Pretty obvious that there is lots of advantages to speaking the local language. Just thought i'd write a quick example i just experienced.
I'm in Cabarete, Dominican Republic right now. My spanish is pretty much fluent.
So i'm walking along the beach, by myself, checking everything out. Cabarate is known for kite surfing. I smiled and gave a quick eye brow raise to a dominican who was messing around on the beach with the kite used to guide the surfers. He was flying through the air for at least 5 seconds without a board. I started laughing and began a conversation with him. He told me he is a kite surfing instructor at a place nearby. I had already been to the place he worked at and they wanted to charge me $40 to go kitesurfing for an hour. I small talked with him (in spanish) for about 10 minutes and he told me i can use his gear for $25 for an hour. He gave me the lesson for almost half price. We did have to walk to where the beach curved so the german guys who work at his shop didn't see us. He told me he is tired of all the "white people" who come to his city who don't speak spanish. By the way i saw him kitesurf when i was done with my lesson and this guy is the real deal. He was definitely one of the best kitesurfers out there.
#2.) I'm walking back to my hotel along the beach. A dominican guy starts talking to me in Enlish and i told him, "no hablo ingles". I told him i'm from italy and i lived in spain when i was young so that is why i speak spanish. the guy ended up being a pimp and he told me he was trying to get me to go take a look at his girls. I told him i'm not interested in that. I changed the subject, and started asking if he has kids, if he had other work, if he surfs etc.. He was walking with me along the beach and i asked him if he wanted to grab a beer at one of the bars. He said sure, and now i'm drinking beer with a pimp. We have good conversation about domincans (how everything works around here and nearby cities etc.) He told me lots of prostitutes can slip drinks in tourists drinks blah blah. (By the way if you're looking for prostitutes, go to Sosua). He also told me some of them do crack so are dangerous sometimes. Apparently, a crackhead prostittue did this to him in santo domingo (in his younger days) and she then stole 9,000 pesos from him. I told him crack is bad but I do like coke. He said he sells it, but only to tourists who are looking for at least 3 grams and who purchase a girl from him. He said he usually charges $80 a gram but since i am his "friend" (I bought him a beer, gave him 2 cigarettes, and exchanged stories with him) he would give it to me for $35 a gram plus he would let me sample it. So we went to an alleyway where no tourists were to be found. Straight dominicans here. I was getting some pretty nasty looks. They are all dark and i am pretty white. We went into a tiny shop with a guy and girl working there and they got mad at the guy for bringing me there. He said "it's okay, he is my friend". I started talking to them in spanish and my charm wore off on them quick haha. they gave me a beer while the guy went to go get the coke from his house. the guy told me he can't take me to his house because his roomate would freak out because apparently they have pounds of it at his place. He came back 5 minutes later and I sampled it. I kept talking to him and it hit me within a few minutes. Fucking good blow for super cheap!
I did it 2 hours ago so it is worn off at this point. Me and the pimp exchanged numbers. Cool dude. He is a 29 years old but looks like he is 22. Plays baseball. Hustles. He said he has friends who are not prostitutes who he can introduce me to tonight. I don't know if i am going to meet up with him but i doubt i would have gotten this type of treatment had i only spoke english.
If i didn't speak spanish i probably would have gotten ripped off, and i would've felt much more threatened when i went into the sketchy alleyway.
I'm in Cabarete, Dominican Republic right now. My spanish is pretty much fluent.
So i'm walking along the beach, by myself, checking everything out. Cabarate is known for kite surfing. I smiled and gave a quick eye brow raise to a dominican who was messing around on the beach with the kite used to guide the surfers. He was flying through the air for at least 5 seconds without a board. I started laughing and began a conversation with him. He told me he is a kite surfing instructor at a place nearby. I had already been to the place he worked at and they wanted to charge me $40 to go kitesurfing for an hour. I small talked with him (in spanish) for about 10 minutes and he told me i can use his gear for $25 for an hour. He gave me the lesson for almost half price. We did have to walk to where the beach curved so the german guys who work at his shop didn't see us. He told me he is tired of all the "white people" who come to his city who don't speak spanish. By the way i saw him kitesurf when i was done with my lesson and this guy is the real deal. He was definitely one of the best kitesurfers out there.
#2.) I'm walking back to my hotel along the beach. A dominican guy starts talking to me in Enlish and i told him, "no hablo ingles". I told him i'm from italy and i lived in spain when i was young so that is why i speak spanish. the guy ended up being a pimp and he told me he was trying to get me to go take a look at his girls. I told him i'm not interested in that. I changed the subject, and started asking if he has kids, if he had other work, if he surfs etc.. He was walking with me along the beach and i asked him if he wanted to grab a beer at one of the bars. He said sure, and now i'm drinking beer with a pimp. We have good conversation about domincans (how everything works around here and nearby cities etc.) He told me lots of prostitutes can slip drinks in tourists drinks blah blah. (By the way if you're looking for prostitutes, go to Sosua). He also told me some of them do crack so are dangerous sometimes. Apparently, a crackhead prostittue did this to him in santo domingo (in his younger days) and she then stole 9,000 pesos from him. I told him crack is bad but I do like coke. He said he sells it, but only to tourists who are looking for at least 3 grams and who purchase a girl from him. He said he usually charges $80 a gram but since i am his "friend" (I bought him a beer, gave him 2 cigarettes, and exchanged stories with him) he would give it to me for $35 a gram plus he would let me sample it. So we went to an alleyway where no tourists were to be found. Straight dominicans here. I was getting some pretty nasty looks. They are all dark and i am pretty white. We went into a tiny shop with a guy and girl working there and they got mad at the guy for bringing me there. He said "it's okay, he is my friend". I started talking to them in spanish and my charm wore off on them quick haha. they gave me a beer while the guy went to go get the coke from his house. the guy told me he can't take me to his house because his roomate would freak out because apparently they have pounds of it at his place. He came back 5 minutes later and I sampled it. I kept talking to him and it hit me within a few minutes. Fucking good blow for super cheap!
I did it 2 hours ago so it is worn off at this point. Me and the pimp exchanged numbers. Cool dude. He is a 29 years old but looks like he is 22. Plays baseball. Hustles. He said he has friends who are not prostitutes who he can introduce me to tonight. I don't know if i am going to meet up with him but i doubt i would have gotten this type of treatment had i only spoke english.
If i didn't speak spanish i probably would have gotten ripped off, and i would've felt much more threatened when i went into the sketchy alleyway.
