Hi! Author here. Thanks everyone for reading my blog, where I share my travel insights and personal reflections. Please remember it's not a Lonely Planet text book or the New York Times with a paycheck + team + editor. Those are the things, I personally (again it's a blog) recommend and that post in specific like I wrote, for a beginner moving to SD. Of course, it's not an all comprehensive guide to everything in Santo Domingo or like I said, I'd be dedicating the next year and lots of funds to writing it as a book and it wouldn't be free (unlike this personal travel blog).
tropicalpaul - As for the zona colonial comments, yes it's obviously livable as I have friends happily living there, but for those who need specific doctors, better gyms, more options for basic types of shopping/day-to-day stuff, you may likely find yourself traveling outside of la zona and the Ubers to "downtown" are about $5 each way. So my *recommendation* is to find another place near "downtown" if those things apply. Obviously there's a Nacional (I've walked past it a million times) and tons of other options all around la zona. I wrote the blog post casually and wrote "all the time" as a casual way of speaking "Yo voy para el gimnasio todo el tiempo" doesn't always literally mean I go to the gym literaly all of the actual time. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to hire an editor to proofread my personal blog posts into being a NYT article instead of a casual post. But that's why they are free and I'm not getting paid for them.
Alexw -- I don't know any foreigner named Alex living in DR. I have no idea who you are so please don't lie saying you "know" me. 2nd, "
the young girl" -- really? Lastly, I've never had a conversation with anyone who told me "
most of [my] information is really bad" so, again, stop lying. As for "monetizing" my stay, that's a really interesting way of saying I have a job I love in my OWN country. If you're on my FB, FB group, or IG, please block me and my platforms
I don't need that mal de ojo in my life. There's
constructive criticism and input, and then there's a weirdo on the internet claiming to others that he knows me and thinks all my stuff is "bad". If my stuff is so bad, why are you all up in my business? Reading my stuff and following my tours? Block me, Alex.
islanddragon - FB groups and corotos -- yup. I know people who've found roommates/apartments on there.
Mauricio - thanks
cavok - k
bobsaunders - thanks