Dating Dilemma

The rains have ceased, for the most part, the sun is out for now , the month of February disappeared. February, famous for ...Valentines Day. I have been in an unusual situation, as I enjoy this wonderful country but feel stranded without the company I desire. I tire of feeling the fifth wheel, solitary with the parties and social circle here, which are not only small, but petty. As I have broadened more into the Dominican population, I am confronted by the Gringo Prophecy. All gringos bring money, and lots of it , into every situation from the Dominican perspective. And while it is more a cultural premise that you use whatever you have each day, having a Gringo friend means a never ending supply and there is no shame or guilt in spending it all at once, because tomorrow there will be more. It is impossible to distinguish between having a companion and being a bank. Or a provider of visas, a route out of the DR...the wonderful term 'Sanky Panky' is used regularly here. So after a brief dip of the toe into the pond, I found I have the reputation of being cheap (and thus undesireable from the Dominican dating perspective.) In search of a companion, with the hopes I could find one willing to live here at least part time, I thought would be not too hard. I have met friends of friends, I have been on internet dating sites, I have put myself out there. In three years I have amassed a list of men, that I cannot write off to bad luck, a personality problem, or just plain being a shit magnet. Why am I bringing this up, why is this pertinent to living in the DR? After review of my experiences, I wonder if being a bank isn't so bad....or how hard it would be to help someone get a visa... I have finally developed a sense of humor and have the ability to identify the scammers quickly on the internet, but the pattern that has been established only lends itself to humor and time wasted. In order of appearance, I went from a frugal-frugal man, complete with a coin purse and the ability to only read menus from right to left, to a man who liked opera and plastic surgery who had a double life with another family hidden, to a week in Florida on a boat with a 60 year old man living off his Mother, to an alcoholic narcissistic chef who hates Americans, to a man sent to prison for possibly murdering his last girlfriend, to a man who came for a free vacation, the only gift he brought was a cock ring(educational for me, and not kept, touched, or used in any way) to the men I thankfully never met: who asked for thousands of dollars, to another sight unseen who had Islamic heritage and wanted to send me 3.5 million dollars from France, to a man stranded in Dubai with no money for food, to a man I talked to for six months, who had a heart attack and died.....this does not begin to cover the small one-time requests, for dirty pictures, for permission to dress in women's lingerie, and if I am a "squirter" , the list goes on. Shameful. Obscene. Ready to be made into a smash box office comedy. And along the way, each disappointment brings me more animals. I have gotten chickens, geese, ducks, 2 more dogs, 2 parrots.... I have gone over everything to see if I am being punished in some way, if some higher power is in tears from the comedy, but so far, the only laughter is mine. I vacillate between thinking about becoming a lesbian, or just accepting that I am going to be single...forever. I felt so disappointed in white people in general, being a wallet was on the table, but I cannot afford to take on a Dominican , and his entire family and be their support system, just to have someone to eat dinner with( and I would have to cook and clean up.) There is good news, I am talking to men again, encouraged , and feel there may be a way to find the needle in a haystack. And if I am lucky the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train, but someone who will embrace me, the Dominican culture, be kind and not want to wear my underwear.