Today we went on our first day trip. I love day trips because they mix up the "regular" routine, and because we do, or go someplace we've never been before. Today we were headed downtown Santo Domingo for a no rules day of exploration. It is getting to that point in the trip that Rachael trusts us to be on our own. We were next split into groups and sent off to explore town. This is a very historical part of Santo, were we can find many tours, museums, large churches and even a indoor graveyard. So off we went to find something cool! My group (Joey, Hannah, Rachel, Daniel and I) decided to head to the ruins we heard about. We started walking through the downtown core finding fish shops, clothing stores and lots of classy restaurants. I began to wonder where these ruins are amidst this concrete jungle? But as we kept walking we found the ruins, and they were fantastic. With 50 foot ceilings and arched roofs I starred in amazement at how this was built with no power tools! It took me 2 days to build a basket-ball net with no power tools. After a 360 walk around of the ruins we kept walking to find many more interesting buildings. We found an indoor graveyard, a huge cruise ship on the coast and a massive church. Tired from walking all over the town, we decided to sit and have lunch. In front of us was a massive flock of pigeons with all their attention on one man, their feeder. He would throw some seed out and the cloud of birds would dog pile where the seeds were thrown, it was pretty cool. As our time ended to be walking around town, we all gathered where we had first begun, in the town square. Next we were off to the market which i personally was super stoaked for.
As we walked deeper into town we were hit with waves of bad smells, good smells, air conditioning, and heat. Finally we hit a large stairway leading into the market. We were sent off in pairs for safety, because “Safety never takes a holiday” -Paul Blart 2009. Jason and I headed to the first shop on the right. Then the advertising hit us. Two steps into the market people were trying to sell us stuff. Being rookies we actually listened to the lady and went wherever she took us. After getting showed everything in her shop, nothing that we wanted, we peeled out to the front of the shop. My eye caught this large tube with a metal coil coming out the top. Interested in the purpose of this item, we took two off the shelf and started turning them around to see what was so special about them. We quickly looked outside because we heard pounding thunder but it was sunny… We look at each other and both start shaking the cylinders again. WHAT!?!? The thunder was coming from these small tubes!! We looked in amazement… How did the pounding thunder come through that little tube? I had no idea how it worked, but is was cool, so i shook it for about 5 minutes straight.
We moved on to the next store, fascinated by the machete's, knives, and the abundance of bling. I personally was looking for a cool, bone necklace so I was one the look out. Going into the market Rachael had warned us never to pay the asking price. Bargaining was a part of the culture so in order to buy something, you needed to barter. So as I came across a necklace I liked, the lady approached me and said one of the few english sentences that she knew. " U like?" I nodded my head and she began to explain how his cheap bone necklace was very expensive, and how rare it is… I didn't buy it, but it was entertaining. She gave me her starting price of 450 pesos, which is $10 American. So after watching too many shows on OLN I offered her 100 pesos (1.10$). She laughed, I laughed and I used tactic #1. Walking Away. So with a slow lumbering walk I strolled out of the store. I explored with friends for the next couple minutes leaving a 10 minute gap for that lady to rethink her price. Now for step #2. Getting them, to get you. I slowly walked by the store hoping she would notice and finally she did. "300" This was still way too high because I only had 145 pesos. Step #3. The money bluff. I slowly and sadly pulled out 100 pesos. The money comes along with the cutest, pathetic face I can fancy. Step #4. Uhhh walk away A LOT… Personally i walked away 5 times. Step #5. Meeting in the middle, well as close as you can get. After the a quick bargain I got the price down to 145 pesos ( $3). Finally step #6. Showing your hand. I then pulled out the money i actually had. I grabbed the necklace gave her the money and tried to avoid her gaze. Walking away with a necklace and no more money.
I continued to walk through the market amazed by the little carvings, necklace's, and paintings. Near the end of our time i was walking out of the store and a man came up to me "What do you want?? Anything! I give it to you half price!!" My response "Im looking for the exit REKT M8 (mate)" and obviously not knowing what I had said he responded with "YES! I give it to you half price! I promise!!" Busting a gut laughing I made my way to the exit and out of the market. On a serious note I totally REKT the market haha jk. It was super cool the how the economy of the market worked, and how our class interacted with this new idea of shopping. Overall the market was by far the coolest thing I've seen in the DR so far.
Thanks for reading folks,
Love Derek <3 (AKA Narf/Son of John)
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