Expats please weigh in! USD or pesos?

Peso's peso's peso's....when you pay with dollars the exchange rate sucks.
If you are taking a taxi from the airport you may want to exchange a small amount
of dollars for peso's at the airport before you leave to pay the taxi and small incidentals. You will find much better exchange rates in town. Don't overbuy because the same is true in reverse. The exchange rate right now is about 37 to 1......
Have fun on your trip...

B in Santiago

Knowing the exchange rate at the time of your trip, do the math and offer the Taxi from the airport the equivalent in U.S. dollars if you must.

Be aware that prices of taxi at the airport will be over-inflated.
Don?t be afraid to argue them down some.

ALWAYS, ask the price BEFORE accepting a ride !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And make sure the PRICE you hear and what they say is the same, so REPEAT it to them !!!!

SantiagoDR

SantiagoDR said:

Knowing the exchange rate at the time of your trip, do the math and offer the Taxi from the airport the equivalent in U.S. dollars if you must.

Be aware that prices of taxi at the airport will be over-inflated.
Don?t be afraid to argue them down some.

ALWAYS, ask the price BEFORE accepting a ride !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And make sure the PRICE you hear and what they say is the same, so REPEAT it to them !!!!

SantiagoDR

Click to expand...

DITTO DITTO DITTO

and do not accept the tariff from the airport from the taxista, see the supervisor and ask him, he will or should check a tariff list, this is what you pay...

right now a 5 lb bag of rice is RD230 - 250.00, beans about 60 peso per pound and a chicken is running, RD$53 pesos a lb, where we shop, if you shop in the open markets or ESPRE you can do cheaper, convenience cost a few pesos more, especially here.

Do you speak Spanish????Take the time you have and enjoy learning as much as possible, it certainly will make you trip more enjoyable.

g'luck

donluis99 said:

DITTO DITTO DITTO

and do not accept the tariff from the airport from the taxista, see the supervisor and ask him, he will or should check a tariff list, this is what you pay...

right now a 5 lb bag of rice is RD230 - 250.00, beans about 60 peso per pound and a chicken is running, RD$53 pesos a lb, where we shop, if you shop in the open markets or ESPRE you can do cheaper, convenience cost a few pesos more, especially here.

Do you speak Spanish????Take the time you have and enjoy learning as much as possible, it certainly will make you trip more enjoyable.

g'luck

Click to expand...

Wow don't know where you are shopping but you might want to look somewhere else. Currently 10# of rice is costing 179-190 peosos, Beans are running about $45 peosos a pound and chicken is between $30 -39 peosos per pound.

Bob K

tammycarmela said:

Hello all!

So my girl buddy and I only have a week to stay, coming from the US (Feb 26 through March 5). We want to be frugal and fair when we take guaguas and carritos and shop for beans, rice and veg.

We are thinking that it is best to pay cash in pesos for rides and food rather than USD. Is this correct?

This is such a budget trip we are actually weighing whether we get our beans and rice in a DR market or carry them into the DR. Yes, this is a seriously budget trip! Advice please!

We will be staying in Costambar, which seems somewhat resort-like. Quiet, but maybe a bit too americanized? Please tell us what you think about this area and how to leave it properly if needed.

We also want to visit Cabarete by way of guagua from Costambar, but beyond that our plans are still open for the week.
≈

We are only bringing carry ons with no fee for checked luggage up to 50# (thanks Jet Blue!), so if you know someone in the Portland Oregon area that needs school supplies taken to friends or family, let us know. Of course, subject to our inspection and discretion

Tell us what you think expats, and spare no details!

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Bring your rice and beans from USA, just be sure to let us know when you arrive, to send some photographer for pics. you deserve to be in the Guinnes.
I understand people traveling in a budget. I did in Europe when I was 20, but if you are coming for just 7 days, I think for a budget trip 80-100 dlls. a day is fine. you still have 6 months ahead to save 560-700 and have a decent trip.
Or you can eat rice &beans @40 pesos. with meat @ 90pesos in some Fondas. not even the haitian workers eat without meat. Expect some pics. at the Fonda too.

