Cabeza de Toro?

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Me_again

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Ten years ago I spent an interesting afternoon with a Dominicano in a small and scruffy town near the Bavaro end of the beach. I bicycled there so it couldn't have been very far from the 'resort'. This guy said that he had lived in the US for several years and he appeared to be well educated. He talked at length about the social problems in the town where almost everybody worked in the resorts of Punta Cana. Drugs, booze, crime, broken families et cetera. He called the town where we sat on a stone wall and sucked on our Presidentes Cabeza de Toro. But on web searches that name now seems to be associated with a much more sedate venue.

Is the name of the town right for the year 2005? Is it still there as a workers' village? Are the social issues still rampant?

I've only been to that area twice--1985 and 2005. I've spent more time on the North Coast. Now I'm doing a little account of our visits to the DR over the past thirty years and I'd like to get things right.

Thanks for any current or past information you can offer.

wbr
 
melphis

melphis

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It's still there. Hopefully Mike Fisher will see your post and get back to you. He lives there so he is sort of the local expert.
 
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harry myrtle beach

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what resort did you stay at in 1985. I think that was about the same time my first trip to DR. I stayed at the first resort in Bavaro Beach. It was great one resort and miles of beach. We rented motor scooters and went all over the place. It is also possible that we met the same gentleman that you spoke with. We traveled along the dirt path that ran parallel with the beach and stopped at a little fishing for a beer. Played stick ball with kids. Just a great time
 
keepcoming

keepcoming

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Yes hopefully Mike will jump in. I am interested in a new development they are supposedly building in Cabeza de Toro..Blue something...I think??? We are thinking of making the move from Santo Domingo to the East coast, PC, etc.. Some friends who have a place in Cap Cana told me about this new development in Cabeza de Toro so hopefully Mike will have some insight on it.
 
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Me_again

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harry myrtle beach said:
what resort did you stay at in 1985. I think that was about the same time my first trip to DR. I stayed at the first resort in Bavaro Beach. It was great one resort and miles of beach. We rented motor scooters and went all over the place. It is also possible that we met the same gentleman that you spoke with. We traveled along the dirt path that ran parallel with the beach and stopped at a little fishing for a beer. Played stick ball with kids. Just a great time
Click to expand...

It was simply called Hotel Bavaro but that may not have been its official name. There was a stone waterfall in the pool and German businessmen making pyramids at one end most afternoons (a la Monty Python sketch). It was the first one on the beach. Everyone got sick because the management didn't know how to instruct staff to keep food hot or very cold. Great introduction to the DR. Loved it.

Remember the catch-phrase? 'DR No problem' or 'No Problema'.

Of course we had to go back in 2005 to mark the twentieth anniversary.

wbr
 
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AlterEgo

AlterEgo

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Me_again said:
It was simply called Hotel Bavaro but that may not have been its official name. There was a stone waterfall in the pool and German businessmen making pyramids at one end most afternoons (a la Monty Python sketch). It was the first one on the beach. Everyone got sick because the management didn't know how to instruct staff to keep food hot or very cold. Great introduction to the DR. Loved it.

Remember the catch-phrase? 'DR No problem' or 'No Problemma'.

Of course we had to go back in 2005 to mark the twentieth anniversary.

wbr
Click to expand...

We drove to Bavaro/PC for the first time about 15+ years ago, to meet some Italian friends of our son who were flying in [he went to college in Florence], and I'll be darned if I could tell you the name of the AI place where we stayed. It was owned and run by Italians who didn't speak Spanish or English, food was okay, but we made sure we ate early because it sat there a long time [outdoors]. We drove around looking for something to see or do, but we felt like we were in the wilderness. We've never gone back, I hear it's changed a bit, hahaha.
 
MikeFisher

MikeFisher

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back in '85,
your hotel was the Bavaro Beach Hotel.
today the Resort is known as the Barcelo Beach Resort.
it contained over the decades up to 5 Hotels within the Resort,
since their last rebuilt it is just separated into 2 hotels,
the adults only Barcelo bavaro beach Hotel(not the same where you've been) which was formerly the Barcelo Palace Hotel
and the biggest portion of the Resort is the Barcelo Palace deLuxe family side.
your '85 Bavaro Beach Hotel been in the mmiddle of today's Palace deLuxe part.
Cabeza de Toro, where i live myself since over a Decade now, never been a typical Hotel-Worker Town.
sure some live here, but very most workers of the 4 hotels here get carried in/out every day by the Hotel Busses.
the mayority lives in Veron and Higuey.
Cabeza de Toro was a small Fishing Village back in '85, and still is.
most families here live from fishing their Yolas or work around the biz of those Yolas.
also a big employer in town todays is the Marinarium Catamaran Excursion, but that did not exist back in your ole days, it started somewhere end of the 90's, and most of it's employees also come to work by bus, do not live in town.
someone mentioned the "blue thingy project".
that's a condominium project under construction, it is named Blue Beach Punta Cana.
that construction started maybe around 15 years ago, been abandondend for a very long time them without ever coming to any finish.
since last year they work there day and night, rumors tell they found some new investor/investors.
buildings are up now, looks like they will finish it this time.
looks fine from the outside, i did not visit their "Model Room", so can't tell about the inside.
i hope they finish their construction soon, as i live on that beach right between Marinarium and Blue Beach, with either a wall to wall neighbour.
since many months Marinarium is also running mayor constructions, heavy noise on both sides from very early morning on, 7 days a week, none of both respects any weekend or afternoon nap hours for the children etc etc.
not hard to figure out that i am not in any good mood towards either of the 2 projects, lol.

Mike
 
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harry myrtle beach

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Me_again said:
It was simply called Hotel Bavaro but that may not have been its official name. There was a stone waterfall in the pool and German businessmen making pyramids at one end most afternoons (a la Monty Python sketch). It was the first one on the beach. Everyone got sick because the management didn't know how to instruct staff to keep food hot or very cold. Great introduction to the DR. Loved it.

Remember the catch-phrase? 'DR No problem' or 'No Problema'.

Of course we had to go back in 2005 to mark the twentieth anniversary.

wbr
Click to expand...

must have been the same hotel. I stayed there the first week it was opened, The pool was not usable because it was filled up with sand. There was a real pretty Dominicana that worked there as part of the staff,but she could also sing very well. she sang a few times at night. I flew in there by Dominican Airlines. When we wen t to go back they overbooked so we had to go back to Bavaro from Santo Domingo and stay another night no charge. The same thing happened the next day,so this time they put us up in the Sheraton. There was about 14 of us and they payed for everything. We got out late the next day missed conecting flight to Boston and they put me up again. Had a great time.
 
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