El Capitan
03-27-2008, 09:16 AM
Semana Santa Santo Domingo report
Unfortunately, this trip during this silly holiday was a little less than expected…although there are two highlights….
Once again, ISOC proves to be a great resource for more than just “hoes that blow fo’ dough”…I was fortunate enough to hook up with “the distinguished” prtyr2 on Monday for an afternoon of Presidentes and great conversation…….not to mention I learned a few “new places” to find more pretty faces……THANKS BRO!
Second to that was my attendance at CHURCH in the Primera Cathedral on Friday (Good Friday)…I’ll remind you all….I am a bagel-boy…a yid-kid…Me an’ the ATF finished fucking and made the 1pm “show”…sit-down, stand-up, music, the 7 words from 7 fathers….and then I get gypped…NO WINE, NO WAFER…I only went cuz I heard there was a buffet…..I will admit, there were more whores in the church than there were on the streets……..all that said, here’s the goods:
I flew in on Wednesday the 19th, the beginning of the Semana Santa holiday rush.
I exchanged dollars at Banco Reserva in the airport getting $33.2DRP to $1USD, which worked out to be pretty fair….Paco’s was exchanging at $33.5DRP on the same day.
Check-in at Mercure was as usual….quick, EZ and I was in my room (same ol, same ol) within an hour of landing at SDQ. My plan on this trip (after a 4 day fuck fest) was to tell my ATF I was leaving Monday morning. My flight out was scheduled for Tuesday night….I needed some time “alone”.
After getting settled, I strolled down Conde to Hotel Discovery and reserved a room for Monday night….my reasons being:
1) To keep my shit private on the east end of Conde, where WE normally play…the hoes know US there.
2) To be closer to the barrios surrounding La Parque Indepencia….an untapped side of the tracks for me.
3) To check out Hotel Discovery**
The guy at Discovery takes my reservation (no deposit and guarantees a late check out), I hit the Discovery bar for a beer and watch the scenery go by….Discovery sits on a busy (and loud) corner, and the opportunities walking by were enticing. Unfortunately the exterior bar is somewhat enclosed and the traffic noise and smell makes sitting there an ST situation.
The Colonial Zone was practically a ghost town….most of the locals had fled to the beaches, rivers and mountains for the holiday….I noticed there were a lot of Euros on the street…… cig puffing Frenchies.
A lot of stores were already closed and I gathered from conversations with my street mafia (shoe shiners)…. a lot more places would be closed Thursday-Sunday. They were right, and I found myself eating in many of the same places I have in the past, however, I did some exploring and here’s what I found…..
1) Aljibe Café & Piano Bar is just south of Hotel Mercure on Hostos, just south of the Churrasco Grill. Cool spot to go for a drink, nice interior gardens with semi-private seating. Calle Hostos No. 156 between Billini and Nouel 809.791.4466
2) Palmito Gourmet Restaurant & Bar is a reasonably priced quaint spot ($60USD for two with drinks). The place is small and the food is “delicately prepared”, definitely not a beans and rice joint. Located on the corner of Arzobispo Portes and Santome, close to Hotel Discovery….walk if you’re adventurous….otherwise take a cab if it’s late. 809.221.5777 or right next door……
3) Exquisiteces Virginia….a small “cafeteria” or “cantina” type place that specializes in take out meals, empenadas, breads, pastries etc. They had a pretty good selection of Dominican food the day I stopped in. Table service is available…and it’s cheap-as-a-mutha-fuka! Santome 102 at Arzobispo Portes. 809.333.9001
I also checked out a couple of hotels on Conde….Hotel Monumental at Calle El Conde 355 (2nd floor) and Hotel Aida which is next to Pizza Hut……both sucked. The rooms have no windows (no light) and are noisy as hell from the street below….rates started at $45 per night, with no AC, no privacy, (and I mean NONE) or amenities….although Hotel Monumental boasted free drinking water….in the hallways in 5 gallon water coolers…..
** Hotel Discovery…..not for me. Got there Monday morning at 9am with plans to get settled in and roam the streets……girl takes my money, gives me the TV remote and safe lock and proceeds to take me upstairs…..she opens the door to the room and the bed looks like somebody fucked on it…there’s crumpled paper and “packaging” on the nightstand….. ”your roon no ready” she tells me and takes me back downstairs.
