This is a trip report from my first visit to the DR last September/October. Since my trip started right after the Isabel threat and less than a week after the earthquake, the information posted in these boards proved very valuable in planning my vacation itinerary. Consider this post as a "thank you" and my way of giving back to the DR1 community.
25 Sept 2003 - I arrived to Santiago at night, and after having my complimentary drink and greasing a few palms I was on the curb waiting for my ride in 15 minutes. A friend picked me up and took me to Moca, where I was going to spend a few days meeting my wife's family. We had been planning this trip for about a year, but just a few weeks before we were blessed with our second child and my wife decided to stay home while I burned the vacation I had worked so hard for. I had dinner at my friends house and drank a few Presidentes we picked on our way there. After meeting his parents, nephews, neighbors, and a crazy cousin that talked politics for hours we were off to the clubs. We went to "La Gran Mansi?n" and had a great time. The disco was very nice, with an excellent variety of salsa, merengue, and dance music. It was one of the few alternatives in Moca to driving to Santiago to go to a club. Since I arrived so late I didn't have a single peso on me, but my friend told me he would pick up the tab because I was his guest. Besides, each round of drinks was about US$2 so he didn't mind the expense. We left around 3:30 a.m. and the party was still going strong.
26 Sept 2003 - We hit the road after a breakfast of yucca, plantains, and cheese. I wanted to stop by my brother-in-law's house for to meet his family and to drop a 65+ pound suitcase his mother and my wife packed with gifts. They were waiting for us and treated me as if they had known me all their life. They prepared lunch and we sat and talked for hours after eating. He wanted me to stay with them, but I didn't want to inconvenience them, since they live in a small house in a campo with his sister and two kids. In the afternoon he jumped in the car and took me to meet the rest of the family. I swear I must have stopped at 10 houses , met a few dozen people, and drank a gallon of orange juice before we called it a day and decided to continue meeting the rest of the family another day. At night, my friend drove to Santiago to a disco. Since it was relatively early (9:00 p.m.) we stopped first at a bar in Moca called "Parafito". It was located on the side of a poorly lit road on the way to the main highway to Santiago, and the only clues of its existence were the cars parked in front of it and a bunch of torches leading up the stairs to a rustic looking building. This bar was surprisingly trendy and played Spanish rock and techno. The patrons were mostly middle class young adults. I really enjoyed this place, and returned several times during my trip. The club we went to in Santiago was "Ambis", and it was quite a change in scene. Although the club was nice and comfortable, I didn't find the crowd as friendly as other places we visited. Also, it looked like the girls that night were either clinging to guys with oversized jewelry, or were dancing with anyone willing to buy them a drink. I figured it was not my lucky night, so I decided to indulge in the cheap booze. After a few rounds, we made our way back home around 4:30 a.m.
27 Sept 2003 - When I woke up my head was pounding. I thought it was a hangover, but it turned out to be a political rally for Fello right outside my friends house. Traffic was at a standstill, so we just relaxed and talked with the neighbors all morning long. At around noon we headed to Jarabacoa. We spent the whole afternoon swimming in the river and riding horses, and returned home after a great dinner at a local hotel (sorry, but can't remember the name). I was really amazed at how much you could get for your dollars, since we spent no more than US$20 for dinner for 3 with drinks by the poolside. That night we went back to Santiago, and the trip started getting interesting. My friend picked up a girl and we headed to "Boomerangs". The crowd in this club seemed to be mostly college students and very lively, but since my friend had a date I felt like I was in the way and decided to park myself at the bar and chat with other while he danced the night away. After way too much to drink we drove to the Monumento and later went to pick something to eat. I wasn't in the mood for food, so I strayed away and ended in a bar that was playing Shakira way too loud. During a brief moment of sobriety I realized I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The place was packed with men looking at two ugly hookers dancing. I thought I was drawing way too much attention, so I decided to look for my friend and his date. I woke up in Moca about an hour later.
28 Sept 2003 - On Sunday we picked up my brother-in-law and went to Jamao to swim. This town is about a 45 minute drive from Moca, and the view from the road is just spectacular. We stopped at 2 different rivers: la represa and el chorro. Both places were packed with families eating, drinking, listening to music, and just plain having fun. The water was a bit chilly, but very clean and not a lot of current. It was still early, so we decided to keep driving north and stopped at another river just before Sabaneta. Just as we were pulling over I heard my friend say something to a stranded motorist. It turns out the crazy cousin I met on my first night in DR was going out with some girl from Sabaneta and his car broke down on the way back. This was probably the luckiest guy in the world that day. We spent a few hours drinking with the local as we watched a parade of people trying to start the car. At last, a local mechanic came over and delivered the bad news: the car had a burnt electric component and there was no spare parts within miles. The locals helped us push the car into a fenced lot behind a colmado and we were on our way back to Moca. My friend started asking where we wanted to go out that night, but after 3 nights of partying I was in need of a good night sleep. I picked up a couple of Presidentes and stayed at my brother-in-law's house. We pulled a couple of chairs, called the neighbors, and talked for a while before going to bed.
