America ... Land of the FREE? I dont think so :)

Things are quite comical here in the DR.
In America we have this false sense of freedom. In fact, we are not free at all. We are held in bondage to many laws. Some good, some bad, some ugly. Let me explain:
In America, you cannot

• Ride on a motorcyle while carrying a washing machine, or a 20 foot long piece of PVC pipe, or ride 3 other passengers. (these are all things we have SEEN with our own eyes!!)

• Put 40 people in the back of a pickup truck and allow them to jump out at their destination (without fully stopping the vehicle)

• Let your child go into a store to buy your beer and cigarettes OR let them drive your scooter to pick it up for you. (no I am NOT condoning, just sayin)

• Put 50 speakers into the back of your car/truck and BLAST music at such a decibel that you could immediately go deaf.

• Stack 10 ginormous bags of rice onto your head and walk around. I mean, afterall they "could" fall off of your head and hurt somebody else!

• Rip all your doors off of your mini-van, call it a "taxi" and pile 100 people into it.

• Stack so much bagged rice into the back of a pickup truck that it is leaning! Oh, and lets add a few people to the top and let them ride too .... I knew you'd have to see the pic of this one to believe it, so here ya go! (look closely and you will see 2 ppl on the top)

Other things we have noticed here:

• You do not have to wear a seat belt (probably because there just arent enough seatbelts for 10 ppl in one car, so why wear one if you all cant have one??)

• There is no such a thing as a speed "limit" and stop signs (if you are lucky enough to find one) are merely "suggestions". The only thing that will slow you down is a 16" tall speed bump that could probably launch you into outer space. And the fact that there are missing man-hole covers that could eat your front motorcycle tire. Oh, and I cant leave out the fact that there are pot-holes big enough to SWALLOW a Mini Cooper (maybe thats why I havent seen any of those here).

• You can wear whatever you want to here, as there doesnt seem to be much of a fashion rule ... if you want to wear neon orange shirt with baby pink pants, you CAN!! If you want to wear your hair rollers to the grocery store - GO for it!! If you are a guy, you CAN wear pink shoes. Seriously. I am not kidding!!! I love not having to worry about how I look!!! I havent worn make-up in forever - afterall I dont have to look at myself, lol ... we only have one tiny mirror in this house so I never have to see how bad I really look!!!!!

• You can walk into a Pharmacy and buy anything you want ... I walked in and bought some antibiotics, albuterol, and steriods. Yep, sure did

Oh my word, there are so many more things I could write, but I am sure you all have better things to do today. I just hope you got a little chuckle out of some of the things that have amused us!
I have vowed to keep my camera in hand at ALL times .... surely dont wanna miss anything (:
For those of you who Facebook, I am sure you have already seen some of the sillies that I have posted. Enjoy!!