It's been my experience Dominicans have a lot more respect for foreigners who do not flash their perceived wealth or throw money around like they own the place.
I think Dominicans have respect for foreigners who engage in " regular " dominican daily activities ( ie, who do not flash, do not own the place, like you say )
only because said foreigner does not
need to.
It has served me well to do stuff that a tourist/expat would normally not do.
Clean my conuco instead of paying somebody to do it,
Go out and fish shrimps and crabs in the river,
Visit humble people and not balk at a
sanitario,
Use public transport ( carro publico, motoconchos, guguas, etc ....) instead of taking my SUV,
etc, etc,......... bear in mind, I do that stuff because I want to, not because I have to.
However I was reminded very recently that wealth--- at least perceived wealth--- counts for A LOT in the Dominican society.
I normally do house-motoconcho-carro publico- POP, and interact with people who I "know" and who " know" me.
On the way back, I decided to take a different
liña of carro publico to eliminate the motoconcho ride at the end of the trip, and get the driver to drop me off at my house on his way to destination.
So I was in this carro publico and they were like dr1ers😆😆😆, name dropping on who owned what, whose house couldnt be seen from the road ( the pinacle of society to dominicans 🤔🤔), etc ...... I didnt know the driver or the passengers. ( they are going to another further away from my nearby local village ).
At some point they are talking about a local politician ( who is now a senator ) and how he only got to buy that piece of land because he was politically connected.
I pointed out that it was probably untrue ( I actually know it as a fact, its land adjacent to mine, bought at the same time from the same person ).
Now, I was dressed in scruffy jeans, a T-shirt and jump boots that were fairly dirty. I also had scratches on my face and arms as I was cleaning some land at my place for the past few weeks.
Well, to my surprise, I will admit, the driver and another passenger talked down to me.
" Young one, how could you know " " you dont know how things work here " etc, etc,
I thought about chewing them out there and then, but decided against it.
As we drove through the nearby village ( where i normally take the carro publico to ), I told the driver that when we got to xxxxxxx a few ks away, to drop me off at the first house on the left.
I could see the cogs in his head chug along slowly and painfully....... He asked if was the big white and green house. I said yes.
He and the other passenger who were being high and mighty had a change of mind, and were sorry to have spoken to me like that ( yeah, right ....) .
Bunch of Donkeys.
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