Dominican Republic: why I am nervous and excited at the same time?

Hola guys, I'm feeling rather conflicted at the moment. I am planning this huge trip through Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Florida - it is a part of the world I have never been to before. On one hand, yeah there's a part of me that's very excited about traveling and seeing something brand new. On the other hand, I'm nervous about the Dominican leg of the trip. I'm just being honest here - it is the public transport that scares me. You see, the climate there is identical to that of Singapore - so the fact that it is on a tropical island has zero appeal to me; but I wanted to go there for the culture. So I am actually flying into Punta Cana in the East and working my way slowly across the island overland by public transport and flying out of Santo Domingo. The way I am doing it will be living amongst the locals and traveling with them - quite the opposite of the tourists who stay in their five-star resorts and have minimum contact with the locals there. So, this grand adventure should be rather interesting right? But why am I nervous then?

Holidays should be fun and not stressful, right?

Now tourism is big business in a place like the Dominican Republic - it is not a rich country and tourists bring hard cash. Loads of Americans and Canadians visit every year and there are plenty of resorts catering for those tourists - but I thought, I don't want to stay in a hotel or resort full of Americans. No way, I wanted to go local and experience the local Dominican culture. Most of the Americans are probably looking to go to a place like that for the beaches and lush tropical vegetation - for me, the only attraction is the local culture (as I truly hate hot weather anyway). So I am planning a series of AirBNB stays across the country - some hosts have been great, others have been not very helpful and it is the extremely confusing local bus system that confuses me. I feel a bit apprehensive about using public transport there, but taxis there are so shockingly expensive. It's almost like a thinly veiled mugging, "fuck you gringo, hand over your money. You wanna go to the next village down the road? It is about 4 km, so that's US$40. You're a foreigner, you're rich, so pay up gringo." Yeah it does feel like that when I look at the hideous prices for taxis there.

It reminds me of the horrible experiences I've had in Indonesia - I've been to so many countries in the world (with two more on this trip, that will bring the grand total up to 53 so far), but the most vile country in the world has got to be Indonesia by a long way because of the immoral way ripping off foreigners has become a national hobby for them. I have used public transport in places like Tunisia and Sri Lanka before without much problem, so I can't imagine the Dominican Republic to be much worse. My host in Bayahibe said that biggest problem one may encounter is the language barrier as bus drivers don't speak English - but since I do speak Spanish, I have little to worry about. And surely their buses can't be as bad as the ones in Sri Lanka and I even survived that. I'm not worried about Puerto Rico or the US, it's just I am worried what awaits me in the Dominican Republic. Friends who have been there told me that it is pretty okay and I do sincerely hope that they are right. But you know, I can't help but feel nervous and worried - but what good would worrying do? I have been bombarding my AirBNB hosts with questions and one of them has been fantastic in answering all my questions (all that hard work and I'm staying one night with her). She is incredibly nice!

I have survived public transport in Tunisia - could it be worse?

What makes the buses so confusing then? I was warned that the schedules are irregular - there may be a time table at the bus stop but the buses will come when they wanna come. You may need to change buses even on short trips, so you need to tell the bus driver where you want to go and he would say something like, "well I'm not going all the way there, but I am going as far as La Romana and then you need to change to another bus there - I'll drop you off at La Romana." Then you have to make sure you are indeed dropped off at the right place for your connection - all this is pretty straight forward for the locals who know the routes well, but kinda adventurous for tourists trying to do the same thing. There are different kinds of buses - so you have the regular scheduled buses between the big towns, there are the "guaguas" which is like a minibus that goes once it is filled up (very similar to the Louage system in Tunisia), there are the "publicos" which are a kind of shared taxi and then there are mototaxis - which are literally motorcycle taxis which take you short distances around the town as a pillion passenger. So yes, there are loads of alternatives to the rip-off "fuck you gringo" taxis but to use any of the above would require a working knowledge of Spanish. That is why so many tourists who don't speak Spanish just accept that they will be ripped off by the "fuck you gringo" taxi drivers.

Well, the last time I got so confident about navigating my way around Indonesia because I speak Malay, I got into big trouble. Even on a really short trip the last time I was in Bintan, I still got into trouble and had to use my epic pasar Melayu to get me out of trouble. My Spanish is much better than my Malay, so at least the language barrier is going to be far less of an issue - indeed, my knowledge of French and Arabic did serve me well when I was traveling in Tunisia. I don't know if I am being unduly worried - what good will worrying do anyway? I've booked my tickets, I may as well throw myself into it with the right attitude and hope for the best. There have been times when traveling in third world countries have brought me so much stress I honestly thought, "fuck this, I am not enjoying myself, this is so fucking stressful - this is not my idea of a holiday, what the hell am I doing here?" I have had that feeling in places like Vietnam, China, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Morocco and of course, Indonesia. But usually those moments will pass and I will just soldier on before I find something interesting that will bring a smile to my face. Fingers crossed, the Dominican Republic will be kind to this gringo tourist. We shall see, que sera sera. Many thanks for reading, muchas gracias.

Vamos a la playa.