Ten minutes of cluster-fuck behind the desk and she has a maid take me to room 204 which over-looks the corner at Parque Indepencia. It has a double and a single bed….the maid tells me, “This no your roon, your roon no ready, you stay here for an hour.” She slides her key card in the electricity manager, takes it out, and pulls the door but does not shut it….which I do, because I want to change into some shorts and hit the streets…..I close the door to lock it and the lights, TV and AC go off…….
I get changed, go downstairs and talk with the desk clerk who gives me a room key….the first of three…..that don’t work. When she finally gets a key card that works…she tells me I can stay in the “larger room” for no extra charge for the hassle……gee thanks…….
I finally get downstairs, head to Pacos for a cup of coffee and call prtyr2 who agrees to meet me at Parillia de Luis on the Malecon where we drank a few Grandes and had many laughs before heading off to LaBase for a few more….I barely remember bailing from the cab after a 5 hour drink fest and heading upstairs to try and sober up for dinner……(yeah right).
Three hours and 5 beers later on a puta-less Conde, I spot a 20 something, 5’, 95 pound cutie with titties too big for her skinny frame sitting with Euro-trash….she eyes me up, so I catch a table in the restaurant knowing she’s about to bail on him….within minutes she’s sittin’ with me giving me her pitch…
….single mommy from La Vega, baby is 8 weeks old….I make her show me her cedula before we decide to walk to Hotel Discovery where we can talk at the bar….she orders a beer and I grab a water, knowing I’m too drunk and too tired to even want to fuck her…..
“What do you want?” she asks…..”Al todo” I tell her…knowing I really want her to leave. She starts with “I’m nervous, you’re so big (6’ plus / 250) and I am small…” but follows the statement by offering me “Que cual tu quiere” for $1500pesos…….I tell her “nope, thanks, hasta la vista” and she says well how much then…..I toss out $600 pesos (roughly $19.92USD) She says……”OK” and hands me her cedula to give to the hotel!
I left her sitting at the table…too drunk, too tired and too impatient to deal with her…..a first for me.
My next trip is in June……to Santiago!
Unfortunately, this trip during this silly holiday was a little less than expected…although there are two highlights….
Once again, ISOC proves to be a great resource for more than just “hoes that blow fo’ dough”…I was fortunate enough to hook up with “the distinguished” prtyr2 on Monday for an afternoon of Presidentes and great conversation…….not to mention I learned a few “new places” to find more pretty faces……THANKS BRO!
Second to that was my attendance at CHURCH in the Primera Cathedral on Friday (Good Friday)…I’ll remind you all….I am a bagel-boy…a yid-kid…Me an’ the ATF finished fucking and made the 1pm “show”…sit-down, stand-up, music, the 7 words from 7 fathers….and then I get gypped…NO WINE, NO WAFER…I only went cuz I heard there was a buffet…..I will admit, there were more whores in the church than there were on the streets……..all that said, here’s the goods:
I flew in on Wednesday the 19th, the beginning of the Semana Santa holiday rush.
I exchanged dollars at Banco Reserva in the airport getting $33.2DRP to $1USD, which worked out to be pretty fair….Paco’s was exchanging at $33.5DRP on the same day.
Check-in at Mercure was as usual….quick, EZ and I was in my room (same ol, same ol) within an hour of landing at SDQ. My plan on this trip (after a 4 day fuck fest) was to tell my ATF I was leaving Monday morning. My flight out was scheduled for Tuesday night….I needed some time “alone”.
After getting settled, I strolled down Conde to Hotel Discovery and reserved a room for Monday night….my reasons being:
1) To keep my shit private on the east end of Conde, where WE normally play…the hoes know US there.
2) To be closer to the barrios surrounding La Parque Indepencia….an untapped side of the tracks for me.
3) To check out Hotel Discovery**
The guy at Discovery takes my reservation (no deposit and guarantees a late check out), I hit the Discovery bar for a beer and watch the scenery go by….Discovery sits on a busy (and loud) corner, and the opportunities walking by were enticing. Unfortunately the exterior bar is somewhat enclosed and the traffic noise and smell makes sitting there an ST situation.
