Over the roar of motoconchos and the beat of music there is one sound you can hear no matter where you are in the Dominican Republic - the crowing of fighting cocks. Cockfighting is a legal sport in the DR and very big business among the Dominicans. To experience a cockfight you need to have a strong stomach and a firm grip on your wallet. This is a blood sport where the top birds are trained like pro athletes and cared for like favorite members of the family, and no wonder. If a cock is a winner, breeders will pay top dollar for his services just as they do with racing horses.  Owners will spend hours on the steel spikes or gaffs that are attached to the bird's plucked legs. These instruments are the means to deliver the death blows that determine the winner of a match. If you think of roosters as pets or simple farm animals then think again.  Here they are raised like cattle out west, as a chief means of livelihood.

As to your wallet, it isn't to guard against pickpockets but to guard against laying out your last peso as you get swept into the frenzied betting that is going on all around you. The noise level rises and falls as the matches progress and people cheer on their champion. With blinding speed money changes hands and folk win or lose large and small sums. A Vagas betting parlor holds no candle to the activity that goes on in a cockfighting arena here in the Dominican Republic.

If you are visiting this island and are interested in seeing a match just ask a Dominican and he or she can direct you to the local arena giving you times and entry fee costs without a blink of an eye.

For those who find the sport too agressive or disturbing you might just want to go to take in the atmostphere in and around the arena. There is food and drink on tap and other less legal activities being offered by local women. No matter your reason for attending you will have something definitely different to talk about when you return home.