Finding the Beat: Asking for Stage Times at Dominican Street Festivals
First Beats in Santo Domingo I still remember the first time I chased music down the Malecón in Santo Domingo. Ten years ago I was a fresh-faced expat who could order a cold Presidente but didn’t know how to ask when the next merengue band would come on. The sun was sliding into the Caribbean, […]
Talking to Dominican Plumbers: Water-Pressure Complaints and Parts Names
When the Shower Becomes a Drizzle Three months after I moved into a pastel-green apartment in Santo Domingo Este, my morning shower performed a magic trick—it vanished. One minute I had a respectable stream; the next, a tired drip that couldn’t rinse a coffee cup. I marched out, shampoo still in my hair, and waved […]
Colombian Comedor Ejecutivo Lunches: Ordering Three-Course Meals Like a Local
From Santo Domingo to Medellín—My Introduction to the “Comedor Ejecutivo” I still remember the first time I traded the Caribbean humidity of Santo Domingo for Medellín’s crisp mountain air. I had landed at José María Córdova airport famished, and my Paisa friend Juan insisted we skip the touristy stuff and head straight to a tiny […]
Applying for a Colombian Pension Visa: Paperwork, Interview Phrases, and the Cross-Caribbean Spanish Adventure
I was standing in the air-conditioned hallway of the Colombian consulate in Santo Domingo, clutching a folder so thick it deserved its own frequent-flyer miles. While I waited, a Dominican gentleman beside me whispered, “Tú verás, manito, eso es rápido,” assuring me the process would be quick. Moments later a Colombian official emerged and greeted […]
Renting a Mountain Cabin Near Jarabacoa: Reservation Spanish & Safety
Roosters at Dawn: How a Last-Minute Cabin Plan Became My Spanish Classroom The first time I tried to book a mountain cabin in Jarabacoa, my Dominican friend Carlos swore, “Eso es fácil, manito, lo resolvemos por WhatsApp.” I believed him—after all, I’d survived ten hurricane seasons, two bachata break-ups, and a dozen weekend hops to […]
Medellín Book-Club Spanish: Hosting and Discussing Novels
Last Tuesday night, under the soft glow of my apartment’s bombillos ahorradores, I realized my three worlds were colliding. I had invited my Dominican neighbor Félix, two Colombian friends from Envigado, and a visiting Canadian expat to my monthly book-club in Medellín. The novel on the docket was Junot Díaz’s “La breve y maravillosa vida […]
From Plátano to Planet: Food Sustainability Lessons from a Colombian Farmers’ Co-Op
A Morning Arrival That Smelled Like Cacao I still remember the humid dawn when I first rolled up to the campesino co-op in San Vicente, Antioquia, my backpack heavy with a thermos of coffee that turned out to be redundant. The scent of freshly roasted cacao danced through the mist, coaxing me awake better than […]
How I Survived My First Dominican Property Tax Payment—and the Spanish Vocabulary That Saved Me
I was halfway through a Sunday mango batida when the realization hit me: the deadline to pay my Impuesto al Patrimonio Inmobiliario—locals just say IPI—was forty-eight hours away. Ten years in Santo Domingo and I still manage to tangle myself in Dominican bureaucracy like a tourist fresh off the cruise ship. The difference now is […]
Wax on Words: Navigating Dominican Surf-Competition Registration Without Wiping Out Your Spanish
That First Time I Tried to Register with Sunburned Shoulders I still remember crouching under the bleached palm-leaf awning in Cabarete, board dripping, ankle leash tangling round my flip-flops. A volunteer shoved a wrinkled ficha de inscripción into my salty hands and asked, “¿Ya tienes tu seguro, bro?” I’d been living in the Dominican Republic […]
Colombian Biometric ID Renewal: Fingerprint & Photo Spanish That Opens Doors
How a Smudged Thumbprint Sent Me Down a Linguistic Rabbit Hole Two months ago, while renewing my cédula de extranjería at the Registraduría Nacional in Bogotá, I pressed my thumb on the scanner and heard the clerk sigh: “Señor, su huella está borrosa.” My print looked like abstract art, and suddenly I was the guy […]