29 Sept 2003 - After 4 days of enjoying what the great Cibao valley had to offer, I called my friend and asked him to take me to the beach. He showed up just before noon and we headed off to Saman?. He wanted to take a trip to Los Haitises park. We stopped in Sanchez to ask a few guys for directions to the tour company. One of them offered to take us, and before we knew it we had a tour guide! My suspicions throughout the car trip were confirmed when the company told my friend they didn't have boats leaving in the afternoon and we would have to spend the night to take the tour the next day. It was too late to turn back, so we decided to stay. Our tour guide took us to the beach and to "La Fuente". This last one was a small complex with a restaurant and a nice spring-fed pool. They charged a nominal entry fee (less than US$1), but it was well worth it. We headed back to town were we ate dinner at a local cafeteria, and drank beer and chatted with the locals in front of the pier until nightfall. Our tour guide warned us that Sanchez is not a tourist town and that there is little for us "forasteros" to do for fun, but if we wanted he could take us to the patron saint festival that night. What happened afterwards is a long story, but for continuity I will just say that at the festival my friend had too much to drink, made a few bad decisions, and by the end of the night was convinced that the tour guide was going to rob us blind and kill us. I wasn't in the mood to argue with a drunk, so I asked him to pack his bags and we would skip town first thing in the morning. Maybe on my next visit I'll get to make the trip to Los Haitises_
30 Sept 2003 - The next day was my turn to decide where to go and I asked my friend to drive to Puerto Plata to spend some time in one of the AI?s. On the way there we did some sightseeing in Cabarete and Sosua. As we approached PP you could start noticing some of the damage caused by the earthquake. There were some sections of the road that were badly damaged and some buildings had some huge cracks. Some roads in the city were still closed to remove some debris. Although there was some visible damage, I would say the DR got very lucky since it could have been much worse. We finally arrived at the Riu resort complex around 11:00 a.m. We had no reservations and arrived before the regular check-in time, but the folks at the reception desk allowed us to leave the bags at the counter and gave us our wrist bands so we could get some food and drinks. I?m not sure what pricing scheme they use for locals, since it looked to me like we got a discount rate for a day trip plus room. We paid only US$40 each for a room at the Merengue, and the only string attached to this rate was that we had to check in before being allowed to sit for dinner. The beach was very nice and not crowded at all. Some of the resort workers told me that this was unusual, but probably due to many tourists canceling their reservations and moving to resorts in the south coast in the days following the earthquake. I?ve never been to an AI before, so I can?t say how the Riu compares to others, but I thought that it was well worth the price. I would recommend it to anyone visiting the PP area.
01 Oct 2003 - We spent most of the morning at the swim-up bar. The bartenders were very friendly, and I decided to join them offering drinks to the tourists and helping out with their English. When we checked out we put our bags in the car and went right back into the resort. I?m not sure if we were allowed to do that, but in essence we got a second day of eating and drinking for the price of one. We left the resort at around 4:00 p.m. and took the road through Jamao back to Moca. When we drove past my father-in-law?s finca I noticed his truck parked in the driveway. I asked my friend to drop me off and I stayed that night with them in Santiago. I learned that while we were partying in the North Coast a huelga erupted in Licey, so we took the road through Tamboril and I got to see yet another part of this great island.
02 thru 08 Oct 2003 - With only a week left, I spent the next few days shopping for souvenirs and visiting all sorts of relatives in Santiago and Moca. I got to drive between these two cities on a few occasions, and it turned out to be quite an experience. The hardest part was trying to figure out who has the right of way when you get to an intersection and the traffic light doesn?t work because the power is out. In addition to the places I already reported earlier, I visited ?La Finca? in the heart of Moca. This is a restaurant-bar that has live music at night. The drinks are less expensive than if you went to a disco and the atmosphere is more family oriented. On Sunday I went with my father-in-law to see the cockfights and it turned out to be quite interesting. If anyone is curious and would like to attend one I would recommend they go someone local that knows the place.
During this last few days I had many other stories, but would be of little value to future visitors to the DR and would only make this post much longer. Since I stayed mostly with family I got to experience what the life in DR is like? the people, the food, the daily inconveniences, the views, etc. I also confirmed what many other posters in this forum have said before: Moca has some of the most beautiful women in the island (that?s probably why I married one of them!). I?m already planning to be back around July of this year to spend my vacation in DR.
