Category: Dominican Republic

Interesting (men’s) hair cut experience yesterday afternoon for US$10 here in Bavaro, Dominican Republic.

Painful is the word. Lots of pain. Like a bad beach massage where the masseuse is just pressing hard in a beat you up kind of way, instead of being helpful.

He really pressed the trimmer (with attachment) hard on my head, bent my ears forcefully, poked at my head to get me tilt this way or that. No finesse. I’ve never been so uncomfortable at a haircut.

Come to think of it, I’ve never had the trimmer portion take so much time and effort…

And hygiene? Ha! No sterilizer, and when he dropped his comb near the end, he gave it a little tap (not even a wipe) and went back to work on my head. Really!?

 

And to top it off, he as drinking Chivas Regal (scotch). While working on me. Nice.

In Spanish whales are “ballenas” (pronounced ba-YEH-nas in Spain).
When we did the whale watching cruise in Samaná, Dominican Republic, earlier this month, with a terrific Canadian marine biologist named Kim leading the boat, it sounded like she said “vajena”. As in vajayjay.

Though it actually  makes sense with the local dialect (her gringo accent notwithstanding):

– a “b” and “v” are almost interchangeable (in fact you even see a town Veron spelled as Beron sometimes on the side of taxis)
– an “ll” is pronounced like a j (as opposed to a y or “lli” as in million)
– the “s” at the end of the word is dropped in the D.R.

So it sounds over the loudspeaker like “the vajayjay dives at regular intervals” <snickers>