Nope, this is not an article on my foodie tastes, but a reflection on my recent trip to the Dominican Republic. Honestly, I just wish I was still there, what a lovely country and such charming people.
Definitively the “Republica” as the locals frequently address his country is set on the paradise, warm weather year-round driving loads of tourists from around the globe. Actually is the most visited country in the Caribbean driving the Tourism sector up in the economy.
And without a doubt the country is doing way better than Haiti, the other nation sharing the island known as ‘La Hispaniola’, and way better performance can be drawn by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per Capita. The Dominican Republic is the ninth largest economy in Latin America, despite being a relatively small country.
Is not that the GDP per capita is sevenfold the one of Haiti, again the two countries sharing the island, it is also the growth rate outpacing his neighbours. A growth rate that has exploded significantly in the last 10 years.
One of the reasons of such growth according to the locals is the investment of their government in education, effectively if we look at the literacy rates for individuals fifteen and up the progression is not only significant but above the comparison group, and yes, still some 8% to 100% literacy rate.
In fact, one of the not so surprising facts of my visit to the countryside is that the sugar cane plantations, for one, are manned mostly by unskilled Haitians rather than Dominicans. Haitians crossing borders through the mountain ranges are more willing to take on the low wage jobs into an economy which is still primarily dependent upon natural resources and government services. Although the service sector has recently surpassed mining and agriculture as the leading employer of Dominicans (mostly a result of growth in tourism and Free Trade Zones), agriculture remains the most important sector in terms of domestic consumption and is in second place behind mining in terms of export earnings.
So far so good? Well that the sweet part of the equation, a lovely country, people really charming, political stability, security … but the bitter kicks in when you walk some of the side streets of the Colonial District of the capital city, Santo Domingo, or some of the dream beaches around Punta Cana, or Playa Bavaro.
Nothing can quickly ruin your perfect walk by the ancient neighbourhood, some 500 years old, or spoil you perfect picture with that coconut tree over the seashore than a plastic canister. Yes, ‘rubbish’, ‘garbage’, as one thing is literacy and another is environmental education. The government needs to address this rather seriously, people are feeling ok about freely disposing of plastic bottles, soda cans, and so on. Materials that mother nature is not gonna degrade and will be there on show for years to come continuing to ruin the experience of tourism, not to mention breaking the sustainability of the ecosystem.
This goes beyond me feeling sad about this or that picture, with raw materials seeing a 15 years low record, you want to develop your economy into tourism and other services based economies. The good news is that the Government is starting to realize that factor and I hope to see their promise of sustainable tourism and ecotourism a reality on everybody everyday endeavours.
jaume ayerbe 