What attracts expats to Santiago?

Good Afternoon, Lower price of living, much less traffic, nicer people I think because the actually live in Santiago, and until lately much less foreigners. A Big Small Town.

i do not live there myself although i wish i did. santiago is big enough to have all perks of civilization and small enough not to have many vices. the traffic is better than SD, it is more peaceful there in general and it is cooler than SD that always seems like an oven to me.

I travel from Sosua 2/3 times per month. Ochoa, PriceSmart, The Rests. near the monument, Country Club, Afternoon cocktails at the ranch, great array of cabanas when we decide to spend the night. Live there NEVER.

In the weekend you can easily go to sosua in an hour, you have a big city and everything you need, bigger society and more opportunities then in a little village. Santiago is realy cheap and people dont allways treath you like a turist for a quick buck

Best looking women in the country (cibao valley in general), no tourists, cheapest cost of living.

I don't know why you say "big polluted city" but the reasons for growth in foreigners in Santiago would be to more opportunities as the size of the city increases not to mention the fact that with Europe's and the US/Canada's economic recession and cost of living increase people are looking for other options.

Not for the girls that is 100% for shour . Jjjjjjj

Santiago is for me at least the closest thing to being in a small city in a developed nation. My next sojurn in the DR will be in the Cibao region. I like the capital but Santiago has nicer people, lower crime, cheaper housing, and more for my small familia.

I was wondering the reason as well so ty for asking the question!!
Low cost of living for families is good!

Because Santiago es para los Santiagueros. We don't them ghettos from la Capital...

VJS said:

Best looking women in the country (cibao valley in general), no tourists, cheapest cost of living.

Click to expand...

In a nutshell.........................

I'm sorry, i'm going to get tar & feathered here for what i'm about to tell you, but please, although i firmly believe in what i'm about to share with you, please take it with a grain of salt because my opinions seldom matter to anyone but my pet monkey.

I don't get Santiago. Never have. I mean that. I really don't understand the desire to live there. I've been going there since when they had the big 7up can at the entrance of the city in early 70's. My Aunts are retired doctors still living in the city. But look, If you're not there for either work or family, then why, for the love of god, would you want to be there on purpose when you could be living in front of an ocean which wraps around the island 360 degrees.

Most people's dream is to live on an island. A place where you can wake up and smell the ocean breeze and then walk down to the beach barefoot. If you can't be right up against the ocean, then i think most people would agree, they would like to be within walking distance of the water.

Living so far inland that you are surrounded by city trash, pollution, traffic, and UFO's, I'm sorry, i don't get that...but look, i'm not right in the head. You got people working and slaving their whole fu^%king lives--killing themselves for the Man--and then are you telling me that their dream is to move 5000 miles to an island in the middle of the Caribbean ocean only to be stuck in some polluted and Dante traffic Inferno? Really? With thousands of beaches and prime beach real-estate surrounding an island in the Caribbean...and you want to be where...in the middle of a fuc&king dump? I'm sorry, Santo Domingo and Santiago are traffic congested Dante Infernos with ugly concrete jungle buildings left over from every 70's blaxploitation movie ever conceived. The only thing missing are beat-up 70's Datsun truck and cars to populate the roadways...wait...those are there already populating the roadways.

Are you telling me that Santiago and Santo Domingo are some dream come true for people coming from landlocked towns and villages that pepper the North America and European landscape? If you are in either one of these concrete jungles for either work or family, then yes, of course i understand that...I get that. I lived in Bonao for nearly 20 years because of my father, uncles, aunts, and cousins, but like all smart Dominicans, when the weekend came, i got the hell out of dodge and ran to the beach where the women, football, bikinis, boobs, and the pina colodas are served out of fresh pineapples under coconut trees. Are you telling me that you would rather be sitting in some bar or restaurant surrounded by four moldy concrete walls then sitting underneath a canopy of coconut and palm trees swaying on the beach and watching curvy bodies walk past piercing the water main and sewage lines with their high heels?

I'm sorry, I don't get it...and neither does any of my Dominican family members who would much rather be living in a beachfront condo then sitting in Cibao Valley surrounded my mosquitos as big as a dog and enduring rain every evening. The only thing keeping my faimly away from the beach are their businesses. When they come up to visit Cabarete and eat at Gorditos and have fresh mojitos at Mojito Bar on the beach, they don't want to return back home. And why would they? It's more laid back, less traffic, less polluted, and a better atmosphere here on the beach then in a passola congested hellhole of a town in the middle of the island.

I could go on but i'm going to put my armor suit on and get ready for everyone in Cibao valley, Santiago, and Santo Domingo to get on the defensive here and tell me why their towns are so great and wonderful, and how the traffic isn't really that bad between the hours of 12am and 4am in the morning.

PS. Please remember...i'm not right in the head.

Love Frank

Some of us grew up on the beach and like the mountains. Santiago is cooler than the coast and not polluted where I live.

Also, Santiagueros are generally nicer than the locals in Sosua, but I won't blame that on them, we gringos have a bad name there.

Finally, Santiago has plenty of nice stores, malls and movie theatres which are essential to keeping the wife and kids happy.

Let me qualify one thing that i forgot to mention...i understand living up in the mountains--deep into the Heart of Darkness--where the air is cooler, it's fresher, and crime is very little. And if its some place like Jarabacoa, i get that as well, because the town and the surroundings are breathtakingly beautiful and with no congestion or pollution or concrete jungle surrounding you. So, yes, i get that. But living in some concrete jungle that's hotter then Dante's Inferno...i'm sorry, i do not get that.

Frank

Protection from hurricanes, sports, lower cost of living, meet connected people, only about 3 hrs a day on the inversor, cooler than the coast, I don't have to drive 100 KM to get some thingamajig.

The beaches are close and thus still exciting to visit on occasion. The chicas are how do I put it..... off the chain, the cost of living is relatively low. The lifestyle is similar to first world in many ways (if you got the cash). You can hit Golds Gym and grab some chow fan at the same place. You can grab a presidente in one of the many colmados or bottle service at one of the high end clubs. Jarabacoa and it's saltos are nearby, and it has multi-million dollars homes to boot Basically its like a normal city unlike the places along the coast.