Comments on: Santo Domingo – elections and a few photos

By: Dr. Filomena » The Shoeshine Boy Act

Dr. Filomena » The Shoeshine Boy Act — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:23:11 +0000

[...] Jose Miguel caught my attention in the Dominican Republic a year ago with that sunny smile and entrepreneurial spirit. Which is not even a tiny fraction of the attention the Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor is getting exactly on the one-year-in-office anniversary. What has he done? Apparently, he made good on his promise to clean the national football team’s shoes if they won in the decisive match against Russia, which took place last Wednesday. It was stated immediately that the PM kept his word, but no material evidence was provided, except for a sad-looking shoe brush, which immediately raised doubts regarding the claims of the PM cleaning up. [...]

By: dr.filomena

dr.filomena — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:40:38 +0000

Thanks for the link, pijanec, although I do not believe in “can’t be done”. The only question is that of the will (an financial support) to do it. That and time.

It seems rather perverted to see millions of dollars being spent on the construction of dreamlike golf courses by the ocean where the greens are made of special grass that can be watered by salty water pumped directly from the sea, just a few dozen kilometres from the site photographed above.

By: pijanec

pijanec — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:29:54 +0000

Well then they need to invent magical formula for making soil. Their whole island is devastated. They tried to fix it (by massive planting of trees) some years back when there was still a chance but failed. Here is an typical example what it is like today.

http://www.ired.com/pix/news/mkt/haiti.jpg

You can’t fix that in tropical climate. No wonder you can find a lot of Haitians on every Caribbean island. A lot of Haitians also die trying to leave their country.

By: dr.filomena

dr.filomena — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:33:07 +0000

@pijanec: I’ve heard this about Haiti before and do hope there is a chance that the destroyed part of the island recovers sometime in the future. It should serve well to remind us all of what lasting damage man is doing to the Earth.

By: pijanec

pijanec — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:42:54 +0000

Nice photos.

Haiti can’t catch up anymore. When there is no more forest cover in the tropical (typically)bad weather, soil is washed away. Instead of lush green island Haiti is now a “stone country” where they can’t have agriculture and where they can’t even cook anymore, because there is no electricity and no woods to make a fire. Hence the problems are permanent…

By: dr.filomena

dr.filomena — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:26:03 +0000

@P: Hey, thanks! Written in haste, so please pardon the post’s unpolished nature. There is so much to tell about this country. I do hope Haiti catches up somewhat. I didn’t understand the details on Kosovo so will refrain from commenting on that, but I did understand Kosovo, Albanians, Serbs, lots of children, autonomy, independence. Will not jump to conclusions despite the urge to do so with the clearly evident attitude Dominicans have towards Haitians, many of whom are in the DR as illegal aliens.

@Camille: So glad you enjoyed this Hope I find the time to share more.

By: Camille

Camille — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:04:59 +0000

Thank YOU!!! I love getting your perspective on your travels.

By: pengovsky

pengovsky — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:59:55 +0000

Hey, great post!

I’m quite impressed that a presiednt of a small Carribeean nation, half-way across the world can be bothered with Kosovo, especially since his country (and its immediate neighbour) is not exactly lacking problems…