THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2004

Buenos Dias. Este su amigo, RT.

So my trip to Santiago begins with the American Airlines flight (real cheap due to NetsAAver and 2/3 empty) landing right on time at Santiago Municipal Airport (STI). Buying a tourist card ($10) and clearing Immigration & Customs are a snap, and I emerge to a line of waiting Taxis.

SANTIAGO MUNICIPAL AIRPORT: 19° 23' 581" N, 70° 36' 315" W

The driver asks for $12 to my hotel. I start to remove my bags, and he asks why. I tell him $12 is ridiculous, and I always pay in pesos, anyway. "Oh, Pesos," he says. "The price is 350 pesos ($7)." I put my bags back in.

TIP: Here, more than elsewhere in my travels, there is a great difference between prices in dollars and pesos. Always pay in the local currency, wherever you go. First off, you save money, and second, when in Rome...

Traffic is very light on the way to the hotel. We get to the Hodelpa Centro Plaza fairly quickly, where my reservation is waiting for me. It is about 9 pm at this point.

HODELPA CENTRO PLAZA: 19° 27' 028" N, 70° 42' 129" W

The Hodelpa is right smack dab in the middle of downtown Santiago. In the daytime, this area is bustling with business, shopping, and people, people, people. At night, it is fairly desolate. You wouldn't want to walk around too much at night, but there are cabs waiting right in front to take you anywhere cheaply. My room rate was $50 plus taxes, and that includes a free breakfast every day. The rooms there are not opulent, but the bed is good, the water pressure works, and they are chica-friendly. No check-in required with your girl, just walk in and get in an elevator.

I unpack, change my clothes and am in a cab in 30 minutes heading to the Hotel & Casino Gran Almirante. This is one of the two casinos in Santiago, the other being attaced to the Hotel Matum.

HOTEL/CASINO GRAN ALMIRANTE: 19° 27' 921" N, 70° 41' 198" W
HOTEL/CASINO MATUM: 19° 27' 111" N, 70° 41' 496" W

The Gran Almirante is big and shiny (both the Hotel and Casino). Their rooms run about $100, and I can't figure out if taking a girl upstairs is OK or not.

Unlike Costa Rica, the casinos in the DR play the real version of BlackJack. I kill about an hour or two losing some money. It's now 11:30 (things start late in the DR), so I cash in my remaining chips and grab a taxi to club Casablanca.

On Thursdays, Casablanca advertises a live sex show. I haven't seen it, but the girls in the club are pretty, and word on the street says there are no men (other than lucky audience members) in the show. It should be fun.

We get about a half-mile away from Casablanca and the cabbie starts yelling in Spanish to another guy coming from that direction. After the yelling stops, he tells me Casablanca is closed tonight. Disappointed but undaunted, I ask him to take me to Ilusions, another club.

Ilusions is closed, too. He finally tells me that we are in the final hours of a two-day nationwide General Strike. This explains the lack of traffic. This explains the closed clubs. This explains a lot.

He suggests that Pasions (yet another joint) might be open. In for a nickle, I think, and tell him to drive. Closed, too.

ILUSIONS: 19° 27' 230" N, 70° 39' 553" W
PASIONS: 19° 24' 980" N, 70° 38' 329" W

Now officially daunted, I give up and have him drive me to the other casino, Matum. This one is not as fancy, and is not much fun for me either. I cab back to the Gran Almirante, where it is still packed with people.

While playing, my hooker radar goes off. Ten minutes later, I am talking to Wendy. She's about 30, maybe 25 pounds too heavy, but has what appears to be a nice rack.

For the first time in the history of the Dominican Republic, the demand for prostitution actually outweighed the supply. Faced with no other choice, we leave for my hotel at about 1:30.

The session is slightly below average, at best. Wendy was able to do wonders with some supportive undergarments, but she was in a hurry and it just wasn't, well, magic. Her French skills were well-practiced, so that saved the evening. For the most part, French is spoken without translators throughout the DR. Wendy was no exception.

At three, Wendy leaves, and I fall asleep $60 poorer (it was a seller's market), hoping the rest of the trip goes better.

COMING UP ON FRIDAY: Lunch with a buddy, some shopping, and a much, much better evening. Keyword: Ashley.

RT....loving the reports. Love your creative writing style: "While playing, my hooker radar goes off." I think they call that Lay-Dar.

Ha...we were on the same plane...and in the same hotel.

I ended up paying $10 to Hodelpa CP, I should have known better.

I was confused when I arrived. The evening is quiet in that area, but the streets were desolate that night. They had a surreal quality to them.

Gran Almirante is supposed to be friendly.

I set out at 10:30pm and made the circle in the opposite direction. I started at Porky's, then Pasion, then Ilusion before finally giving up and having the driver drop me off at an open restaurant named Montezuma. At least the food was good. I went home alone that night.

I didn't know about the casinos. I'll be better prepared if that ever happens again. Thanks!

When I was at Gran Almirante I did not see many
pros, but I was only there a short time. Is there
a time frame when most of them come?

Nice report,

JD

RT here.

There are NEVER many pros in the Gran Almirante, so any time is as good as another. You just have to keep your feelers out.

One day, however, I left the casino (by the rear exit) to go up to my room to shower for the evening. Two obvious pros were sitting at the tables that are just outside the exit. They weren't shy about their suggestions. I would have taken one of them up on the offer, but I had a date scheduled for a couple of hours later.