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Its easier to name the one's that receive lots of tourists because they are only a handful. About 5% of the coastline is dedicated to mass tourism. That should give you an idea.
The major cities have tropical climates, but the country actually has the greatest diversity in climate in the Caribbean. The type of tropical climate varies too. Santo Domingo is unquestionably hotter and much more humid than Santiago, for example. The nights are also much warmer and muggier in Santo Domingo while in Santiago its much cooler.
They also have semi-arid and desert regions with very low humidity.
Many valleys in the Central Mountains have year-round spring like weather, and some of the valleys are so high that in the winter months temperatures dip below freezing, as can be seen in this video:
It's the only place in the Caribbean where that is possible.
Most tourists that visit the DR would never guess how diverse DR's climate is. The reason is simple, about 70% of the tourists visit Punta Cana and stay there. This is what they experience and can't imagine the rest of the country being any different. Bavaro Beach is the most internationally famous Dominican beach.
What's the weather like in Santiago?
And what's the biggest city in the Central Valley?
People in Mississippi are paid in dollars, so of course when counting the exchange rate they earn more. However, Mississippi has no major cities and definitely no public transportation. Living in the sticks in Mississippi can mean you're hours away from a hospital with specialists. Though to be honest is is true if arts of upstate NY. There are many rural areas if the US with not bunch going in. And the culture in Mississippi sucks!
Jackson, while not huge, is a big enough area to have enough amenities and facilities. Same with the vast majority of Upstate NY.
For the OP, what about Guyana, as English is the official language, but its proximity to the Caribbean, Brazil, Surinam, French Guiana and even Venezuela could allow for a diverse cultural experience.
Interesting that the treatment of blacks from essentially the same roots would be so different in immediately adjacent South American countries. I read that Ecuador (which I was going to perhaps recommend you look into, OP - I know people from Canada who have moved there and love it but they are Quebecois and white) has a real issue between those citizens born of their black slavery ancestry and those who are (or are descended from) indigenous Ecuadoreans. I am sorry to hear that.
OP, once you begin to narrow down some countries that may indeed be welcoming and which intrigue you, I hope you will plan to visit them all (and spend at least a few weeks there if you can). Anything anyone says here, even if it is first hand experience for them, probably cannot come close to giving you a real feel for the place and the possibilities you may find once you visit.
I've heard ear drums the same thing about Ecuador from someone that has a parent from there. I've also heard that western Colombia/Choco and Esmeraldas in Ecuador are essentially the Blackest parts of those countries and have similar issues that you may find in like areas of the US. So, it can vary in those countries as well.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 02-28-2017 at 09:22 AM..
Jackson, while not huge, is a big enough area to have enough amenities and facilities. Same with the vast majority of Upstate NY.
For the OP, what about Guyana, as English is the official language, but its proximity to the Caribbean, Brazil, Surinam, French Guiana and even Venezuela could allow for a diverse cultural experience.
She wants to be in a Spanish speaking country and she speaks Spanish. And she likes Latin American cultures.
Often people who like learning languages prefer to go to countries with the language that they are studying.
She wants to be in a Spanish speaking country and she speaks Spanish. And she likes Latin American cultures.
Often people who like learning languages prefer to go to countries with the language that they are studying.
In that case, for a balance of Spanish and some English, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras may be options in that regard. On the Caribbean coast of those countries, where the Black population is concentrated, you have people that descended from people that came from English speaking Caribbean islands that came as workers. Some Spanish speaking workers may have come by way of Cuba. There's also the Spanish speaking Garifuna, which are of African and Native descent. So, those countries may offer what she is looking for and some familiarity at the same time.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 02-28-2017 at 09:40 AM..
I've heard ear drums the same thing about Ecuador from someone that has a parent from there. I've also heard that southern Colombia/Choco and Esmeraldas in Ecuador are essentially the Blackest parts of those countries and have similar issues that you may find in like areas of the US. So, it can vary in those countries as well.
