Why live in DR?

del4fun00

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Apr 26, 2002
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I need some clarification from the veterans of this forum, who currently live in DR. Most threads allude to the fact that the ONLY reason to stay in DR is the "people" and "weather". But everything I have read and the photos that I have seen of DR show beautiful, beautiful beaches. I have seen pictures of places like Soana island and they look gorgeous.

Is this not true? Can folks who like there shed some light on this? Do you not enjoy beautiful beaches and unspoiled nature?

Thanks in advance to those who respond.

Also would you advise against people retiring in DR?
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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First off, you had better do an archive search on the topic of living here in the DR. There are dozens of threads on this.

As for retiring, the best advice is to visit. Look for what you want, and if you find it, see if you can afford it.

Retirement includes many facets, & generally speaking health is high on the list. You can get very good care, not the highest tech, but good care only in Santiago and Santo Domingo. Places like La Romana, San Francisco de Macoris, La Vega come in second... Along the coast, there is a lack of high quality care.

However, depending on the need, it can be met.

If things like social life, golf, parties are important, then the coast might be the place for you or yours...

It all boils down to a trip for researching on the ground....checking things out...

Good Luck,

HB
 

MommC

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Beautiful beaches......

can be found in most countries....either on salt water or fresh.
One of the most beautiful beaches I have seen is Wasaga beach in Ontario.........in late June,July, August and early SEptember.
The rest of the year it is a wasteland because of the WEATHER!!!
A beautiful beach under 3 feet of snow is just not the same as a beautiful beach under sunny skies at 90F or 30C.
 

rbazan

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I just came back from DR. I spent two days in Santo Domingo and six in Las Galeras. I find that the cost of living is similar to the US. I thought it would be much cheaper. With regard to healthcare I aslo heard that you can get good service in Santiago and Santo Domingo. I find DR to be a beautiful country. I am still 20 years from retiring and will see what happens to the DR then.
 

del4fun00

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Apr 26, 2002
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Thanks all.

MommC and Hillbilly do you go to the beach often? And are they filthy as some have stated or are they white sand and beautiful?

BTW do you both live in DR all year long or do you go back and forth between DR and your native countries - just curious.
 

MommC

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HB lives there all year.......

I'm back and forth.......
There's a crew that clean up our local beach.....just don't go on Sunday or Monday after the Dominicans from the city have beenthere. They leave all their garbage on the beach even tho' there are signs saying "No Tire Basura", "Es Tu Playa-Mantenga la Limpia" and Usare los zafacones por Fabor"
Most beaches I have been to have been clean however the roadway leading to them are strewn with garbage along the sides.
Educating the people to dispose of waste properly has shown some results in the past ten years but not nearly enough!!
 

del4fun00

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Thanx....

MommC - thanks for the tip.

I'm glad to hear that there is an active campaign to reduce loitering - as it can make any beautiful place very ugly.
 

Jane J.

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Jan 3, 2002
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Too bad it doesn't work.

I went to a secluded beach once with some friends & family. I was so impressed when we were about to leave - one member of our group had brought plastic bags with him to pick up all the garbage that we had made. So the kids set to picking it all up, putting it in the bags, which were tied shut....and swung about their heads, cowboy-style and hurled off into the trees!

Because if you're going to litter, it's best to do it in nicely, tied in bundles...
 
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MommC

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But is oh so true!!!!

It's the one comment I hear most from people of our city that go to the Dominican.....Why is there garbage everywhere????
Because there is!! And it's gotten much worse since "plastics" have been introduced to the island. At least years ago everything came in paper bags that would bio-degrade eventually! or Glass bottles that were re-cycled.
pmikkogirl-hanafubuki.gif
 

Meredith

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Jan 24, 2002
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YES!!!

It's sad to see this happening. A lot of the beaches are being taken away from the people who actually live there.
 

del4fun00

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Gov't Interference?

Does anyone know if the DR gov't plans to do anything about this. I hope they sanction some areas as public beaches and parks - lots of areas.

It would be a shame to see resorts along every coast in about 20 years from now. It would really draw people to more virgin places like cuba - hopefully yankees can go to Cuba in 20 years.
 

MommC

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I know they're doing some beaches in the "western" area of the country but I also thi

these are going to be devoted to "Casa di Campo" style developments.
There is a plan on the books to redo the beaches from Guacanes to Villas del Mar but when it will happen is anyones guess.....
fish.gif
 

del4fun00

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Understand?

MommC -

I am not sure I understand... are you saying that the gov't will be prohibiting building of resorts? Or will the building continue?
 

MommC

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Well......

My understanding is the beaches to the west will be developed for the resorts & gated communities while the beaches from Guayacanes to Villas del Mar will be for the "public".
 

Snuffy

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My take on the situation

I currently live in Santiago. Santiago gives the feeling that I can
actually live here and like it. Santiago has a cooler climate than any of the beach areas. I don't know what it is exactly and I am researching it...but it seems at least for me...that not only is the DR hot but it seems even hotter due to some pressure factor...barometric or I don't know....but it just seems that my body cannot get rid of the heat fast enough. I become an oven. This might not be so bad except for the fact that you have to consider the electricity problems on the island. Imagine going for a full day without electricity to start an a/c or even a fan. The electricity problem can be overcome with generators and batteries but that is another cost. I don't have this problem in Santiago....our outages are for short periods...and even should there be a long outage we would be okay as the temp is more comfortable.

Santiago also allows me to live in a "more civilized" area of the D.R.....that is a section of town that is in many ways similar to the USA without the trash. I live in a newly constructed condo...with four bedrooms and three baths. I pay about $300 a month. That is impossible in the USA and impossible in Santo Domingo. There is no traffic on our street and no loud horns and loud music...something else I don't care for about this country. Where I live we have no pollution as a cool breeze blows in from the mountains. One should think long and hard before moving to Santo Domingo. If you value your health. That has got to be one of the most polluted cities on the planet.