25 Sept 2003 - I arrived to Santiago at night, and after having my complimentary drink and greasing a few palms I was on the curb waiting for my ride in 15 minutes. A friend picked me up and took me to Moca, where I was going to spend a few days meeting my wife's family. We had been planning this trip for about a year, but just a few weeks before we were blessed with our second child and my wife decided to stay home while I burned the vacation I had worked so hard for. I had dinner at my friends house and drank a few Presidentes we picked on our way there. After meeting his parents, nephews, neighbors, and a crazy cousin that talked politics for hours we were off to the clubs. We went to "La Gran Mansi?n" and had a great time. The disco was very nice, with an excellent variety of salsa, merengue, and dance music. It was one of the few alternatives in Moca to driving to Santiago to go to a club. Since I arrived so late I didn't have a single peso on me, but my friend told me he would pick up the tab because I was his guest. Besides, each round of drinks was about US$2 so he didn't mind the expense. We left around 3:30 a.m. and the party was still going strong.
26 Sept 2003 - We hit the road after a breakfast of yucca, plantains, and cheese. I wanted to stop by my brother-in-law's house for to meet his family and to drop a 65+ pound suitcase his mother and my wife packed with gifts. They were waiting for us and treated me as if they had known me all their life. They prepared lunch and we sat and talked for hours after eating. He wanted me to stay with them, but I didn't want to inconvenience them, since they live in a small house in a campo with his sister and two kids. In the afternoon he jumped in the car and took me to meet the rest of the family. I swear I must have stopped at 10 houses , met a few dozen people, and drank a gallon of orange juice before we called it a day and decided to continue meeting the rest of the family another day. At night, my friend drove to Santiago to a disco. Since it was relatively early (9:00 p.m.) we stopped first at a bar in Moca called "Parafito". It was located on the side of a poorly lit road on the way to the main highway to Santiago, and the only clues of its existence were the cars parked in front of it and a bunch of torches leading up the stairs to a rustic looking building. This bar was surprisingly trendy and played Spanish rock and techno. The patrons were mostly middle class young adults. I really enjoyed this place, and returned several times during my trip. The club we went to in Santiago was "Ambis", and it was quite a change in scene. Although the club was nice and comfortable, I didn't find the crowd as friendly as other places we visited. Also, it looked like the girls that night were either clinging to guys with oversized jewelry, or were dancing with anyone willing to buy them a drink. I figured it was not my lucky night, so I decided to indulge in the cheap booze. After a few rounds, we made our way back home around 4:30 a.m.
27 Sept 2003 - When I woke up my head was pounding. I thought it was a hangover, but it turned out to be a political rally for Fello right outside my friends house. Traffic was at a standstill, so we just relaxed and talked with the neighbors all morning long. At around noon we headed to Jarabacoa. We spent the whole afternoon swimming in the river and riding horses, and returned home after a great dinner at a local hotel (sorry, but can't remember the name). I was really amazed at how much you could get for your dollars, since we spent no more than US$20 for dinner for 3 with drinks by the poolside. That night we went back to Santiago, and the trip started getting interesting. My friend picked up a girl and we headed to "Boomerangs". The crowd in this club seemed to be mostly college students and very lively, but since my friend had a date I felt like I was in the way and decided to park myself at the bar and chat with other while he danced the night away. After way too much to drink we drove to the Monumento and later went to pick something to eat. I wasn't in the mood for food, so I strayed away and ended in a bar that was playing Shakira way too loud. During a brief moment of sobriety I realized I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The place was packed with men looking at two ugly hookers dancing. I thought I was drawing way too much attention, so I decided to look for my friend and his date. I woke up in Moca about an hour later.
28 Sept 2003 - On Sunday we picked up my brother-in-law and went to Jamao to swim. This town is about a 45 minute drive from Moca, and the view from the road is just spectacular. We stopped at 2 different rivers: la represa and el chorro. Both places were packed with families eating, drinking, listening to music, and just plain having fun. The water was a bit chilly, but very clean and not a lot of current. It was still early, so we decided to keep driving north and stopped at another river just before Sabaneta. Just as we were pulling over I heard my friend say something to a stranded motorist. It turns out the crazy cousin I met on my first night in DR was going out with some girl from Sabaneta and his car broke down on the way back. This was probably the luckiest guy in the world that day. We spent a few hours drinking with the local as we watched a parade of people trying to start the car. At last, a local mechanic came over and delivered the bad news: the car had a burnt electric component and there was no spare parts within miles. The locals helped us push the car into a fenced lot behind a colmado and we were on our way back to Moca. My friend started asking where we wanted to go out that night, but after 3 nights of partying I was in need of a good night sleep. I picked up a couple of Presidentes and stayed at my brother-in-law's house. We pulled a couple of chairs, called the neighbors, and talked for a while before going to bed.
