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Spanish Vocabulary Navigating Cost-of-Living Chats
The Day Rent Went Up and the Conversation Got Real A humid Tuesday in Santo Domingo, I was sipping chinola juice at Don Julio’s colmado
July 2, 2025
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The Day Rent Went Up and the Conversation Got Real A humid Tuesday in Santo Domingo, I was sipping chinola juice at Don Julio’s colmado
A Coffee, a QR Code, and an Awkward Pause Last December I ducked into Café Gato Tuerto near Parque Duarte, pulled out my phone, and
A Laptop, a Hurricane, and a Drained Cushion I was halfway through editing a YouTube tutorial in Santo Domingo when the power flickered. Tropical Storm
Dawn on Avenida Bolívar The ceiling fans were losing their battle with the Caribbean heat when I slipped off my sandals and stepped onto a
“¿Te animas a hablarlo?” That question—“Do you feel like talking about it?”—rolled off my Dominican friend Mariela’s tongue one muggy Tuesday after I’d confessed how
I realized my phone was more powerful than my wallet while juggling a coconut paleta, a dripping credit card, and a line of impatient shoppers
The first time I bargained in Spanish, I was drowning in merengue. It happened at Santo Domingo’s Pulga de la Duarte—a maze of plastic tarps,
I nearly turned my emergency fund into sandwich vouchers the day I sat across from Don Héctor, a silver-haired broker in Santiago de los Caballeros.
I learned the hard way that plastic paradise can turn into fee purgatory. One Friday in Santo Domingo’s Zona Colonial, I treated visiting friends to
The first time I tried to haggle rent in Santo Domingo, I relied on little more than Google Translate and Caribbean optimism. I met Don