Miller,
I suggest you browsed through a thread I posted a few weeks back entitled "The gravitational pull of the DR". Most of the references in that post go back to my childhood in Jarabacoa.
Some of the descriptions about Jarabacoa in this post are accurate from a physical point of view. However, as is the case for most places, you need to look under the hood to get a real feeling of what's in store.
Living in Jarabacoa can be a great experience for someone with an open mind about what may come. The best advice I can give you is to go there with an open mind, without any specific expectations...and you will be pleasantly surprised. If you are a city person and carry that mentality to Jarabacoa...you will be disappointed. Jarabacoa offers some city-like facilities but it is not a city or anything close to what you might have experienced in the US. Because of its tourist influence, both local and foreign, Jarabacoa has a very particular feel to it as you'll find highly educated, well-cultured people as well as many locals, country-like people. In fact, I would call Jarabacoa the "Melting Pot" of El Cibao since on any given day you could easily meet a German walking in the Park ("El Parque"), an American getting cash from an ATM machine, a Capitale?o (a person from Sto. Domingo) in La Confluencia and a Chinese selling verduras (vegetables) in the Market.
With regards to the cost of living, Jarabacoa is a lot cheaper than the big cities like Santiago, La Vega or Santo Domingo. I would say it's probably 60-70% the cost of living in Santo Domingo so from that perspective you'd be better off financially living in Jarabacoa.
I can personally tell you that my experience growing up in Jarabacoa have never left my mind?I continue to long for my return there (although I bought a house in Santiago by way of my wife)?I think it?s the most wonderful place on earth?but that?s me.
Good luck!!!
Giovanni