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You are right about the population density issue; the DR's National District alone has Panama's entire population, more or less, since Panama has about three million or less in the entire nation. PC is certainly the most densely populated urban area in Panma.
That is true. To give you an idea of how much the DR population has grown, the last time the DR had 3 million people was in the first half of the 1900s. Even when Trujillo died the population was rather small (around 4 million nationwide and Santo Domingo had around 250,000 people, that was in 1961).
By the 1970s, the country had around 6 million and the city had around 1 million people! What an increase!
Today, of course, the DR has around 8-9 million and SDQ has around 3 million.
I would argue that if the major economic advances the DR would have taken place while the population would had grown way slower than it has, the DR would have been much much wealthier today overall than it currently is.
You say Sto. Domingo is a very alive city, do you mean there are people walking the streets at night outside the Colonial Zone and the Malecon, or is the activity pretty much restricted to daytime hours?
The activity in SDQ is never restricted, lets put it that way. This city always has something going at anytime (blackout or not). We have lots of Casinos, bars, restaurants, nightclubs, the full mambo jambo. This is the most exciting city in the Caribbean (literally) and even Conde Nast Traveler Magazine last year wrote an article on SDQ stating that "SDQ is given San Juan and even Miami a tough competition as the most happening city in Latin America". I'll try to get a link to the article.
In short, SDQ is much more varied that PC, but that is mostly due to its larger population and economy. SDQ produces 40% of the GDP of the DR, depending on the sources SDQ produces either $19.2 billion or $8.4 billion, either way its alot and the most produced in any 400 square mile area in the entire island, if not the entire Caribbean. SDQ has a higher per capita income than the rest of the nation overall, etc. Its a full fledge metropolis, however by the beginning of the 1990s, SDQ was a different deal all together, it changed during the economic boom of the 1990s.
It also seems to me there are more hotels in Sto. Domingo and at more affordable prices. That may be because DR gets far more tourists, it is its main industry.
Well, Santo Domingo ranks around 3 in tourist popularity among the DR destinations. In my opinion that is due because we don't have a beach, once we build one (whenever that is), SDQ will become much more touristy than it currently is. Much of today's tourism is concentrated in the Colonial Zone and Malecon area. Those areas make up less than 2% of the entire city!
SDQ has a lot of everything. There are many affordable hotels, but there are also plenty of hotels where $200 a night is the norm also, it all depends on what you want. From glitz and glamour to dredgy box construction motels in an industrial area, we got it.
Also, about the blackouts, the wealthier areas of the city now have electricity 24 hours a day most of the days, things are getting back to pre-hippo era.