La Curiosidad Mato al Gato

1. Yes, there are many fine people living in the DR. It is just that most of the questions and concerns expressed on the board have to do with the less desirable segment of the population.

2. Yes, there is a very large percentage of the population living on less than US$20,000 a year. Dominicans are able to live on less than an extranjero because there can be some difference in what is charged. But this is a very small part of the answer. Comfort is what we are accustomed to. If, for example, you are accustomed to living in a palm frond roof house in the campo with no flush toilet, no refrigerator, and cook on charcoal, then you can live on much less than if you required some of the conveniences that we take for granted. If you are living on US$5-6,000 a year, you will be living better than the family in the campo, but it would be very difficult for those of us accustomed to more.

If you visit the small colmados and the stands where meat is sold, so you will see that it is common to buy just the quanitity needed for the day or the next meal. This is not what you see in the supermarkets, but this is not where the people shop who are living on what to us is a very low income.

I seem to recall from one of your previous posts that you are of Cuban descent. Life in the DR for other than the more favored segment of the population would not be much different than it is there, or in any other country where a large segment of the country is living on what we consider a very low income.

Cubana-americana

I assume you live in Miami. Well, if that's so, depending on where you live, DR is as expensive as living in Miami. If you live in Santo Domingo and you live let's say in the area of Collins Avenue, South Beach and the super condo area, living in Santo Domingo's better neighborhoods would be just as expensive.

Remember, the super condos in Miami Beach are not as large as our Anacaona Avenue Apartments, which require electric bills that run you over US$500 a month or more and likewise maintenance fees. Few hi-rise apartments here are less than 250 meters. Cars are twice as expensive here.

However, if you live like the poor you can survive on almost anything depending on your survival skills. But you will lead a miserable life. If you get sick you're finished.

TW

Beach is not the answer if you don't get on board now. by the time you want to semi-retire, a lot of the good spots will be gone. Get your spot now.
Another alternative is to get a spot in a nice smaller town, within reach of the beach. Join the country club and be somebody...Mingle..then you can have more fun.

HB

Besides............

What makes you think life on the beach is cheaper than Santo Domingo?


TW

if you are looking to buy property in puerto plata area, think twice. Puerto plata and sosua are ghost towns now. Robberies are common and poor are ever-more-desperate. Almost all the houses are for sale in costambar and no one is buying. There are no jobs or any source of money making schemes at work. I just don't know how the ex-pats and dominicans are surviving there? I find puerto plata to be very expensive, rent and food is a rip-off.

The women ex-pats talk about in coastal towns are all hookers. These guys go out to find hookers. I mean, you are not going to find decent girls working in sleezy bars and cheap carwashes. These girls are there because gringos go there. They are there to be picked up by foreigners. I was in pop just over the weekend. I usually go there with santiago crowd because I find puerto plata / sosua girls to be class-less. They all look and act like cheap hookers. You talk to them and they want a drink right-away. They dance like hookers and ask for money or a regalo within 2 seconds of conservation. These girls are considered trash by most decent dominicans. Then again, almost 99% of ex-pats don't come in contact with the decent dominicans. Decent dominicans (men/women) see tourist as sleezy blue collar american / euro trash who come here to get laid with cheap black hookers or with male sankies.
But don't worry, there are more decent dominicans than the trash you see in coastal cities.

AZB
First off i will agree with you about the quality of bar girls and tourists in Sosua and Puerto Plata,you seem to know where to go,however be careful not to put everyone in the same bag,maybe if you would have been out to the jazz festival for example you would see there are decent Dominicans and expat residents who work hard and contribute to their community,yes there is crime ,correct me if im wrong but Santiago and suburbs has a faily large robbery and murder rate also ,where there is poverty and unemployment there is crime,dont make it out worse than it is.How about some comments from other north coast residents,or are all of you doing street whores::angry:

My wife and I enjoy living in Sosua. And the jazz festival was certainly crowded with people who would not be classed as low-life in any community. Can't comment on AZB's experiences since we don't bar hop or roam the streets at night.

Ken
I guess it depends where you go,funny putas dont hang around the places i go but thats because im not in the market,i married a nice girl who did not work the streets but i met her working for a friend in his restaurant

Thanks god AZB

I don't have to brown nose decent dominicans in santiago
X

Xman
Im not Dominican and neither is Ken if im right,also telling the truth and and asking opinions is not quite my idea of brown nosing but more asking others opinions since some people think all the north coast is a cesspool whereas i disagree and would like to know from others who live here how they feel.

Hola i_men

That guy AZB drives me crazy a veces. Being the greatest *****monger in DR (according to his autobiographic postings), knowing intimately all sleazy bars and working girls on the entire north
coast, he has the gall to make himself the judge
of other peoples pursuit of happyness.
Shame on him! i'm not talking to him for a week.
X

Little towns near beaches

If we suppose that you need all or most of the following:
Water, light, telephone, cable TV, DSL Internet access, safety (personel and property), good health care, a few restaurants, movies, movie rental.
We narrow the possibilities:
In the East: Higuey, health care is iffy, don't know much about it.
In the South: Ban?, Barahona Again, health care is iffy, restaurants too.

In the North: Santiago, Moca, La Vega, San Francisco de Macoris

In these cities, you are an hour from the beach. but you have access to the mountains!! A whole new realm of beauty and leisure. Rivers, forests, super quiet...jarabacoa is a good example...

HB

And there are lots of little places with few amenities but enormous tranquility, near the beaches..Jamao, Mamey, La Isabela, among others in the North...

Why not retire in Cuba?

We all can hope that "Fidel" will be dead soon.Cuba has nice people,educated people,clean streets,health care system,and the same climate and beaches as the DR! You could go and buy what you want now,and retire in the future.You can live outside "La Habana" for $200 US a month! You must still have a lot of "family" in Cuba.CRIS