Someone else talked about the cultural 'lens' that we see things through - and I agree wholeheartedly with that description. I grew up in Canada though I had a lot of American influences in my life (my mother and her whole family were American, and my brother also was born in the US and has lived in the US since he was a teenager) and visited often, but, when I moved to the States myself as a mid-40s adult, I truly discovered how much of a 'cultural' difference there was - and that was just between 2 adjacent countries who speak the same language and watch, for the most part, the same television shows, etc. and two peoples who often think of ourselves as 'really the same' as each other in the greater sense (though we do have different political systems - and believe me that makes a lot more difference than most realize).
It was a big shock to me when I moved to the US to realize that I really didn't 'understand' or 'get' Americans at all. I have now spent about 20 years in the US in adulthood and I 'get' most of the attitudes I have seen in Americans - but it has taken that long (despite the fact that I am bright, interested, and intuitive, and knew I had to 'get' them to really 'be' American, no matter what my passport said). But, even that doesn't let me 'walk in the shoes' of any other person .. I may just understand the environment they live in and have a good guess as to what 'attitudes' they may emerge with as a result of that.
This observation/insight is relevant I think to this thread because the OP came in talking about wanting a 'non-racist environment' and stated she is black. That unfortunately seems to be a big part of how she views herself - probably because of that specifically American 'cultural lens'. So her ambition to get away to a 'latin American country' (which, by no means, means that she is just going to a Hispanic version of America .. which may be a problem too) seems to be influenced a lot by that impression she has of her world as a black person, and her qualifications for where she would like to go also seem to depend on where she has been/come from and the attitudes she 'expects' to be prevalent everywhere just because she has a certain skin colour.
Because she is so conscious of those things - which come from the 'cultural lens' she developed in the US, and a specific part of the US at that, she may have a fair bit of difficulty I think adjusting to attitudes about and even from black persons in other countries with different histories and cultures. Wherever she goes, she may be looking for how people treat her and seeing whatever they do through her American 'cultural lens' and not recognize that it may be about other things that have nothing to do with her happening to be darker skinned. That could be very detrimental to her feeling comfortable or to adjusting to the way things really are wherever she lands. I hope that is not the case, but I can see it might be and she should be aware of that.
It would be ideal if we could just all view ourselves and others as 'people' who want to do x, y, or z or who have certain talents/training/interests, etc. but apparently that is not possible in this world (or if I say that, someone will be on me because I happen to have been born with a very light skin colour so they believe I cannot know - and to a great extent they are correct - what it is like to be in their shoes .. though, NO ONE can know what it is like to be another person anyway, regardless of colour or gender, etc.).
I know it is almost impossible for the OP to just completely drop thinking of herself as black but the ideal would be if that could become just barely incidental to her reasons for wanting to move south. More important should be that she wants to raise chickens, that she thinks she might be able to afford to have the land to do that elsewhere than where she currently is, that she has a great interest in health care systems in other countries, or that she just wants an adventure before she is too old or encumbered to have one.
At any rate I think the discussion about how different peoples in different countries view each other and outsiders in general is useful and interesting here.
In that case, for a balance of Spanish and some English, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras may be options in that regard. On the Caribbean coast of those countries, where the Black population is concentrated, you have people that descended from people that came from English speaking Caribbean islands that came as workers. Some Spanish speaking workers may have come by way of Cuba. There's also the Spanish speaking Garifuna, which are of African and Native descent. So, those countries may offer what she is looking for and some familiarity at the same time.
Did she says specifically she is looking to be around people descended from English speaking countries? No. She's actually looking to jump into Latin America full on.
She's not even specifically saying she has to be in parts of Latin America where there are a lot of Black people. She just wants to know that the conditions are safe.
Frankly, I think it's racist and offensive to assume that a Black person ALWAYS wants to go to the Blackest region. I've been to Paraguay, which has few Blacks. When I was in Colombia, I did not go to el Choco (Blackest and a very remote part of the country).
