my experience of living cheap in SD

mike-mike

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Feb 16, 2003
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Hello,
Last year, i was living in the Dominican Republic. We were 2 , my girlfriend and I, living in Naco (Santo Domingo, -posh and expensive-). we were earning 16000 pesos a month (when we were getting paid on time!!!:) ), cumulated wages. We had to pay our rent (one bedroom from a local guy which was 6000 pesos a month - room located in Naco, convenient, as we were teaching in a school next block), food and travel (guagua mainly, for long journeys, we had the luxury to travel with the fully(!) air-conditionned Caribe tour bus).
It wasn't easy, but we made it and had an excellent time!
so i can only imagine what i would have done with 50000 pesos a month!
It was actually good to live with not much money, that was an excellent way to discover Santo Domingo and the entire Dominican Republic, living cheap, meeting loads of very interesting dominican people, compare to all those stupid people (mainly american (no racism, just noticing) showing off with their flashy cars, their bucks, and their budweiser...pathetic.

Have fun and have a good day!
Mike
 

Rocky

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Apr 4, 2002
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mike-mike said:
Hello,
Last year, i was living in the Dominican Republic. We were 2 , my girlfriend and I, living in Naco (Santo Domingo, -posh and expensive-). we were earning 16000 pesos a month (when we were getting paid on time!!!:) ), cumulated wages. We had to pay our rent (one bedroom from a local guy which was 6000 pesos a month - room located in Naco, convenient, as we were teaching in a school next block), food and travel (guagua mainly, for long journeys, we had the luxury to travel with the fully(!) air-conditionned Caribe tour bus).
It wasn't easy, but we made it and had an excellent time!
so i can only imagine what i would have done with 50000 pesos a month!
It was actually good to live with not much money, that was an excellent way to discover Santo Domingo and the entire Dominican Republic, living cheap, meeting loads of very interesting dominican people, compare to all those stupid people (mainly american (no racism, just noticing) showing off with their flashy cars, their bucks, and their budweiser...pathetic.

Have fun and have a good day!
Mike
Don't you just hate those pathetic Americans who drive around in those flashy luxury cars, when you know they would much prefer to be driving a Toyota Tercel, hanging a fistful of US dollars out the window, just to piss off the poor people, wearing those God awful Budweiser caps, yet another demonstration of their unlimited wealth, and stopping to talk to poor ole' you, on the side of the road, waiting for public transport, (I'm sure they must have talked to you, otherwise, how could you know they were Americans?) and then, not even offering you a lift?
Heck, they probably live in fancy houses too !!!
There ought to be a law against people like that.
 

Larry

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Mar 22, 2002
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Was your post intended to give info on living cheaply in SD or a weak attempt to insult Americans?

If you didn't encounter racism in SD, I don't think you experienced much of it (SD). I was there for two days and must have seen more of the city than you.

Stick your head back in the sand.


Larry
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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His comment(no racism) was in regard to his comment about Americans. He didn't say they didn't encounter racism. Mike, what were your expenses for food...etc. Did you ever eat at restaurants, go to movies...etc. It seems to be the opinion of many people(rick-toronto for one) that you need at least $3000 US per month to live even mosdestly in SD. I think, based on my experieces in the DR and my frugal wife's native bargaining skills and experience that we could easily live on less than $1000 us per month, but I'm very thankful that when we move to Jarabacoa we will have no rent to pay and cheap sources for both fresh fruit, vegteables and meat.
 

Larry

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Mar 22, 2002
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bob saunders said:
His comment(no racism) was in regard to his comment about Americans. He didn't say they didn't encounter racism. Mike, what were your expenses for food...etc. Did you ever eat at restaurants, go to movies...etc. It seems to be the opinion of many people(rick-toronto for one) that you need at least $3000 US per month to live even mosdestly in SD. I think, based on my experieces in the DR and my frugal wife's native bargaining skills and experience that we could easily live on less than $1000 us per month, but I'm very thankful that when we move to Jarabacoa we will have no rent to pay and cheap sources for both fresh fruit, vegteables and meat.


OK, I had to re read it about five times before I understood it. Sorry about that Mike- Mike.

I am also curious what kind of lifestyle he had on such a strict budget.

Larry
 

Bartolomeo67

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Mar 18, 2004
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Hello Mike,
great to hear that the 2 of you managed to live on such a tight budget. Did you guys know about the poor salary beforehand or did you only find out in SD that the peso was worth nothing anymore?
What did you miss most on a budget like that?
What's the reason you left, end of a temporary project? Are you planning to come back to the DR?
Bartolomeo
 

xamaicano

Well-known member
Apr 16, 2004
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bob saunders said:
His comment(no racism) was in regard to his comment about Americans. He didn't say they didn't encounter racism. Mike, what were your expenses for food...etc. Did you ever eat at restaurants, go to movies...etc. It seems to be the opinion of many people(rick-toronto for one) that you need at least $3000 US per month to live even mosdestly in SD. I think, based on my experieces in the DR and my frugal wife's native bargaining skills and experience that we could easily live on less than $1000 us per month, but I'm very thankful that when we move to Jarabacoa we will have no rent to pay and cheap sources for both fresh fruit, vegteables and meat.

I'm curious, what makes it so expensive that one would need at least $3000 US per month? That's take home pay for a single person making $50,000 a year in States and you can live more than modestly on that here.
 

mike-mike

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Feb 16, 2003
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Hello everybody, hello American fellows! (you see, no racism!)

first, message to Larry, before telling people they are racists, try to read their thread more than once (five times in your case...), you could hurt people saying things like you said...
Then, yes, I knew more or less about my wage before I moved there , but money wasn't an issue as I wanted an adventure. (I left with only 500 euros in my account).
I am french, lived in England for several years, and decided to go back to France but before that, wanted to have an experience abroad, and preferably a hot and sunny country!
I looked for teaching jobs (check on the internet for this, it's a golden mine!) and contacted a school in Santo Domingo which offered me and my girlfriend a job as english teachers for 6000 pesos each.
From then, I contacted different places to see if I could survive with this amount of money (spoke to the guy in charge of the french consulate who told me I was mad to consider moving there for that kind of money, and to live in RD, especially SD and Naco, i needed at least 50000 pesos a month...). Unfortunately, by the time he told me this i had already booked my flight! (by the way you can get flight from 99 eng pounds return from UK to DR).
I then arrived to Naco, started the job, looked for a place to live (we were lucky to find a place right next to the school so didn't have to pay for any fares, but it was quite expensive, 6000 pesos a month (a full wage!).
But it is very easy for a foreigner to find a job in the DR (at least in my case) and found a job as a part-time diving instructor in Boca Chica), which gave us a bit more money.
While we were in SD, we were going to the restaurant maybe once or twice a week, having drinks at bars everyday but with moderation! and you can find typical dominican restaurants and bars in SD extremely cheap and excellent (i won't give you the addresses, look out for them, or ask Larry, he seems to know everything!...only kidding Larry, relax, man!!). Otherwise, go the supermarket, and cook!
Jobs being not as good as expected (and we never got paid on time), i moved to Bayahibe working as a diving instructor while my girlfriend was sunbedding under the coconut trees at my expense!
I then moved to Punta cana (beurrrrk), same job, excellent money, but decided after 8 months of fun to finally move back to France and get a proper job.
I have no regrets about my experience in the DR, people were very friendly (especially Haitien), it might be difficult at first for an outsider, but after a while, everything makes sense and life is so relaxed...!

Have a good day and keep smiling!