I have lived here for several years now and wanted to take a minute to try to give out some HONEST observations. I think too many people have other motives when they speak out. Those who say everything here is terrible all the time probably made a dumb investment and can't get out of it now. Those who say everything is great here the time probably hope they can sell you something. So I will give my observations on some of the common things I've heard about Sosua and the area. Again these are just my own observations, other people may have truly had different experiences.
1. "Sosua is dangerous". I have never been robbed or attached in any way. My house has never been broken into. I do walk in Charamicos at night. I do use motoconchos sometimes but mostly I walk wherever I'm going for the exercise. I even once left my wallet behind at a hotel where I was visiting an event planner. It fell out of my pocket. The security guard kept it. When I went back he gave it back to me. Nothing was missing.
2. "The police are corrupt". I'm sure they probably are just like some police are in any part of the world. I have never been arrested. The police have never fined me for anything I wasn't doing wrong. I have been fined for not wearing my seatbelt. It is the law. You would also get the same fine in the U.S. I have seen many times where tourists should have been arrested for doing insane things while intoxicated and the police let them go.
3. "Dominicans will fake accidents with you". It never happened to me. I haven't seen it happen. I saw one case where a tourist did have an accident with a Dominican and it was the tourist's fault. He backed up without looking. He scratched the Dominica's motorcycle. The police were right there when it happened. The Dominican guy said no problem, just a scratch. He didn't ask for money and the police didn't do anything because he said it was OK.
4. "Playero steals a peso". Look, it's not the fault of the cashier when the prices add up to a fraction of a peso. Sometimes they round up and sometimes they round down. They don't always round up.
5. "The legal system is corrupt". It may be slow. Some parts may be corrupt. But I actually had to use it here once and I won against a Dominican residence. I didn't have to bribe anybody. The truth was the truth and nobody twisted it.
6. "Foreigners get killed here". Sure they do. And they do in the States too. And locals get killed here too. And in every other country. Don't be stupid. Don't go to places you don't know anything about for the first time in the middle of the night. Don't be flashy, etc. Re-read my #1.
7. "The beach is great". That's a lie. The beach in Sosua may have been great one day, but now it is dirty, not maintained well and the restaurants are slow and the food is bad. Except at Scandinavian (#152), I like the food there and they have a lot of variety. The beach in Cabarete is smaller but much nicer. Other beaches in the DR are nice, but the one in Sosua has not kept up.
8. "Pay 1/3 the asking price". Seems about right. I don't like to waste a whole day negotiating so I usually pay about 1/2.
9. "The beggars won't leave you alone". They ask me once. If I say no they leave. That is not a problem. That includes the kids shining shoes. And what's wrong with the kid's shining shoes anyway? At least they are offering to do something for the money instead of sitting on the corner with a cup in their hand like the bums in every big city in every country do. If your shoes are dirty give them a few pesos already. They may ask 25 or even 50 sometimes, but they'll usually do it for 5 or 10. 25 pesos is about 60 cents. Is it going to hurt you to give them 25 pesos? If my shoes are clean I don't, but if my shoes are dirty I do.
10. "The girls won't leave you alone.". This seems to be true. They even grab you if you are not careful sometimes. Most of them know me and know I'm married to a Dominican and still do it. But after all a lot of people come to Sosua looking for it so that is what they do. If you don't want it just don't talk to them, don't look at them (at least not with eye contact) and if they reach out to grab you or do grab you just push their hand away and keep walking. If it bothers you too much stay out of the bar area of El Batey or leave Sosua.
11. "La Mulata is safe". I don't agree. My wife who is Dominican says it is the only neighborhood we can't move to because she is afraid of it. The police we know tell us they have more robberies there than anywhere. It is a neighborhood with some nice, big homes but it isn't secured like say Hispaniola or Casa Linda. I did look there once before I met my wife and the neighbors of the guy I was renting from were outside and checking me out because they said there have been a bunch of break-ins recently. In fact the guy I was renting from told me the place I was looking to rent was just broken into the night before.
12. "eDenorte robs you". My meters have always worked. I never had one that ran too fast. I did one time have an incorrect reading that caused a high bill. I took it to the office and explained it to the folks working there and they said it would even out next month. I explained it wouldn't because of how they charge you more per KW after you use a certain amount in any month. They didn't seem to understand. I asked to talk to the manager. I explained it to him and he agreed and adjusted my bill. No problem. I do believe it was a simple mistake. It only happened the one time. I rent a large 3 bedroom house. My average electric bill is about $2,000 pesos or US $50. I don't see a problem with that.
13. "The window washers are relentless". Unfortunately they are. And they don't understand no. But if I say no and they do it anyway I just don't give them anything. I tell them that I told you no. But they know when I don't say no I will tip. After doing this enough times a few of them know me and now they will ask first. If I say no they just move on to the next car. They know if I say yes I'll tip them pretty good but if I say no they get nothing. I look at it this way. At least they are trying to do something for the money instead of a bum with a cup doing nothing. If I need the service I'll gladly give them 50 or 100 pesos.
