HI M'Frog...No we haven't been to DR before and this will be our first trip to DR and we're really looking forward to it! Thanks-B & A
I like your style :classic: Usually one visits a place before you move. Anyway, you sound open for adventure, so here goes. The 10 rules of moving to the DR, sight unseen!
1. What you see in the DR is probably not what you get. Take a lot of advice from this board, the stuff that is publically posted and not the six pm's you have already offering to help.
2. All the rules and regulations that you are used to, are not in common practice here. From driving on the roads, to talking to people, to paying bills, to shopping in the supermercado .. it is all different - the values are different.
3. Nothing much works. The electricity works sometimes, usually you have a phone or a cell phone, and most probably your internet connection will be very squirrely. We all have ways around that.
4. We frequently have dogs, donkeys, goats, chickens, horses, cows and sweet and pretty little Dominican Kids along the roads. Not a good idea to run over any of those.
5. Money has a different value here. Don't really tell people what you got, before you're not sure of them. And it will take more than a year or so, before you are sure of them.
6. In the DR, it is who you know, and you better learn very quickly the part about what you know. The learning curve is steep.
7. Mosquitos here are always out for fresh blood. So is most of the society in the tourist areas.
8. The locals in tourist areas, are different from the locals outside of tourist areas. Sosua and Cabarete are part of the DR, these towns are not the DR.
9. People 'imports' that survive here, become a really special breed. If you're bad, you'll become more so. If you're good, you'll become more so.
10. One year is not enough to enjoy the beauty, the people and the special experiences that the DR has to offer.
Oops, I forgot the most important. You will probably lose all your equipment in the first year due to electricity, if you don't find out quick how to protect it. UPS's, inverters, input voltage regulators and heaven knows what else...