o&c pls define "canadas" *DC*

Canadas are slum areas in a sort of cavernous areas all over the capital. You can go to any working class section of the Capital and take a main street like the one around Buenos Aires De Herrera. Then you must take one of the paved roads which leads into a neighborhood. Then you take this road to the end.

This is where the HORROR begins At the end of this paved road there are former stream like pathways where only a couple of people fit.You must be very careful not to slip and fall. These were probably active streams at one time. These pathways are cramped with shoddy houses on either side. Its sort of like an entire subculture. This pathways usually descends downward with no order.There are cavern like dwellings on either side.There are also many arterial stream like pathways stretching for miles and descending into chaotic places. People here live like life after a nuclear war and its aftermath. At the bottom of many "canadas" there are mini rivers of sewage where children play along it. The stench of rot and the muddy bottom coupled with the shantytown would cause any sane person to feel downtrodden.

Barrancones are the same thing yet they exist in the hilly or mountainous regions of the Capital.

These are the forgotten of the DR. If your interested in seeing this for yourself and some friends contact me. Then you can see the REAL WORLD.

I don't think that the "cañadas" and “barrancones” are THE real DR; there are so many different sides of this country that it doesn’t make much sense calling one “the real”. In DR it only exists (to my knowledge) in Santo Domingo and Santiago.

It is however a common phenomena of cities in underdeveloped countries. Have you heard of the Brazilian "favelas", the Peruvian “pueblos jovenes” or Chile’s “callampas”? Some authors call it the "misery belt". “Whatever they are called, nearly all lack basic city services most of us take for granted: running water, underground sewerage, paved streets, electric street lighting, trash collection and mail service” 1. But so does almost the entire DR. Most of the dwellers of these places are immigrants from the "campos" who flee looking for better conditions and out of despair just to be trapped in the most possible unhealthy and depressing environment. Why people would do that is beyond my comprehension. I guess it could be the subject of another long thread.

I am not denying it exists, I am not denying it is an awful, inhuman condition to live. I am just reminding you it's just a part of the whole DR reality, not IT. Although people sometimes live in the same (or worse) economical conditions in the "campos" at least their dwellings aren’t so bad.

1. Interamerican Development Bank

What is it with all this politically correct talk? Its a real problem that is neglected. You're real non chalant when addressing a horrendous human condition. Its a disaster which words alone can never express. The five senses are taxed to the extreme when faced with this epic monstrousity.

Any humane and compassionate person should feel disgusted at flaunting their riches to these destitute people.Pride, arrogance and hypocrisy are qualities so prevalent in the DR. They scoff at these people, disdain them and offer only lip service to their status.

Hi! I think I missed something during our trip to DR. Onions, to which part of DR does this "slum" area exist??? Of course, I realize it's got to be a "hidden world" but this sort of thing really dismays me ... the grand riches in the world - and human beings have to live this way?!?!?! That's one of my main concerns these days. Unreal. -Mame-

Hi Mame,
These areas are on the fringe areas of the working class sectors of the Capital. With over 3 million people, the Capital is bursting at the seams.

The word “cañada” as you’d find it in the dictionary has a different meaning from the one Dominicans would use it for. A “cañada” is a ravine, or a ditch that carries water from rain or sewerage. But the same term applies to "neighborhoods" built alongside a ditch or the rivers Isabela, Ozama and Yaque and gradually going higher up in the mountain. These shacks are built with odd materials, such as tin cans (large 5 gallons tin cans that are opened and flattened, tin roofing, pieces of wood and sometimes even mud. Most lack basic sanitary installations. Latrines are used, but many times people just go “in the woods”. Most of the times these “houses” are just one or two rooms which are used for cooking, sleeping etc. and most times shared by a large family.

The term “barrancones” derive from the term “barranca” which means steep hill. It is used to describe exactly the same conditions as “cañada”. There is also something called “barracones” that comes from the word “barracas” (note the missing n) and is a word used to describe some temporary dwelling built by the government to house the survivors of hurricanes and so on. Not much better than a barrancon it tends to deteriorate as times passes. Some people who lost their houses as consequence of hurricane David in 1979 are still living in these “temporary houses”. It is just a long wooden shack with tin roof divided in small rooms with no windows, each room inhabited by a whole (normally very large) family. A latrine was built for each 10 families, but when I was there doing some work 11 years ago there were no latrines left, so people had to go in the woods.

I could write a ten-page list of the dangers of living in these places. But I will just give you a few. People lack sanitary facilities, which means they get all the diseases you can find in the book related to this. 10 people living in a single room can give you a few other ideas. Violence is a normal thing. When the river swells it takes people and houses with it. Hurricanes are very deadly. Malnutrition is something normal. Education is unseen. I could go on and on.

Check this website. Disregard the text (which is in Spanish anyways) but the pictures will show you what we’re talking about. http://www.enel.net/cce/exposiciones_cinturon_verde.htm

I have to add that the reason Ed & Mame missed this is because it only happens as I said in large cities. And even in Santo Domingo where the most "barrancones" are not THE MOST people live there. There are of course lots of poor neighborhoods but none are bad as these portrayed here, saying diferently would be exagerating.

Hey PIB what would you say is the true unemployment rate in the DR? Stats for truly unemployed and underemployed.

I have seen this in SD as well as similar living conditions in Bogota Columbia and Caracas Venezula. Livestock in Florida have better accomodations. You say "Unreal", no it is real. O&C is correct.