29 Sept 2003 - After 4 days of enjoying what the great Cibao valley had to offer, I called my friend and asked him to take me to the beach. He showed up just before noon and we headed off to Saman?. He wanted to take a trip to Los Haitises park. We stopped in Sanchez to ask a few guys for directions to the tour company. One of them offered to take us, and before we knew it we had a tour guide! My suspicions throughout the car trip were confirmed when the company told my friend they didn't have boats leaving in the afternoon and we would have to spend the night to take the tour the next day. It was too late to turn back, so we decided to stay. Our tour guide took us to the beach and to "La Fuente". This last one was a small complex with a restaurant and a nice spring-fed pool. They charged a nominal entry fee (less than US$1), but it was well worth it. We headed back to town were we ate dinner at a local cafeteria, and drank beer and chatted with the locals in front of the pier until nightfall. Our tour guide warned us that Sanchez is not a tourist town and that there is little for us "forasteros" to do for fun, but if we wanted he could take us to the patron saint festival that night. What happened afterwards is a long story, but for continuity I will just say that at the festival my friend had too much to drink, made a few bad decisions, and by the end of the night was convinced that the tour guide was going to rob us blind and kill us. I wasn't in the mood to argue with a drunk, so I asked him to pack his bags and we would skip town first thing in the morning. Maybe on my next visit I'll get to make the trip to Los Haitises_
30 Sept 2003 - The next day was my turn to decide where to go and I asked my friend to drive to Puerto Plata to spend some time in one of the AI?s. On the way there we did some sightseeing in Cabarete and Sosua. As we approached PP you could start noticing some of the damage caused by the earthquake. There were some sections of the road that were badly damaged and some buildings had some huge cracks. Some roads in the city were still closed to remove some debris. Although there was some visible damage, I would say the DR got very lucky since it could have been much worse. We finally arrived at the Riu resort complex around 11:00 a.m. We had no reservations and arrived before the regular check-in time, but the folks at the reception desk allowed us to leave the bags at the counter and gave us our wrist bands so we could get some food and drinks. I?m not sure what pricing scheme they use for locals, since it looked to me like we got a discount rate for a day trip plus room. We paid only US$40 each for a room at the Merengue, and the only string attached to this rate was that we had to check in before being allowed to sit for dinner. The beach was very nice and not crowded at all. Some of the resort workers told me that this was unusual, but probably due to many tourists canceling their reservations and moving to resorts in the south coast in the days following the earthquake. I?ve never been to an AI before, so I can?t say how the Riu compares to others, but I thought that it was well worth the price. I would recommend it to anyone visiting the PP area.
01 Oct 2003 - We spent most of the morning at the swim-up bar. The bartenders were very friendly, and I decided to join them offering drinks to the tourists and helping out with their English. When we checked out we put our bags in the car and went right back into the resort. I?m not sure if we were allowed to do that, but in essence we got a second day of eating and drinking for the price of one. We left the resort at around 4:00 p.m. and took the road through Jamao back to Moca. When we drove past my father-in-law?s finca I noticed his truck parked in the driveway. I asked my friend to drop me off and I stayed that night with them in Santiago. I learned that while we were partying in the North Coast a huelga erupted in Licey, so we took the road through Tamboril and I got to see yet another part of this great island.
02 thru 08 Oct 2003 - With only a week left, I spent the next few days shopping for souvenirs and visiting all sorts of relatives in Santiago and Moca. I got to drive between these two cities on a few occasions, and it turned out to be quite an experience. The hardest part was trying to figure out who has the right of way when you get to an intersection and the traffic light doesn?t work because the power is out. In addition to the places I already reported earlier, I visited ?La Finca? in the heart of Moca. This is a restaurant-bar that has live music at night. The drinks are less expensive than if you went to a disco and the atmosphere is more family oriented. On Sunday I went with my father-in-law to see the cockfights and it turned out to be quite interesting. If anyone is curious and would like to attend one I would recommend they go someone local that knows the place.
During this last few days I had many other stories, but would be of little value to future visitors to the DR and would only make this post much longer. Since I stayed mostly with family I got to experience what the life in DR is like? the people, the food, the daily inconveniences, the views, etc. I also confirmed what many other posters in this forum have said before: Moca has some of the most beautiful women in the island (that?s probably why I married one of them!). I?m already planning to be back around July of this year to spend my vacation in DR.