Managing the payroll

Puerto Bahia Marina - the only guest in sight

Here in Samana, Dominican Republic....the world works differently. While in most part of the world, the price of things is advertised.......here it's more nuanced. For example, let's examine the process of actually arriving here on a sailboat.

The DR actually operates like a premium hotel in terms of tipping (and by tipping I mean bribing). In a hotel, you're dealing with the doorman, valet, maitre d', concierge, and sommelier.........Here it's Customs, Immigration, the Army, Bureau of Taxation, Drug Inspector, and various "operators" at the dock.

Good news from the immigration lady......."Senor, it's only $80 for a passport stamp".

Tom/Kirstin- "Great......here's $80"

Immigration Lady- "That will be $100"

Tom/Kirstin- What? Oh, now we get it.

Customs guy- "The inspection is free senor, but you are invited to make a contribution"

Tom/Kirstin- now another $20 lighter in the wallet.

The same thing with 4 other very eager official looking folks. The interesting thing is that we knew all these people from having been in this same exact slip in Samana 2 years ago on our way back from the Caribbean to Miami Beach. They remembered us..........as good tippers, no doubt. After paying for our drug inspection, the inspector drowsily opened one cabinet (the same one he opened two years ago) and then announced his inspection complete.

"Buenos dias, senor y senora". Same to you.

For future reference we are making sure that next time in the DR we have lots of small bills to hand out.
The sketchy style of commerce notwithstanding, Samana is utterly beautiful. The pools, restaurants, water........everything. We only regret that we got here about 1 month too early to see the whales that apparently winter here in the bay. Maybe next time.