Hi everybody,
We are a family of 4 (2 kids: 14 and 2). Our short stay so far (3 weeks) in the DR has confirmed our desire to pursue our goal of building a modest house on the Samana peninsula and moving there. We have been staying in Santiago the last few weeks, and we like it a lot, but we realize now that we want to be more out in the "wild", and of course, near the ocean.
So our current goal is to find a place to rent in Samana, where we'll stay while we scout out property to buy and building possibilities. From what I've read so far, it seems like the town of Samana or Las Terrenas might be the best place to stay. Ultimately, we are thinking of building in Las Galeras.
Our biggest issue is high speed Internet. My wife and I both work over the Internet and need this. Verizon is unhelpful with telling whether/where DSL service is available out there.
We are assuming (based on experiences in Santiago, and the general consensus that things are much cheaper in Samana) that it should be no problem to meet our goal of renting something with 3-4 bedrooms, furnished with utilities included, for under 15,000 pesos.
Question for those in the know: Are we better off just hopping on a bus to Samana (the town) and looking around when we are there? Is everything via agents (like here) or is it possible to rent through owners? And any recommendations about which spot is best to stay in?
To anticipate other questions: We've ruled out school for our 14 year old daughter. She tried a (private) Spanish-only school here, but (a) there was a lot of English spoken, so little hope that she would actually learn Spanish, and (b) they were even farther behind her academic level than the US school, if you can believe it (she's Russian).
As for lifestyle, we are totally fine with "rustic". We are on a tight budget, we are not on vacation.
We speak very little Spanish (but are working on it), and a smattering of French. My wife and daughter are fluent Russian speakers, although I don't see that helping.
Any and all advice much appreciated! We're thinking of making our trip in a couple of days.
We are a family of 4 (2 kids: 14 and 2). Our short stay so far (3 weeks) in the DR has confirmed our desire to pursue our goal of building a modest house on the Samana peninsula and moving there. We have been staying in Santiago the last few weeks, and we like it a lot, but we realize now that we want to be more out in the "wild", and of course, near the ocean.
So our current goal is to find a place to rent in Samana, where we'll stay while we scout out property to buy and building possibilities. From what I've read so far, it seems like the town of Samana or Las Terrenas might be the best place to stay. Ultimately, we are thinking of building in Las Galeras.
Our biggest issue is high speed Internet. My wife and I both work over the Internet and need this. Verizon is unhelpful with telling whether/where DSL service is available out there.
We are assuming (based on experiences in Santiago, and the general consensus that things are much cheaper in Samana) that it should be no problem to meet our goal of renting something with 3-4 bedrooms, furnished with utilities included, for under 15,000 pesos.
Question for those in the know: Are we better off just hopping on a bus to Samana (the town) and looking around when we are there? Is everything via agents (like here) or is it possible to rent through owners? And any recommendations about which spot is best to stay in?
To anticipate other questions: We've ruled out school for our 14 year old daughter. She tried a (private) Spanish-only school here, but (a) there was a lot of English spoken, so little hope that she would actually learn Spanish, and (b) they were even farther behind her academic level than the US school, if you can believe it (she's Russian).
As for lifestyle, we are totally fine with "rustic". We are on a tight budget, we are not on vacation.
We speak very little Spanish (but are working on it), and a smattering of French. My wife and daughter are fluent Russian speakers, although I don't see that helping.
Any and all advice much appreciated! We're thinking of making our trip in a couple of days.