Monday, June 28, 2004
It is alluded that there are different ways of getting a driving license in this country, but this week we discovered that the “correct” way requires you to make repeated visits and engage in repeated waiting in different lines at the principal driving test center found on Avenida Tiradentes at the offices of Dirección General de Tránsito Terrestre (Ministry of Road Traffic) in Santo Domingo.
We ventured out of Boca Chica and off to the capital on Wednesday to help a good friend of Playa Vista get through the Dominican driving license process. We have to be honest and say that he had already been considerably helped along the way by other friends by the time we got involved, but he had hit a small language barrier in the form of the examination on the Highway Code which is presented solely in Spanish. We arrived at about 10 am with a view to immediately taking the 45 minute test but were told that the system, a system that our friend had used on two previous occasions, had changed, and that we should have been present in line at 8 am in order to get one of the 250 allotted numbers. So… we returned on the Friday morning and took our place near the front of the line, #21 to be precise. We then proceeded to the next line which did not move for at least an hour and a half. Finally #21 was called and we leapt towards the door only to be told that a special permission would be needed for the accompanying translator because… the system had changed! One of our German speaking regulars had previously tried to help our friend out with the translation, but the technicality of the questions, and the fact that he was trying to help an English speaking guy - in other words two languages removed from his own native language - had already resulted in two failed exams. Nevertheless… another 20 minute wait and with the sub-director of the institution’s signature on the newly acquired special permit for the translator we were now really on our way.
The test was taken and, thankfully, passed… and then we waited some more in our final line of the day for the permit to be handed out.
In this three hour sojourn in the driving test center we learned quite a bit about this very evidently out-of synch official driving license process. Firstly you have to line up to pay the tax - at a branch of the national bank Banco Reservas located inside the building - in a line that at the time looked like the most formidable of all the lines. Our friend had, by the way, already astutely worked out that, as a tempting alternative, one could actually bypass this line by paying the tax at ones own convenience at any Banco Reservas branch before arriving at the driving test centre. Next you line up for the eye test and when that is over you have to line up one more time to give a blood sample to determine your blood type!
After that you can pass to the line we were in that day for the Highway Code test. Our friend was under the impression that all was finished, after this his fifth visit, so he was naturally disappointed to learn that he would have to return after 45 days in order to have his actual driving approved and undergo an hour and a half lecture thrown in for good measure even though he is a fully validated Massachusetts driving license holder… now how about that!.
We were told though, by somebody in the Ministry that you can get a letter from your consulate verifying your own country’s license which helps to shorten or even eliminate the line-waiting torture. Having learned this, our American friend need not have been crestfallen about all this unnecessary effort he might have taken, because we were also told, by the same source, that the USA embassy is the only one in this country who is not prepared to offer such helpful letters of verification.
Posted by Playa Vista @ 05:11 PM CST
Thursday, June 17, 2004
We will be delving a little into a very different but equally exciting world this week with a view to maintaining and even perhaps enhancing the positive ambience that we try our best to cultivate and a story that goes to show that we at all times really have the welfare of our guests in mind…really:
“The news came rushing in so hot that it is no longer clear who or what was the original source of the news. It landed smack bang in the middle of a bustling bar on a very sunny afternoon - one of the good long term customers at the bar had won the incredible sum of £235,000 (well over US$400,000 in real money) on a football pool! The effect was truly fantastic. The customer was astounded… it was almost as if he didn’t even known that he had made a bet in the first place and we have no knowing what those seated around him thought, though we were fairly sure it must have passed through everybody’s minds that they were in for a free pizza and drink at the very least. Incredibly even before the excitement of this news had rippled fully around the bar it was announced on television that yet another Playa Vista customer had hit the jackpot in the lottery. He was guaranteed at least $100,000 but excitingly it would probably be far more than that when the final calculations were done. The name of this customer was never mentioned as he was new to the bar, unknown to us all, but by brief description should you come across him he was of medium build, about 55 years old, had very silver spiky hair and an attractive Caribbean tan. The spiky-haired new-comer too was astounded, but did at least seem to be aware of having bought tickets for the lottery that he now had won..
The instantaneous reaction to this extraordinary downpour of money showering on Playa Vista guests was that it would make a very good piece for the blog”… and I was still of that opinion even after I woke up!
Posted by Playa Vista @ 03:35 PM CST
Sunday, June 13, 2004
We would like to bring you a short update on Boca Chica's Playa Vista this week. For those of you who have visited us regularly, occasionally or even just once you will know that we do try to maintain an all round decent standard, whether concerning the service or the facilities. You may also appreciate that at times it can be quite an uphill struggle, as we are battling with a fair range of natural elements, especially the constant salty sea breeze - good for beach-guests but not so good for the maintenance bill - and the occasional buffeting of the wind, not to mention the ever present natural inertia in getting things done in a country where getting things done in a snappy is certainly not the catchphrase followed. As if that wasn’t enough there is of course always the impossible notion of trying to please all our international as well as local visitors all of the time.
Nevertheless… we naturally try to attend to what needs to be done with a verve and a vim and if it doesn’t get done today then there is always the local useful fallback of mañana.
In recent months we have been attending to a general sprucing up of the external décor of Playa Vista and fixing the ravages of the sea corrosion particularly on metallic parts. This amounted, apart from general painting and maintenance, to the need for a completely new Sony stereo system not so long ago as the corrosion had entirely eaten the insides of our not so old Aiwa system away.
Now that the basic maintenance has been completed we are even making plans for a modest upgrade. Yesterday we got off to a flier. We completely thwarted the traditional local inertia in an almost completely frictionless move setting off for, inspecting, ordering, receiving and paying for some brand spanking new bar furniture… all accomplished in a matter of a few short hours.
We shall now embark on the next part of the project which is to improve the televisual aspects of the bar with a real big screen… a move that in it’s own good time just might please all the people all the time even if realism requires that we might ask the impatient customers to wait for a certain mañana!
Posted by Playa Vista @ 11:58 AM CST
Friday, June 4, 2004
We have certainly moved into high summer in Boca Chica. Bright blue sunny skies are now the order of every day. Just perfect and the ideal time to welcome Boca Chica’s 2nd International Festival of Motorcycles sponsored by Secretaría de Turismo (Ministry of Tourism) and the local Asociación de Comerciantes (Business Association), among others. The Festival welcomes riders and motorcycles from anywhere in the world to parade in and around our town this weekend, and we have already been treated to a cacophony of sound this morning as a large section of the bikers drove along the main street on a range of extremely large and colorful motorbikes including Harley’s, Honda’s and Kawasaki’s. The roar of the bikes was deafening and was accompanied by the wailing of numerous police sirens in escort and the seemingly unavoidable triggering of car alarms caused by the vibrations from the powerfully roaring bikes… quite a spectacle.
This year there are upwards of 150 bikes present with participation from Puerto Rico, Europe and the USA in addition to Dominican enthusiasts.
On Friday they will pass again through Boca Chica in procession to Bayahibe. On Saturday they will be on exhibit from the morning at Boca Chica beach where a number of competitions will be held for participants throughout the day followed by a concert at 4.30 pm and then a prize-awarding ceremony after that.
So if you don’t want to wait another year for the 3rd International Festival of Motorcycles and
So if you are into roadsters and you don’t want to wait another year for the 3rd International Festival of Motorcycles, Boca Chica is the place to be this weekend!
Posted by Playa Vista @ 10:17 AM CST
