How much money you need for living in Bavaro per month? (for a couple)

What about Health Insurance, passola Insurance, food, electric, cable, etc.
Minimum $2000 USD/month without rent.

rubenpriego said:

That amount does not fit at all. That is what you spend in Barcelona for example, but even knowing that prices are high in Bavaro, you cannot have same living expenses than in Europe ... no way! just my opinion.
And the one who told me about those 600$ lives just there ...
Electric (no a/c): 50$; Cable: 25$; Food: 300$ max.; health insurance (medium level): 120$ 2 pax; prepaid cellular card: 40$ two pax (enough); passola fuel: 50$
Maybe I should just add one or a couple of hundred dollars more, but not more. More oppinions please!

Click to expand...

You can get by but the minimum would be in my opinion.

Electric $80 (they rob you on the bill, even if you almost use nothing) But the good news is in Bavaro it is always on. No blackouts.

Cable $40-50 is more realistic.

Health Insurance: Actually if you get Dominican Insurance it will be about $60 per month for two. I can put you in touch with someone for this if you like. But the broker is not in Bavaro. In Bavaro they will give you the Gringo Price all the time.

Cell Phone is how much you use it. Could be less or more than the estimate. Orange appears to have the best deal currently, as they give you 2 hours free on weekends to use to other Orange clients.

Fuel: Again that is up to you entirely. Gas is about $5 US per gallon here.

Food: Same thing, his estimate can be done, but you won't get what you are used to at home.

I think you will be good with maybe $1000 in the Bavaro area. If you are not going to be eating out a lot then that means you are going to be cooking at home which means the grocery's for the foods you would normally cook are going to cost you more. $80 sounds about right as long as you don't run the A/C to much. You have to think about cooking gas as well that is not too much. If you plan on having internet. I paid $1000 pesos to the owner at the apartments I stayed in. Not sure what your idea of expensive is for food when you go out on weekends but anything different that what the locals normally eat you are going to get taxed. Also toiletries, cleaning supplies unless you plan on having a maid. You need to figure all of that in as well. And the occassional wth situation.

First off, ?without going to touristic spots for drinks?, Bavaro is a touristic spot, nothing untouristic exists in Bavaro so forget that. The difference is in normal DR you pay 45pesos for a small beer (presi) or big brahma. In Bavero you will pay 100pesos, more or less everywhere that is worth going out to, unless you want to hangout with the motoconchos. Bavaro is mind numbingly boring so get the idea out of your head that you will only be going out at weekends, unless you are happy living in a coma then consider 3 or 4 nights out doing something.
Electricty, mine used to be around RD$1,700 per month without AirCon.
Cable, I didn?t pay for it, I just hooked it up myself and then reconnested it whenever they disconnected it. No one else paid where I lived and so I wasn?t about to spoil the party.
Food, you need to go up to the National once a week to get a good shopping thing going, the mini markets around will clean you out in no time. National is in a stupid area to get to without a car, but you could load a pasola up if you are good at that kind of thing.
I?d say if there is you and your girl then you can be comfortable with bills, and food and nights out for $RD1350 ish per month. Remember, the most difficult thing to do in Bavaro is forget you are not on holiday. If you are planning to live like most around you then budget to $RD3000.
Get a job, any job, you will not earn anything but you will save afortune.

Cable - both Silver Cable and Spielcom cost about 25 USD for full package. They do not use digital boxes, Spielcom does not use any boxes.

Passola fuel - depends how far/often you will be riding. I currently get 30 miles (48 km) off 100 pesos premium gasoline (a bit less than half gallon) or in other words 66 miles (105.5 km) off 1 gallon premium gasoline - RD$220 pesos. That is on my 150 cc passola, over 4 years old and has seen quite a few "dominican style" repairs. I spend about 1.5 gallons per week, or about 1500 pesos per month.

Electricity - will depend on your consumption. In Bavaro, the kWh is about 12 pesos, so a 300 kWh usage per month would be about 3600 pesos or US$95. If no AC you should be consuming roughly 300 kWh.

Example: 10 low consumption bulbs 15W x 8 hours x 30 days = 4.5 kWh
TV LCD 200W x 6 hours x 30 days = 36 kWh
Fridge 18sqft regular usage 100W x 24 hours x 30 days = 72 kWh (regular usage I mean having it stocked and not opening it frequently and closing the door quickly) - my consumption is about 1.5 kWh daily for the fridge 12sqft
Toaster, coffee maker, iron, etc 1500W x 1 hour x 30 days = 45 kWh
3 fans (ceiling/pedestal) - 100W x 3 x 15 hours x 30 days = 135 kWh
5 units of other small electronics (charger, modem, router, etc.) - 15W x 5 x 24 hours x 30 days = 54 kWh
Computer & monitor 150W x 10 hours x 30 days = 45 kWh

The total of this would be 387 kWh per month.

