Some things are universal/Algunas cosas son universales

One of the first lessons I learned in my global studies classes at San Jose State was that things are universal. I took that to mean that we share the world as a system. Economies work together (and sometimes don't, shutting out poorer economies, but hey, that's just business and it proves my point). McDonald's is everywhere. We even have cognates between languages; words that are spelled and pronounced the same way (or very close to it) and that have the same meaning. Like universal.

Last night I learned that some things, like hanging out, don't differ much over here. Indhira and I went to the 'hood, pretty far from our comfy bubble in the nice part of town, to kick it with some of her friends.

Getting there was an adventure in and of itself. Traffic was hell, though not for the usual reasons of a million people rushing in opposite chaotic directions. We drove right into a parade/rally supporting presidential candidate Danilo Medina. People were crammed into the beds of pickup trucks, yelling their support and waving purple flags. Some whizzed by on motorcycles with flags. There was a marching band and everything.

I'll break here to explain a few things about Dominican politics. Purple is the color of Danilo's party, Partido de la Liberación Dominicana. It's basically a two-party system here, with Danilo and Hipólito Mejía representing Partido Revolucionario Dominicano. The party's color is white. And instead of referring to candidates by their last names, they are referred to by their first names. 

I really wanted to take a picture of the rally/parade, but it was all asses and elbows in terms of how packed the streets were, and people here aren't exactly demure. One guy reached into the car window to (presumably) shake my hand. I just gave him a shy smile and kept my hands in my lap. Whipping out a camera in that mess would have meant I come home down one camera. Plus we were moving at a crawl, and I wouldn't get good image quality as we bumped over the poorly paved streets.

We arrived at a colmado, which I described once before as a corner store type thing. This colmado had music blaring (salsa, bachata, and merengue), people flowing in and out, and tons of people hanging out on the sidewalk in front. There was a table for dominoes. Everyone had beer. Indhira brought her hookah. We danced--well, they danced actual salsa and merengue steps. I just kinda shook my ass all around. It was a lot like the parties I attend in the States, just with more dancing and better music.

And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. The entire neighborhood turned out, from kids to grandparents. We dined on some street food, particularly this delicious thing made with green platanos and hot sauce that was to die for. 

It was like this on almost every corner and every street in that neighborhood. Neighbors all know each other and hang out. It's a stark contrast from my building in the States; I live in a renovated Victorian house that's been split into four apartments. I've met two of the other apartment tenants (two couples) only once and all I know of the other tenants is that they're complete jackasses who slam doors and scream swear words in the middle of the night, and who call the cops on our cable guy for being parked in a red zone. 

I digress. It had a point. Americans are jerks, Dominicans are cool. Let's continue.

The whole evening was so chill. It was perfect for me, to get out and relax and see a side of the city that I haven't yet seen. I didn't come to the Dominican Republic to sit in my room in my fancy apartment. I came to see what this country is all about.

I didn't take a lot of pictures from last night, mostly because I don't want to treat the people here like they're part of some National Geographic documentary. I respect them enough not to run around with a camera and snap pictures like I'm at the zoo. 

The whole evening was the best night since I got here, and I'm glad I got to go out and see more of the country I still know so little about. I also took a lesson from the night. I'm going to go out and live. I will be bad at Spanish.  Nike put it best when they said, "just do it." I just did it last night, and I ended up having the time of my life.