$80-100/day? If they do it right they can eat at a pica pollo por $5/day. And make it through each day not spending more than 500 pesos.

RacerX said:

$80-100/day? If they do it right they can eat at a pica pollo por $5/day. And make it through each day not spending more than 500 pesos.

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there is a lot of places in POP where you can eat a decent dominican food for 120-150pesos, less than 5 dlls.
room in Costambar 30-40dlls
transportation for 2, 10dlls
drinks (in a colmadon) 15dlls
dinner (in a pica pollo) 10dlls
lunch (dominican fonda) 10dlls

RacerX said:

$80-100/day? If they do it right they can eat at a pica pollo por $5/day. And make it through each day not spending more than 500 pesos.

Click to expand...

Exactly, 80-100 dollars a day is not budget unless your numbers are skewed to the right. 15 bucks a day sounds just about right since they are taking buses, walking, eating where the locals eat and so on.

Onions/Carrots said:

Exactly, 80-100 dollars a day is not budget unless your numbers are skewed to the right. 15 bucks a day sounds just about right since they are taking buses, walking, eating where the locals eat and so on.

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I will like that you explain to me with details how you can survive in the north coast (as a tourist) with 500 pesos a day for 2.
ok I know,
they gonna sleep in the streets.
they gonna walk from costambar to cabarete daily under 100F.
rice and beans daily without drinks. for lunch
they gonna walk again at night to Cabarete or Sosua for night life. (1 beer per person)
If they get hungry, maybe they can share a Pica pollo.

Try to be realistic and not to misinform.
just the transportation in a concho from Costambar to Cabarete for 2, round trip cost more than half of your 500 pesos budget.

When I talk about CHEAP tourist in R.D.

tammycarmela. Don't forget bring your RHUM.

I'm not an expat, just a lowly first time tourist , but I just got back from Cabarete a couple weeks ago. I found that USD is no good anywhere besides some tours and some of the nicer restaurants. You'll want pesos, but the ATMs are about a $3 surcharge per withdrawal. In hindsight, we probably would have brought more cash (USD) with us so we could easily exchange it rather than getting screwed by all the ATM fees. Also your bank probably charges extra for ATM withdrawals abroad, might wanna check on that. I'd say shop around for the best exchange rate as it does vary widely from place to place. The best rate we found was in a tiny little shack on the street in Cabarete.

That said, of course don't bring TOO much cash in case you lose your wallet or it's stolen.

But yeah, as far as public transportation, local restaurants, souvenirs...you'll want pesos for all that. The other advice I have is make sure you are calculating how much everything is in dollars when you're given the price in pesos. After you're there for a while you'll have a better idea, but the first few days I'd suggest using your phone's calculator every transaction because when you're used to thinking in dollars and you suddenly have to think in pesos, sometimes you get confused and end up thinking something is too expensive when it's not or worse, that it's reasonably priced when in fact it's way too expensive.

On a related note, don't ever pay the first price you're quoted, whether it's for a taxi or a t-shirt. They set the prices expecting to haggle.

If you want to save money, take guaguas and motos, eat at Dominican places (not the more pricey foreign restaurants), and watch out for the taxes! The restaurants add up to 25% to your bill, so make sure you find out if the ITIBS tax (or whatever the hell that acronym is) is included in the price or not. If it's not included in the menu prices, expect to be a little shocked when the bill comes the first few times.

Have fun! You'll love the North Coast. It's awesome, and you can actually have a lot of fun on a budget as long as you keep very good track of what you're spending.

Well you are not going to bringing much cash, right- since O&C has you living on $15 a day...

BUT there is an old fashioned answer to carrying money to a foreign country which is the

American Express Travelers Check
American Express Travelers Cheques - Protect your Travel Money

which will be replaced if you lose them

and can be cashed at any bank....

which is a great deal safer than traveling with cash