Health Care is relative...we just had our beautiful new baby. She cost me a total of about $600 and that is calculating doctor visits during my wifes pregnancy. Try having a baby in the USA. This one was a mental challenge for me. My wife insisted the clinic was a good clinic. I feared some screw up or disease or whatever and initially wanted to have the baby in a much more expensive clinic. Over her pregnancy....I found myself coming to terms with it. Her doctor had delivered thousands of babies and a pregancy is not open heart surgery. I would say the clinic was about equivalent to the hospital I was born in....here in the USA.
The point is that I believe that we modern dwellers allow ourselves to be brainwashed into overvaluing healthcare. What we should focus on the our diets and try to live a healthy life so you don't have to be subject to the pharmaceutical industries need to show a profit to their shareholders. And that brings me to my next subject....DIET.

By far.....by very far....I have a much healthier diet here in the D.R. The food we eat consist of much more fruit and vegetables. The meats are better, the milk products. When I return to the USA I always put on about 10 pounds fast. Why? The junk food. You cannot escape it...and although here in the D.R. you can still get it...with my wife making the main course and I the salad we leave the junk food to the side. It is because of her way of life being to always cook healthy. People in the USA are taught how to get lazy about cooking and how to just grab the Junk Food. Time is a wasting. Oh yes, in the USA there is not time. Here in the D.R. time is so much slower. I love that.

I am coming to terms with the people. I know many here say how great they are...but I have had another take on it. I don't like people stepping in front of my walking path so they can force me to stop and then try and sell me something or ask for money. And I don't like loud people. And I don't like it when someone prepares my food with their hands after just cleaning up a mess on the floor. And I don't like it when people try to cheat me. And I can go on and on. I don't experience this so much in Santiago...another reason I like living there. Without a place like Santiago I...myself would go insane.

Now...other places I might recommend in an attempt to live there....perhaps Caberrete Beach. Of all the beaches this one seems to be the most civilized and limited on the number of prostitutes walking the streets. The mountains between Caberrete and Santiago....beautiful....but you have to take into consideration Security. Possibly Bonao area....this is very pretty area...but again security.

okay...gotta go to the post office....

Regards, Snuffy
 

Snuffy

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May 3, 2002
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More ideas.......

products........you never know for sure what you are getting. Let me explain. This is the way products come from the usa. When a company in the usa manufactures a product they do so with a certain market in mind. The D.R. is often not part of that market. Products have to be consistent and of a certain quality to be sold in the usa. But sometimes a factory will make a mistake and make thousands of units of an item that are not correct. Well, what do they do with these items? There is a market for everything and the D.R. is just fine for these incorrect items. Often you don't notice it but sometimes you might wonder why that toothpaste or shampoo just does not seem to be the same. Looks like the same shirt I would buy in the USA...but not really. One sleeve is an inch shorter than the other. This blender seems to be a good one...but the motor was manufactured out of specs...the blender burns up in four months. The list goes on and on. "Buyer Beware" applies here in the D.R.. You have to examine items very closely here and then even then you have to accept the fact that you paid for a $100 item that quit working after three months with no return possible. No WalMarts here. Sometimes they just get you.

services.........you never know what you will get. You can have a
great meal in a restaurant one day and the next it is terrible. There is no consistency in this country. People primarily will give you whatever you take. If you take it they see that as doing their job. Customer Service is not a valuable selling factor here. The trick is to tell them exactly what you want...spell it out for them and then spell it out again. then watch them very closely.

Restaurants....they don't value hot food. I don't know why this is. You have to spell it out to them....Hot Hot Hot. They will give you ice with that cola but put the ice in your glass with their hand. You gotta watch them.

Okay....enough. I have traveled a lot and the D.R is not on the top of my list or anywhere near it....try Honduras, Guatamala, Costa Rica, Peru. I like Colombia or did ten years ago. Don't know if it is safe now days. I would have to say that Honduras would be my top pick. You can live cheap cheap there in a beautiful countryside with very nice people.

I rarely have a dominican offer to buy me a cup of coffee. In Honduras...poor people would buy me coffee....offer me food. Very hospitable.

I think the difference is that the D.R. has more access to the USA and the modern world and they were sort of besieged by all the modern world has to offer in a very short period of time. It gave the people a sense of being without...of being on the losing end. Therefore they do everything they can to scam a few pesos. They see you first as a money machine. I never got that in Honduras...which is actually much poorer than the D.R.

But like I said...I am learning to accept these people. Now, did someone say coffee. Oh yea, the D.R. coffee is by far the best in the world. By far. It dominates. That is if you are making it. The coffee is so rich and so fresh out of the bag....it puts Starbucks to shame. And a nice size bag cost about 2.75 and no tax. Why D.R. coffee does not get more attention I don't know.

Now about that coffee.....dear, would you like a cup of coffee?
 

del4fun00

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Apr 26, 2002
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Snuffy -

It sounds like you don't like DR much, why are you living there with your family? What brought you there?

We will be there for the first time in 2 weeks and I am looking very forward to it.
 

Snuffy

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May 3, 2002
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Why I Am Living Here........

Life is strange you know...I met my wife here. I was traveling
all over the place and met her here. In fact, I was due to leave
the next day. I was never going to return. Like I said, I am trying
to have a good attitude. But, I believe someone was wanting
advice about Why Move To DR....I was just trying to give my honest opinion. I know it does not sound good....but it is honest.
I love my wife and we have a new baby girl. We are very happy.
I am learning how to make the D.R. comfortable for me. I am getting better in the attitude dept. You should have heard me a year ago.