, the more everyday feels like a repeat of the day before. The invite always comes and it is always enticing. It is also very dangerous, and expensive. There's always a risk and a cost. You show up and who knows what happens, or how much you'll spend! Or if you even survive. Your friends may be your actual friends, or simply characters with speaking parts in the theatrical event that may or may not be your life...

I went to Cabarete today for the first time since New Years. Beautiful. Busy, yet not too loud and crazy. Nice breeze so lots of kite surfers. Definitely recommended, especially if you're bringing a date.

In other news, a brotha from the USA died the other day. On a scooter. He got hit by a car in downtown Sosua, next to the park, next to the casino. Sad. Within twenty minutes of his instantaneous demise, photographs of his corpse were in wide circulation. I'm on my way back from playing golf and a dead dude shows up in my text messages. Damn. Yeah, that's DR for you. The American expats will gladly send you graphic pictures of the latest dead American to every living American on the island, yet demand complete censorship when it comes to the faces and devilish deeds of Dominican prostitutes.

I am from another mindset... I'll never understand this backward shit.

I'm not one hundred percent sure what I'm going to do if and when I return to DR in the future but unless I have a specific reason to be in Sosua, I may never again appear in this godforsaken fuckhole. I'm sick of the nonsense. It's everywhere.

And everything I say sounds harsh to the outsider who has never drunkenly laid next to the woman his best friend had the night before but whose sister (who YOU had the night before) is laying next to said best friend while you jot down your random thoughts in your phone. Yeah... shit is outta control out here. These folks will do anything for a dollar... relatives get bundled in the deal.

With the economy in the drain and the culture unkempt, I've been telling anyone who is willing to listen that DR will be Venezuela in a year, maybe two, if tourism doesn't come back. But tourists may not save this country's soul. The people have descended down a dark path that may be beyond repair, a point beyond return. The level of outright rudeness has reached record levels, and violence born from frustration and despair is soon to follow. I mean, look, I don't know if I have words to describe it. You just have to be here to experience it. And trust me, you don't want to be here right now...

I don't want to completely crap on DR. That wouldn't be fair. I've had some good experiences here! All I can say is there's a cloud of suffering over the whole place. It sucks. I don't want it to be like this! I liked it better last August, I liked it better last December. It was awesome, so much so it inspired me to return! I want that DR back, but worried it will never return...