B
B. Self Reliant
I recently travelled to the Dominican Republic for 5 days. Needless to say, you know what my priority was when I got off the plane. My thoughts were, "If I can find the ganj everything else will fall into place."
First I'll give some context. I only buy overseas if I feel completely safe. If I don't, I'll go without. Period. Also, I was at an all-inclusive resort that had a 10' brick wall & razor wire all around it, so if you're in a hostel or something this might not apply. My only contact with Dominican's that weren't working at the resort were the cigar vendors that walk along the beach.
The country is NOT known as being tolerant with drugs. Anything over 20 grams & you'll be considered a vendor. This isn't Grand Cayman or Mexico. Here's a link that gives the low down from a legal standpoint:
http://santodomingo.usembassy.gov/narcotics_arrest_in_dr-e.html
Here's the deal with getting it. I travelled with about 10 people, all who bought and smoked down there, and only one person managed to buy some from a resort employee. The feeling I got is that the jobs there are highly coveted and the employees weren't willing to risk their jobs to sell a few grams. When you see how the average Dominican lives outside the resorts, you'll understand. Even the person who DID manage to get some from an employee had to go through all kinds of bullshit in a country that goes by Island Time a.k.a. show up two hours late to give people their wares.
Around late afternoon, "cigar" vendors with backpacks on will start walking along the water line. They aren't allowed to come up past the high tide mark. If they do, and it happened once, security will be all over them and maybe even get physical. You definitely have to go expose yourself to get it. I simply said "ganja" and he whipped out some "10 gram" bags that are more like a short eighth with at least a gram of stems and seeds. All haggling happened as numbers drawn in the sand. Of course you'll have to buy some cigars too, even if just to have something to hide the small bags of ganj. They want American Dollars. They will try and push blow too. I got the impression that they didn't like selling ganj, only blow. Maybe it's because ganj is smelly and in a strict country it's hard to transport or something, I don't know. Never done it and never will, but thought I'd mention it to people interested.
I paid $50 per eighth or so, but only because two vendors walked away on me after trying to get a cheaper price and I was sick of having hotel security watch me buy "cigars." It's probably cheaper out in town, but given that hotel security is basically watching your back for you if you buy at the resort, it's worth it in my mind. They don't care about you, only that the vendors don't come up to the resort area of the beach.
The resort had papers, and I had brought a piece of foil for disposable pipes on the go, so I was set! The first joint I smoked was at 11 PM the night I got there, as I waded chest deep in the ocean. It was amazing, and the trip wouldn't have been half as good if I hadn't found any. Don't get me wrong, I would have had a great time, but having bud made it into a trip to remember! The bud is nothing great, but the high was perect for the location & mood of the island. There was more indica downer in it than I thought it would have, but I'm an indica guy, so I was stoked! It was very dark and different than anything I've seen outside of Africa, although as mentioned, I'm not very knowledgeable about sativas, so it could very well be common.
That's my DR report. It's only one person's experience, but I bought four times over 5 days, all from different vendors, and every time it was the same, so that should count for something.
First I'll give some context. I only buy overseas if I feel completely safe. If I don't, I'll go without. Period. Also, I was at an all-inclusive resort that had a 10' brick wall & razor wire all around it, so if you're in a hostel or something this might not apply. My only contact with Dominican's that weren't working at the resort were the cigar vendors that walk along the beach.
The country is NOT known as being tolerant with drugs. Anything over 20 grams & you'll be considered a vendor. This isn't Grand Cayman or Mexico. Here's a link that gives the low down from a legal standpoint:
http://santodomingo.usembassy.gov/narcotics_arrest_in_dr-e.html
Here's the deal with getting it. I travelled with about 10 people, all who bought and smoked down there, and only one person managed to buy some from a resort employee. The feeling I got is that the jobs there are highly coveted and the employees weren't willing to risk their jobs to sell a few grams. When you see how the average Dominican lives outside the resorts, you'll understand. Even the person who DID manage to get some from an employee had to go through all kinds of bullshit in a country that goes by Island Time a.k.a. show up two hours late to give people their wares.
Around late afternoon, "cigar" vendors with backpacks on will start walking along the water line. They aren't allowed to come up past the high tide mark. If they do, and it happened once, security will be all over them and maybe even get physical. You definitely have to go expose yourself to get it. I simply said "ganja" and he whipped out some "10 gram" bags that are more like a short eighth with at least a gram of stems and seeds. All haggling happened as numbers drawn in the sand. Of course you'll have to buy some cigars too, even if just to have something to hide the small bags of ganj. They want American Dollars. They will try and push blow too. I got the impression that they didn't like selling ganj, only blow. Maybe it's because ganj is smelly and in a strict country it's hard to transport or something, I don't know. Never done it and never will, but thought I'd mention it to people interested.
I paid $50 per eighth or so, but only because two vendors walked away on me after trying to get a cheaper price and I was sick of having hotel security watch me buy "cigars." It's probably cheaper out in town, but given that hotel security is basically watching your back for you if you buy at the resort, it's worth it in my mind. They don't care about you, only that the vendors don't come up to the resort area of the beach.
The resort had papers, and I had brought a piece of foil for disposable pipes on the go, so I was set! The first joint I smoked was at 11 PM the night I got there, as I waded chest deep in the ocean. It was amazing, and the trip wouldn't have been half as good if I hadn't found any. Don't get me wrong, I would have had a great time, but having bud made it into a trip to remember! The bud is nothing great, but the high was perect for the location & mood of the island. There was more indica downer in it than I thought it would have, but I'm an indica guy, so I was stoked! It was very dark and different than anything I've seen outside of Africa, although as mentioned, I'm not very knowledgeable about sativas, so it could very well be common.
That's my DR report. It's only one person's experience, but I bought four times over 5 days, all from different vendors, and every time it was the same, so that should count for something.
