Santo Raton, Dominican Republic

I've actually heard people say that they like this city. In fact, there is this expat website where I saw a person post that they came to visit and they liked it so much they want to move here. I didn't reply, or give my opinion, because I am fully aware that I'm a bit jaded. Wallowing through piles of trash isn't my idea of a nice city. Now that I have Fresa to walk I am even MORE aware of the trash because she, of course, is on the constant look out for good trash to eat. Do you know how many chicken bones are on the streets here??? Ugh.

So this morning, a nice calm, quiet typical Sunday morning, a friend and I decided to walk to the grocery store. I'd been up since 5:30 am and had already ventured into the streets for a puppy walk. For groceries I'll leave Fresa at home. Ok, so on with it. We're walking down the street and trying to avoid as much trash as we can when I stop dead in my tracks at the sight of this...

Oh, Santo Domingo, seriously? Strangely enough this pobrecito raton wasn't even squished. He looked like he was gorging on trash, started to walk away and dropped dead in this tracks, which also happened to be in the middle of the sidewalk. I wonder how long that rat will lay there? Usually dead dogs stay for weeks. I guess it's hard to have a city dead animal picker upper when you don't even have a sewer system.