14. "Property is a good investment". I have to disagree. In Sosua both buying and renting prices seem to still be going down. There is way too much competition for selling your home here. You can rent so cheap. I am seeing buying prices between 200 times and 300 times rent (That is 17 - 25 years of rent). If you have that kind of cash invest it in something that is proven to grow over time and keep renting. After 17 - 25 years you'll have enough to pay your rent another 17 - 25 years and then some. Even with all the turmoil in the stock market the market averages a 4.8% gain per year. The market has tripled since 1993. Housing prices have not.
15. "Sosua night life is great". For a tourist maybe., but if you live here it gets boring after a while. It's a small town. It's the same stuff all the time. Of course, if you are only looking for the girls you will never run out of variety but that is not my thing. I'm happily married and don't fool around.
16. "The banks rip steal your money". I've heard they have busted ATMs that sometimes charge your account even though you don't get the money. As a computer guy who has had banking customers in the U.S. in the past I can tell you that it can happen anywhere. It is not intentional. I had it happen to me once here at my bank and they fixed it. Think about it from their side. Maybe you did get the money and you are lying. All my bank did is pull the video from the camera that watches the ATM for the timeframe I told them and saw that I clearly got no money from the ATM that day. It took 3 days total to get it corrected and they apologized.
17. "Everyone is trying to steal from you". You have to remember that here things happen slower and the technology is not as good here as you may be used to so problems like that may occur more often. But every time you have a problem doesn't mean it is intentional and it doesn't mean someone is trying to steal from you. I'm not saying you should let your guard down but don't start a fight every time something bad happens. I try to differentiate. If I think it is intentional I will definitely confront the person, fight them until I get the problem corrected and then post about it so other people can avoid them. If I don't think it is intentional I will talk calmly with them and follow the standard process like I did with my bank (see #16).
18. "It's not their fault". Everyone must have heard the Dominican say "It's not my fault". You feel like nobody owns up to anything and accepts responsibility. Some people surely do this where you came from, but here it is overkill. Like the guy who shows up 2 hours late and says it's not his fault because the police were out and his car doesn't have a sticker so he had to wait for them to leave before he could drive by. Of course that is his fault. It's his fault he doesn't have the sticker. But welcome to island life. It has its goods and its bads. Some of the bads are that time is relative and nothing is ever anybody's fault. You just have to get used to it if you are going to enjoy life here. Relax a little and do the same thing. My wife loves it when I tell people it's not my fault because she knows how responsible I am and how hard I work for my customers and I would never give my customers any excuses for anything. But for people here I just do what they do and she thinks its funny.
That is all I can think of for now. If anyone has a particular question feel free to ask and I'll share any experiences I may have.
1. "Sosua is dangerous". I have never been robbed or attached in any way. My house has never been broken into. I do walk in Charamicos at night. I do use motoconchos sometimes but mostly I walk wherever I'm going for the exercise. I even once left my wallet behind at a hotel where I was visiting an event planner. It fell out of my pocket. The security guard kept it. When I went back he gave it back to me. Nothing was missing.
2. "The police are corrupt". I'm sure they probably are just like some police are in any part of the world. I have never been arrested. The police have never fined me for anything I wasn't doing wrong. I have been fined for not wearing my seatbelt. It is the law. You would also get the same fine in the U.S. I have seen many times where tourists should have been arrested for doing insane things while intoxicated and the police let them go.
3. "Dominicans will fake accidents with you". It never happened to me. I haven't seen it happen. I saw one case where a tourist did have an accident with a Dominican and it was the tourist's fault. He backed up without looking. He scratched the Dominica's motorcycle. The police were right there when it happened. The Dominican guy said no problem, just a scratch. He didn't ask for money and the police didn't do anything because he said it was OK.
4. "Playero steals a peso". Look, it's not the fault of the cashier when the prices add up to a fraction of a peso. Sometimes they round up and sometimes they round down. They don't always round up.
5. "The legal system is corrupt". It may be slow. Some parts may be corrupt. But I actually had to use it here once and I won against a Dominican residence. I didn't have to bribe anybody. The truth was the truth and nobody twisted it.
6. "Foreigners get killed here". Sure they do. And they do in the States too. And locals get killed here too. And in every other country. Don't be stupid. Don't go to places you don't know anything about for the first time in the middle of the night. Don't be flashy, etc. Re-read my #1.
7. "The beach is great". That's a lie. The beach in Sosua may have been great one day, but now it is dirty, not maintained well and the restaurants are slow and the food is bad. Except at Scandinavian (#152), I like the food there and they have a lot of variety. The beach in Cabarete is smaller but much nicer. Other beaches in the DR are nice, but the one in Sosua has not kept up.
8. "Pay 1/3 the asking price". Seems about right. I don't like to waste a whole day negotiating so I usually pay about 1/2.
