need to get out of AI, need help please!!!!!

i hear you have a very sexy girlfriend. I bet you too will have a great time in the dr. part-ay

Go to Santiago!

Get on the METRO,or CARIBE TOURS bus in the morning,go to Santiago,walk around for a while,have lunch,take the bus back to PP! The trip is about an hour I think,the scenery great,open air lunch near the monument in Santiago,home for dinner! Go for it! CRISCO

Motorcycles on the highways, given driving habits of Dominicans and road conditions, is not the best way to see the country.

Cris Colon's suggestion about going to Santiago for a day is a good one. Caribe Tour has a bus leaving Puerto Plata at half past the hour all day long. To Santiago takes less than 1.5 hours and you will see a lot of country enroute. It will cost you about RD$50/person each way. When you get to the Santiago terminal, take a taxi from there to the city. The taxi will charge you about RD$50. When you get ready to return, take another taxi back to the Caribe Tour terminal. Santiago is the 2nd largest city, and it is not a tourist city. You will see very few people that might be tourists on the busy streets.

Another day you can take a guagua or public car (publico) to Sosua. The public cars have a red sign on the roof that says Sosua-Puerto Plata. They are passing the central park all the time. The guaguas also leave from the central park. To Sosua, the public cars cost RD$15/person and the guaguas cost RD$10/person. I usually take the cars because they get to Sosua faster. When you get ready to go back, take another car or guagua to Puerto Plata. There is a very nice beach in Sosua, so bring your suits.

Another day, or same day that you go to Sosua, you can go to Cabarette. It is a very nice town and is one of the best windsurfing places in the world. Nice beach there, also. You can take a guagua from the central park in Puerto Plata to Cabarete, passing by Sosua. Cabarete is just a few miles past Sosua. Or you can take a public car from Puerto Plata to Sosua, then switch to another public car (both operate from same location) to get to Cabarete. From Sosua to Cabarete is RD$7/person each way.

Take those trips and you will see a lot of country without spending much money.

Right on Ken .....
Motorcycles are NOT the safest form of travel here, even for the locals who know what hazzards WILL come up on the roads - They are prepared & tourists will not be!! Also be VERY careful when checking the motorcycle out at the hirer, make sure they see you checking EVERY mark on the bike & that you will NOT be paying for the repair of those scratches already there!!!!

As Ken says, use the public transport rather than the "Hotel Taxis" which charge about 2 or 3 times the normal Tecni-Taxi rates & 300 - 500% more than the public transport rates!! Walk out of your hotel, go past the shopping plaza then turn right on the main thoroughfare. Go up to the main gate (avoiding the tour guides into town - just smile, say no, you are visiting a friend who lives here & don't need a guide) & hop on to the next local bus or gua-gua (pronounced wag-wa). Stay this side of the road for Puerto Plata, cross the road (very carefully) for Sosua, Cabarete etc.

Try to get a trip up the cablecar whilst you are here - the view is fantastic, but DO check the cloud cover on the mountain top before going up!!! Cloud cover tends to obliterate the view!!! The local taxi will charge about RD $45 to go to the Teleferico (cable car) - if you promise to give him RD $100 he will arrange to meet you at the bottom 2 - 3 hours later when you say you will be coming back down. If you REALLY get stuck whilst here, give me a call (I'm the only G.W. Bush in the local book) or speak to Noibin of Go-Dominican Travel at Paradise 'Tours Desk'. He'll get me for you!

You VILL have a good trip!!! _ Grahame.

BushBaby's caution about "tour guides" is an excellent one. This is true everywhere. I am talking about the young Dominican males that have a badge identifying them as licensed tour guides and who will offer their services to you in English. If you give one of them any encouragement, he will stick with you like glue. And everywhere you go you will pay at least 30% more than you should because the proprietor has to pay the "guide" a commission.

If one should follow you into a business, even though you are not making use of his services, make the clerk, etc., aware immediately of the fact that the individual is not your guide.

Staying in an AI and taking one's own girlfriend is philosophically about as different from wanting to explore the countryside on a motorcycle as I can imagine.

Still, exploring on motorcycles (yes, at least 1 other friend on another one) is by far the 2nd best thing that I have seen in the DR. Nothing else compares remotely.

CONDITIONS HAVE TO BE RIGHT, HOWEVER !!

It's hard to imagine those conditions being right if one has to RENT a motorcycle - too many hassles. Plus, one needs a friend on a second one, both for companionship and help in case needed (breakdowns, etc.).

Also, mandatory, is that it be done in a rural setting, preferably on dirt roads. Traffic in the DR is simply too dangerous.

It also helps if at least one person is a local - a chica on the seat behind serves
perfectly.

The group can then truly interact with Dominicans as it explores - including many coffee stops and even spending the night in a farmhouse or two.

THIS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE.

as andy a says.. definately one of the best things to do.. his instructions are right on

Chad, if you don't know you're too young to drive a mouse on the internet. And why are you bringing a girlfriend?

As you've noticed, there is often a little levity thrown in on this board.

By the way, there's quite a number of guys in Sosua, especially Canadians, who motorcycle into the countryside. You might try to hook up with 1 or 2 of them.

Have a nice trip!