To tell you the truth, in a number of Latin American countries, the areas where Black people are overly concentrated tend to be poor, and in the case of el Choco that was a FARC stronghold.
You'll need to balance your safety and comfort (we have different ideas of that). It doesn't make sense to move from the US to move into a slum or high poverty region in Latin America. The US dollar goes far, anyone with decent money coming in can get some nice places in Latin America.
As an American familiar with the region I would recommend she stay near big cities, where one is assured good internet access, reasonable distance from medical care, etc. At least until she learns the country on the ground and can be a bit more adventures (particularly going with locals).
Have you even been to anywhere in Latin America, or do you just read up on regions with Latin America with lots of Black people?
Someone else talked about the cultural 'lens' that we see things through - and I agree wholeheartedly with that description. I grew up in Canada though I had a lot of American influences in my life (my mother and her whole family were American, and my brother also was born in the US and has lived in the US since he was a teenager) and visited often, but, when I moved to the States myself as a mid-40s adult, I truly discovered how much of a 'cultural' difference there was - and that was just between 2 adjacent countries who speak the same language and watch, for the most part, the same television shows, etc. and two peoples who often think of ourselves as 'really the same' as each other in the greater sense (though we do have different political systems - and believe me that makes a lot more difference than most realize).
It was a big shock to me when I moved to the US to realize that I really didn't 'understand' or 'get' Americans at all. I have now spent about 20 years in the US in adulthood and I 'get' most of the attitudes I have seen in Americans - but it has taken that long (despite the fact that I am bright, interested, and intuitive, and knew I had to 'get' them to really 'be' American, no matter what my passport said). But, even that doesn't let me 'walk in the shoes' of any other person .. I may just understand the environment they live in and have a good guess as to what 'attitudes' they may emerge with as a result of that.
This observation/insight is relevant I think to this thread because the OP came in talking about wanting a 'non-racist environment' and stated she is black. That unfortunately seems to be a big part of how she views herself - probably because of that specifically American 'cultural lens'. So her ambition to get away to a 'latin American country' (which, by no means, means that she is just going to a Hispanic version of America .. which may be a problem too) seems to be influenced a lot by that impression she has of her world as a black person, and her qualifications for where she would like to go also seem to depend on where she has been/come from and the attitudes she 'expects' to be prevalent everywhere just because she has a certain skin colour.
Because she is so conscious of those things - which come from the 'cultural lens' she developed in the US, and a specific part of the US at that, she may have a fair bit of difficulty I think adjusting to attitudes about and even from black persons in other countries with different histories and cultures. Wherever she goes, she may be looking for how people treat her and seeing whatever they do through her American 'cultural lens' and not recognize that it may be about other things that have nothing to do with her happening to be darker skinned. That could be very detrimental to her feeling comfortable or to adjusting to the way things really are wherever she lands. I hope that is not the case, but I can see it might be and she should be aware of that.
It would be ideal if we could just all view ourselves and others as 'people' who want to do x, y, or z or who have certain talents/training/interests, etc. but apparently that is not possible in this world (or if I say that, someone will be on me because I happen to have been born with a very light skin colour so they believe I cannot know - and to a great extent they are correct - what it is like to be in their shoes .. though, NO ONE can know what it is like to be another person anyway, regardless of colour or gender, etc.).
I know it is almost impossible for the OP to just completely drop thinking of herself as black but the ideal would be if that could become just barely incidental to her reasons for wanting to move south. More important should be that she wants to raise chickens, that she thinks she might be able to afford to have the land to do that elsewhere than where she currently is, that she has a great interest in health care systems in other countries, or that she just wants an adventure before she is too old or encumbered to have one.
At any rate I think the discussion about how different peoples in different countries view each other and outsiders in general is useful and interesting here.
Well said. It's a bold decision and I do wish the OP well with whatever choice they make.
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