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It was raining heavily so, soaking wet, I ducked into La Guira. The bartender was Dominican, had been the US all of five months and spoke very little English. He was watching Univision, but switched to the Steve Wilkos Show in my honor. The place was rather dark and had no other customers. I asked the bartender about the cost of airfares to the Dominican Republic, and whether the city was also worth visiting, not just the beach, but of course, there is no place that isn't worth visiting in my book. I told him I liked to travel and take photos. He probably missed much of what I said, but we tried to make conversation. Later, though, the owner came in and started acting all weird because of my camera. I explained that was visiting Trenton from Philly, and took photos so I could tell people about his place, and I was having a great time until he showed up, and I would never come back since he was being so unfriendly and rude, so he said, with the hardest, most annoyed face, "Don't come back!" I didn't appreciate this old crank ruining my excellent mood, so I called him an asshole before I left. The day's tone was set by this little confrontation, because later I would get into a back and forth with those soldiers outside the recruiting center.



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