9. "The beggars won't leave you alone". They ask me once. If I say no they leave. That is not a problem. That includes the kids shining shoes. And what's wrong with the kid's shining shoes anyway? At least they are offering to do something for the money instead of sitting on the corner with a cup in their hand like the bums in every big city in every country do. If your shoes are dirty give them a few pesos already. They may ask 25 or even 50 sometimes, but they'll usually do it for 5 or 10. 25 pesos is about 60 cents. Is it going to hurt you to give them 25 pesos? If my shoes are clean I don't, but if my shoes are dirty I do.
10. "The girls won't leave you alone.". This seems to be true. They even grab you if you are not careful sometimes. Most of them know me and know I'm married to a Dominican and still do it. But after all a lot of people come to Sosua looking for it so that is what they do. If you don't want it just don't talk to them, don't look at them (at least not with eye contact) and if they reach out to grab you or do grab you just push their hand away and keep walking. If it bothers you too much stay out of the bar area of El Batey or leave Sosua.
11. "La Mulata is safe". I don't agree. My wife who is Dominican says it is the only neighborhood we can't move to because she is afraid of it. The police we know tell us they have more robberies there than anywhere. It is a neighborhood with some nice, big homes but it isn't secured like say Hispaniola or Casa Linda. I did look there once before I met my wife and the neighbors of the guy I was renting from were outside and checking me out because they said there have been a bunch of break-ins recently. In fact the guy I was renting from told me the place I was looking to rent was just broken into the night before.
12. "eDenorte robs you". My meters have always worked. I never had one that ran too fast. I did one time have an incorrect reading that caused a high bill. I took it to the office and explained it to the folks working there and they said it would even out next month. I explained it wouldn't because of how they charge you more per KW after you use a certain amount in any month. They didn't seem to understand. I asked to talk to the manager. I explained it to him and he agreed and adjusted my bill. No problem. I do believe it was a simple mistake. It only happened the one time. I rent a large 3 bedroom house. My average electric bill is about $2,000 pesos or US $50. I don't see a problem with that.
13. "The window washers are relentless". Unfortunately they are. And they don't understand no. But if I say no and they do it anyway I just don't give them anything. I tell them that I told you no. But they know when I don't say no I will tip. After doing this enough times a few of them know me and now they will ask first. If I say no they just move on to the next car. They know if I say yes I'll tip them pretty good but if I say no they get nothing. I look at it this way. At least they are trying to do something for the money instead of a bum with a cup doing nothing. If I need the service I'll gladly give them 50 or 100 pesos.
14. "Property is a good investment". I have to disagree. In Sosua both buying and renting prices seem to still be going down. There is way too much competition for selling your home here. You can rent so cheap. I am seeing buying prices between 200 times and 300 times rent (That is 17 - 25 years of rent). If you have that kind of cash invest it in something that is proven to grow over time and keep renting. After 17 - 25 years you'll have enough to pay your rent another 17 - 25 years and then some. Even with all the turmoil in the stock market the market averages a 4.8% gain per year. The market has tripled since 1993. Housing prices have not.
15. "Sosua night life is great". For a tourist maybe., but if you live here it gets boring after a while. It's a small town. It's the same stuff all the time. Of course, if you are only looking for the girls you will never run out of variety but that is not my thing. I'm happily married and don't fool around.
16. "The banks rip steal your money". I've heard they have busted ATMs that sometimes charge your account even though you don't get the money. As a computer guy who has had banking customers in the U.S. in the past I can tell you that it can happen anywhere. It is not intentional. I had it happen to me once here at my bank and they fixed it. Think about it from their side. Maybe you did get the money and you are lying. All my bank did is pull the video from the camera that watches the ATM for the timeframe I told them and saw that I clearly got no money from the ATM that day. It took 3 days total to get it corrected and they apologized.
17. "Everyone is trying to steal from you". You have to remember that here things happen slower and the technology is not as good here as you may be used to so problems like that may occur more often. But every time you have a problem doesn't mean it is intentional and it doesn't mean someone is trying to steal from you. I'm not saying you should let your guard down but don't start a fight every time something bad happens. I try to differentiate. If I think it is intentional I will definitely confront the person, fight them until I get the problem corrected and then post about it so other people can avoid them. If I don't think it is intentional I will talk calmly with them and follow the standard process like I did with my bank (see #16).
18. "It's not their fault". Everyone must have heard the Dominican say "It's not my fault". You feel like nobody owns up to anything and accepts responsibility. Some people surely do this where you came from, but here it is overkill. Like the guy who shows up 2 hours late and says it's not his fault because the police were out and his car doesn't have a sticker so he had to wait for them to leave before he could drive by. Of course that is his fault. It's his fault he doesn't have the sticker. But welcome to island life. It has its goods and its bads. Some of the bads are that time is relative and nothing is ever anybody's fault. You just have to get used to it if you are going to enjoy life here. Relax a little and do the same thing. My wife loves it when I tell people it's not my fault because she knows how responsible I am and how hard I work for my customers and I would never give my customers any excuses for anything. But for people here I just do what they do and she thinks its funny.
That is all I can think of for now. If anyone has a particular question feel free to ask and I'll share any experiences I may have.