The Colonial Zone was practically a ghost town….most of the locals had fled to the beaches, rivers and mountains for the holiday….I noticed there were a lot of Euros on the street…… cig puffing Frenchies.
A lot of stores were already closed and I gathered from conversations with my street mafia (shoe shiners)…. a lot more places would be closed Thursday-Sunday. They were right, and I found myself eating in many of the same places I have in the past, however, I did some exploring and here’s what I found…..
1) Aljibe Café & Piano Bar is just south of Hotel Mercure on Hostos, just south of the Churrasco Grill. Cool spot to go for a drink, nice interior gardens with semi-private seating. Calle Hostos No. 156 between Billini and Nouel 809.791.4466
2) Palmito Gourmet Restaurant & Bar is a reasonably priced quaint spot ($60USD for two with drinks). The place is small and the food is “delicately prepared”, definitely not a beans and rice joint. Located on the corner of Arzobispo Portes and Santome, close to Hotel Discovery….walk if you’re adventurous….otherwise take a cab if it’s late. 809.221.5777 or right next door……
3) Exquisiteces Virginia….a small “cafeteria” or “cantina” type place that specializes in take out meals, empenadas, breads, pastries etc. They had a pretty good selection of Dominican food the day I stopped in. Table service is available…and it’s cheap-as-a-mutha-fuka! Santome 102 at Arzobispo Portes. 809.333.9001
I also checked out a couple of hotels on Conde….Hotel Monumental at Calle El Conde 355 (2nd floor) and Hotel Aida which is next to Pizza Hut……both sucked. The rooms have no windows (no light) and are noisy as hell from the street below….rates started at $45 per night, with no AC, no privacy, (and I mean NONE) or amenities….although Hotel Monumental boasted free drinking water….in the hallways in 5 gallon water coolers…..
** Hotel Discovery…..not for me. Got there Monday morning at 9am with plans to get settled in and roam the streets……girl takes my money, gives me the TV remote and safe lock and proceeds to take me upstairs…..she opens the door to the room and the bed looks like somebody fucked on it…there’s crumpled paper and “packaging” on the nightstand….. ”your roon no ready” she tells me and takes me back downstairs.
Ten minutes of cluster-fuck behind the desk and she has a maid take me to room 204 which over-looks the corner at Parque Indepencia. It has a double and a single bed….the maid tells me, “This no your roon, your roon no ready, you stay here for an hour.” She slides her key card in the electricity manager, takes it out, and pulls the door but does not shut it….which I do, because I want to change into some shorts and hit the streets…..I close the door to lock it and the lights, TV and AC go off…….
I get changed, go downstairs and talk with the desk clerk who gives me a room key….the first of three…..that don’t work. When she finally gets a key card that works…she tells me I can stay in the “larger room” for no extra charge for the hassle……gee thanks…….
I finally get downstairs, head to Pacos for a cup of coffee and call prtyr2 who agrees to meet me at Parillia de Luis on the Malecon where we drank a few Grandes and had many laughs before heading off to LaBase for a few more….I barely remember bailing from the cab after a 5 hour drink fest and heading upstairs to try and sober up for dinner……(yeah right).
Three hours and 5 beers later on a puta-less Conde, I spot a 20 something, 5’, 95 pound cutie with titties too big for her skinny frame sitting with Euro-trash….she eyes me up, so I catch a table in the restaurant knowing she’s about to bail on him….within minutes she’s sittin’ with me giving me her pitch…
….single mommy from La Vega, baby is 8 weeks old….I make her show me her cedula before we decide to walk to Hotel Discovery where we can talk at the bar….she orders a beer and I grab a water, knowing I’m too drunk and too tired to even want to fuck her…..
“What do you want?” she asks…..”Al todo” I tell her…knowing I really want her to leave. She starts with “I’m nervous, you’re so big (6’ plus / 250) and I am small…” but follows the statement by offering me “Que cual tu quiere” for $1500pesos…….I tell her “nope, thanks, hasta la vista” and she says well how much then…..I toss out $600 pesos (roughly $19.92USD) She says……”OK” and hands me her cedula to give to the hotel!
I left her sitting at the table…too drunk, too tired and too impatient to deal with her…..a first for me.
My next trip is in June……to Santiago!