a few social issues

So, I keep seeing all these ads here for vacation trips to various islands. All expenses included in big packages (flight, hotel, meals, etc.) In particular, Dominican Republic. This of course catches my eye, as I spent 3 months there last summer. It makes me sad. Because I learned that most of the hotel resorts are foreign-owned. Mostly European. So this means: A European, lets just say a Spaniard books a vacation package to the D.R. The money to the travel agent goes to a Spaniard. The airline is Spanish, money goes there. A Spaniard also owns the hotel, so that money also goes to a Spaniard. The Hotel has two big restaurants in it, also Spanish-owned. Probably cousins of the hotel owner. While there, guests can take a day-long boat trip out to...see the whales, say. This business is Spanish-owned as well. (This is all hypothetical, but I learned that it really works this way.) So, the economy of Spain is helped, and the Spaniard gets a nice, comfortable vacation. Effing cheap, I might add, because all the hotel workers, and restaurant workers, and boat workers are Dominican. Or Haitian. And they get paid dirt cheap wages. But its a job. And for them, the wages aren´t too bad. And they might be able to learn English or Italian or something while working there, because of all the foreigners. And then they can get moved up, or get a better job somewhere else. And what does the economy of the DR get? Not much. Def. not as much as if the resorts were all owned by Dominicans and the money went into the economy, rather then never touching it and staying in Europe. But of course, any Dominican rich enough to invest in something like that would have to be part of one of the top 10 families in the DR who already own something like 90% of the businesses and land in the country anyway.... And then there are the enviromental problems: I´m sure I don´t know all of them, but the resorts are taking away precious beaches and destroying the habitats of the few special species still left on the island. And they´re using a ton of water. And energy, because heaven-forbid the guests of the hotel not have hot water for showers, even though all the campesinos take bucket showers or bath in rivers and the city people don´t have hot water and the electricity only works from time to time because people tap the wires and it causes outages/ the company tries to compensate for lost energy by simply shutting it off.... And then there are the sewage systems, which probably get dumped into the ocean and cause more problems, but, hey, the Dominican government isn´t going to bust the resorts because, well, its money and tourism...(even though, see above...)
So, it makes me sad. But from the perspective here, not knowing or choosing not to know about those things... its a really great deal. Why not go?

Besides that, I feel that I have been pretty far removed from my social/political/religious/economical/everything world of thought this summer. Meaning, in Nicaragua, doing what I was doing and talking to the people to whom I talked, I had nearly constant stimulation in these areas. I had to think about them. And I liked it. It was hard, sometimes, but I like those questions. Here, I´ve had very few. Its quite easy in this setting for me to relax and just have a good time. To forget about the world´s problems. To forget about the injustices. To think it is normal for people to be able to travel and study. These are not truths. And while I think its okay not to constantly be thinking about the injustices and the problems (breaks are good. and necessary.) I want to be sure that I don´t get too caught up in my fun/easy/priveledged world. I want to have a balance. This opportunity is giving me a good view on the other end of the spectrum (ok, maybe not the end...other side of what I know...my personal middle-ground= what I know/am used to/my lifestyle of growing up??) That probably doesn´t make sense. Just know that I am experiencing new and good things, and enjoying life. Curious about where these new things will take me. Excited.