Tag: Keira

Good Bye San Pedro de Macoris

This was it. I was leaving the Dominican Republic the following day and only had a few more hours for San Pedro de Macoris. I had to drive overnight to Punta Cana to get there in time for return of my rental car and check in for the flight. The die was cast – I did what I could to recover my laptop but it didn’t work out. Yet. I however knew that I was leaving with one strong contact in San Pedro de Macoris on whom I could rely. Domingo became my good friend and I feel truly grateful for all the help he provided me with. My time in the Dominican Republic was up and I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. Getting my laptop stolen by a person I was helping was a terrible experience that will put the country on my personal black list.

Before saying my final Good Bye to San Pedro de Macoris, I wanted to have one more beer with Domingo and hoped lovely Keira would be there to join us. We drove down to San Pedro’s Malecon and yes, Keira was there. She looked stunning and was happy to see us as much as we were to see her. She’s an amazing companion who made my time spent at the beer there very enjoyable. It gave her sads when I mentioned that I was leaving San Pedro de Macoris to catch the plane in Punta Cana the following day. It meant that this was the last time we are seeing each other to which she reacted in such genuine and sweet way it made me feel warm after all the disappointment in the Dominican Republic so far.

I made two wonderful friends in San Pedro – Domingo and Keira even though Domingo later corrected me to make it three, because his wife considered it a pleasure to have met me and enjoyed the time with me. To her, all Domingo’s friends are also friends of hers and are welcome anytime to their house. I tried to look at the bright side of life and told myself that all of the laptops of the world are temporary, but true friendships are forever. Keira insisted that I come to the Dominican Republic again. She promised that this time around it will be her who catches a ride with me and she’s no thief. She enjoyed my company as much as I enjoyed hers and was shocked I was leaving because it meant she was not gonna get a chance to spend more time with me. She thought I was gonna be here for at least a few more days but the reason I was not too social during my stay was that I felt down all the time after my laptop got stolen.

Keira was a sweetheart from start to end. Domingo was an amazing support from start to end. So much headache caused by laptop theft but if it wasn’t for this stolen laptop, I would have never met these two wonderful people. I was torn between my feeling of hatred towards the country that put me through the biggest stress of my life and love for it because of wonderful people who showed so much support and offered so much unconditional help. There are good people in every walk of life and one must strive to not ignore them. This is something I’ve always been aware of but my mind was clouded by ruthless crime committed against me.

My last moments in San Pedro de Macoris were truly enjoyable. Keira has a little sister who despite her young age (she’s 8 year old) could speak great English. I had one last pack of chewing gums on me because I gave all the rest to Domingo’s children when we went to visit them at the place of his former wife so I gave it to Keira’s little sister who rewarded me with the sweetest “Thank You” I have ever heard. San Pedro de Macoris is not a tourist trap. The town is on the coast, but it doesn’t have the beach or anything otherwise attractive to tourists so locals don’t see many foreigners there. As such these people are more genuine and unlike Dominicans from popular tourist areas, they are not used to getting free gifts in exchange for looking cute. When I gave little Shakira (Keira’s sister’s name) chewing gums, it was the most genuine child’s appreciation I have ever seen. So definitely worth it.

Alas, I had to bid my friends good bye. Domingo was a little concerned about me driving over night all the way to Punta Cana but I explained that I actually preferred to drive at night because traffic is less crazy and I needed to get there early anyway so I have time buffer in case something goes wrong. Leaving my great new friends was not easy, but I really needed to go back home to Canada as I had a lot of stuff to take care of now that my laptop was gone. I said my final good byes to San Pedro de Macoris, sat in a car and drove off into the night.

Keira the Bar Girl

Domingo directed me to a road that stretches along San Pedro’s malecon, which is the sea-side of this coastal town. Southern side of the road, the one closer to the sea is lined by small booth like, independently owned and run bars. These look like roofed hot-dog stands you would take with you to a fair to sell from, but inside they were full of shelves with booze and fridges with cold beer. It was already almost 10pm and there were many cars parked along this side of the street but I was able to find one spot and poked my rental there. We sat at the booth closest to the car.

The booth seemed served by a mother and daughter. One young lady in her early 20’s and one in her 40’s looked strikingly similar to not be mistaken for family. Pretending I was joyous I ordered myself one large beer (Presidente Grande) and a small one for Domingo (Presidente Pequena) as he insisted he couldn’t do the large one – he’s a non drinker, but made an exception for me. Young bar lady served us these beers right from the freezer with frost covering the glass. We were just meters from the sea so the sound of waves bashing against rocky shores accompanied our drinking time. Unfortunately, as it goes in the Dominican Republic, many of surrounding bars were competing in who has the most powerful speakers and played that atrociously irritating Dominican Music extremely loud. Luckily, the tiny outdoor bar we were in was a bit further from main sources of noise so we could actually talk to each other and hear what we’re saying.

I was eager to try to forget the ordeal I was going through at least for a couple of minutes which was luckily not difficult since Domingo was a really nice and positive guy who made me feel comfortable even though I was still in the country I started to perceive as extremely hostile. To top it all up, young bar girl who served us beers joined the debate and tried her English skills with me. It was funny because she lacked knowledge of fundamental vocabulary, but was familiar with phrases I would not expect a beginner to know – such as “give me five”.

Despite difficulties and utter sadness, I felt happy for a moment. Domingo was a great companion and that bar girl added her gracious presence to the equation so I could take my mind away from the pain I was feeling inside. Domingo told me that he’s seen way too many people like me being robbed by bad people of the Dominican Republic. He confirmed that I was not the first, nor will be the last who had something valuable stolen from them. He also said that relying on the police in the Dominican Republic is completely futile not only because they won’t do nothing, but also because if they did find my stolen laptop, they would not give it to me. They would simply keep it for themselves. That’s the way it works in the Dominican Republic and whether I liked it or not, my presence was not gonna change it.

When we were done drinking I had to take Domingo back home to his wife. he had school to go to the following day anyway so I couldn’t keep him up too long. I was really happy to have found a friend in this country despite of all the trouble I was experiencing because of bad Dominicans. Domingo was right – there are too many dishonest Dominicans in this country who will not hesitate to steal from a person who is helping them, but he also insisted that among all the bad apples, there are some good people here too. I knew he was one of them and after the bar girl learned about my ordeal, she offered a great deal of compassion and support too. This day I made two new friends who made the rest of my stay in the Dominican Republic more enjoyable. As we were leaving, the girl introduced herself to us as Keira. It’s not a typical Dominican name but it’s cute and suited her well.