I am just wondering about the assumption that the cost of living here MUST be cheaper than Barcelona.. WHY? This is an island. We have to import many things. The costs of fuel are very high. The infrastructure is not great. So why should life here be cheaper?

rubenpriego said:

I have travelled all around the world, being in "developing countries" like Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, etc, etc
People from those countries earn 4 or 5 times less than an European, but on the other hand and obviously, cost of living is 4 or 5 times cheaper than in Europe. That's the logical balance.
Travelling and living there is absolutely cheap even earning half European salary.
Thats why i think living in DR (developing, poor, very low salary country) should be cheaper than in bcn.
I know being an island has the extra cost of lot of import things, but honestly, i dont understand how with those prices and salaries, dominicans dont "take the streets" ...

Click to expand...

That may be logical. But I do not think that it is so.

There are fixed expenses that are based on the price of FUEL, for instance, which are not going to vary. Now most opoor simply steal the electricity or live in barrios where there are no meters. Ditto, they steal the cable signal. Ditto they live with many people to a household and several incomes contributing.

So perhaps yes, it is, for instance, much cheaper to stay at a hotel here in the DR than in the US.. Even a Motel 6 will cost your $60 or $70 a day, which is a price that you can sometimes get here for a day at an all included.

So..WHAT, really, is going to be cheaper here? Your food? yes, if you adapt to the local diet which is high in carbs and low in protein. Your fuel? No. Gas and electric are both high.

Taxes? You will pay 16% ITIBIS on every restaurant tab, on everything that you buy which is not fresh food.
BUT you will not pay real estate tax on property less than 150k.

I have friends from here who regularly travel to SE Asia and say that even with the cost of travel and the fact that they are eating out and having to stay at hotels, they spend less money on the road there than they would if they were at home here.

My point was that you cannot extrapolate your experiences from SE Asia to here. Nor can you assume that you can live a solid European-American middle class life style here for half the cost.. yes, perhaps you can.. and there are things that you can have here that you will never get there such as the weather and the access to the beaches and great staff. BUT.. your friend who said that he was living well on $600 a month.. is not living what most of us would consider a middle class European-US lifestyle. That is all that I am trying to say.

rubenpriego said:

well I said 600$ without counting apartment rent and just keeping a normal life. An example, instead of going to a beach club to spend your salary in a night in drinks, this friend just buy a bottle of rum and soda and go to the beach with friends to have a nice chat. Things like that ...

Click to expand...

And, as many posters have said on many threads.... it can be done. But are you living la vida loca in any sense of the word? no.. You are just making ends meet. And if I were there, I would be worried when I went to sleep at night.. worried about the electric bill, worried about the rising cost of yogurt, worried about whether or not I could stay here.

If that is all you have, then I would suggest that you go to SE Asia.. which, as you have observed, is very cheap,

Unless you have family here. Which makes it all completely different,

rubenpriego said:

Yeap, I have ... so, time for Caribbean now, maybe retiring long time later in SEA ....

Click to expand...

well then you are not an expat. but rather simply a returning cousin and will be accorded all the hospitality that goes out through the cousin network for Dominicans... you are very lucky!!

rubenpriego said:

i dont understand how with those prices and salaries, dominicans dont "take the streets" ...

Click to expand...

Sometimes I wonder that too... it's been discussed here that Dominicans talk a lot, complain a lot, but do not take action. It has something to do with their past ... I just skimmed through that analysis, but the results hold true. I say anywhere else there would be already a revolution with all the abuses against the population that are being committed on the daily basis.

Today El Caribe has an article that power generators suggest that electricity prices be adjusted weekly same as fuel prices, and that only 100 kW be subsidized and the rest paid by people at the full price. I mean, those are businesspeople from energy sector talking all the incredible stupidities, knowing that electricity rates are regulated worldwide and are a hot topic when increases are necessary and as such are handled very carefully by the governments anywhere, and these so-called energy-empresarios have the courage to come up with such incredibly ridiculous ideas as changing the electricity rates weekly! I say do it, the revolution will be coming! But then, knowing the Dominicans, they may just well get away with it...there would be hundreds of complaints in the papers, people would be **** on the streets, but at the end, nobody would do anything ....