Camp David

I was just at Camp David last weekend. I took an amiga, her amiga, and the amiga's sister and 2 daughters there for dinner. The sister and her daughters live in santiago and had never been there! The taxi driver took a route other than the most direct and we wound up traveling down bumpy unpaved roads for almost an hour! We had 2 adult women and 2 teenage girls in the back seat, the driver, and then all 6'4" of myself sharing the front passenger seat with my amiga. . . .luckily she is a smaller person!

The food is "ok" but the view is very nice. It was very cold and my amiga was freezing but they insisted on dining outside because of the view.

I took a few pics of Trujillo's cars etc and will post them online soon. Camp David is definitely recommended to bring a date. . . .or an amiga you want to get to know better! The coolness is a perfect excuse to help "warm up" your companion for the evening!

A Little Secret

I went there last week with some some lady friends and my best friend. I'll agree the food was OK, and I was starving, so that doesn't do it much justice. However, you'd just have to go over there and find out this fact: Probably the best view in all of DR and the place is pretty decent for a nice date. Come dressed in a sports coat with a hot woman. Give her wine, Give her insight into life, Let her get cold and warm her up in your jacket as you hold her and look at that beautiful view.. Even a 300LB Gorilla gets laid that night.

I agree with all of you. Camp David rocks!!! :classic:

I went there with my friend and his wife a few months ago.

I recommend that everyone bring a long-sleeve shirt or light jacket.

The view is wonderful!!!

I am so glad you have all enjoyed this place, one of my favorites.

You are certainly right about the need to stay warm. Remember what happens to men when it gets cold !!!!!!

I always recommend this place to anyone that has the time...a winner..

HB

My cousin told me that La Cumbre (This is what local Dominicans call Camp David Ranch) was where Trujillo ordered one of the Mirabal sister's death. According to my cousin (My Uncle was one of Trujillo's cronies) I haven't check out the facts on this, after letting her get her degree from the university, she still rejected him as a lover. She played a little game with him for a long time until he came to the reality of life: He was somebody, she was a nobody. So he raped her, killed her and threw her down a ditch somewhere in Camp David. This may be a cruel death, but you just don't fcuk around with a Dictator. Period.

anyone have directions there, from say, the middle of LiCey rte 14....or the airport..

thanks...bob

ok I know estrella sadhala...but i dont know hache!!!

and I dont see any tourista road on the map..I see a road to POP and it is called Carretera Luperon

if I pass that there is another right..camino abueno vista....then if i pass that there is Las casas... if i pass that then there is carretera a Jacagua, if I pass that I can come to the rotonda and I have carretera a la Cienago on the right....so let me know.....bob

It so happens I have these directions saved on my hard drive. Here they are:

Directions for getting to Camp David for folks coming from Santo Domingo.

1. One of the first check points is the Army fort, Fernando Valerio. This is on your right, just past the pyrimidal construction of the new hotel, also on your right.
2. Your next check points are a series of stoplights, starting at the fort, then three lights for residential areas and finally a fourth light right by a Shell station on your left. You want to get to the center or the right hand side of the road.
3. About 200 yards after that fourth light, you bear right, and continue for about 400 yards, looking to bear off to the right following the sign to Puerto Plata. There is a large multiplex cinema on your right, called Hollywood 7. And there is a traffic light 100 yards further on. This is Ave. Estrella Sadhal?. Stay to the left lane of the Avenue, you are going North. You take the Avenue, using the elevated road, past McDonalds and the Nacional supermarket on your right, to the next light, where you use the right lane.
4. You turn right. This is in front of HACH? a large Ferreter?a. This is the Luperon Tourist Highway.. You follow this road past a Texaco station on your right, a Shell station also on the right , and then there is another Texaco station, Again, on your right. .Pay attention, we are going to do something very Dominican. You enter the Texaco station but you go thru the station (unless you want to buy gas), and out the back side, turning left. This is a little road that will take you to the entrance to Camp David, about 400 yards on your left.
5. After you turn left off the little road onto the entrance road, you follow your nose to the top of the mountain…can’t go anywhere else…
6. if you get lost or confused, please call me:
a. Cell: 809 640 3200
b. Office 809 583 0749
c. Another office if all else fails 226 5754

Cordially,

Hillbilly
a.k.a. Luis

Note: Just before that last Texaco station there is an intersection, quite obvious by all the motoconchos standing around. You "can" turn right there and follow that road around to the back side of the Texaco station--and on to Camp David as indicated above--however, I thought that it would be more fun to do the Dominican thing and cut through the gas station

ok I got that ... and it is all clear EXCEPT for one minor small insignificant detail... that stands out... and it TOTTALY possible i have that little detail assbackwards

coming from SD up towards Santiago on rte 1( duarte autopista)...I could swear the new hotel...is on the LEFT as you pass it going into santiago


is that correct...or do i have that little detail messed up in my head?

thanks. BOB

It depends

If you're facing backwards in your vehicle as you enter Santiago the new hotel would be to your left. At any rate it is located on the east side of RTE 1.
Also a few words on Camp David, having stayed there on about 30 occasions over the last ten years I agree it is truely a remarkable place. One can only imagine the splendor when the hotel was new and it was a gathering place for the rich and powerful, kind of like Hitler's Wolves Liar. I've found the food to be better than average and the service almost always excellent. The nighttime view of the city lights is dazzling and in the daytime you have a panorama of the various piles of smoldering garbage that define Santiago.
The hotel is reasonably priced at less than $40 US per night and the rooms are the most spacious in Santiago, many with balconies which have views similar to the restaurant.
I have noticed a steady decline in the condition of the hotel and restaurant as they seem reluctant to spend any money on updating or renovating. Another negative for a hotel stay is the remote location. After a few drinks down in the city the last thing you feel like doing is making that long drive over those potholes and up that long curvey road.

camp david was great. i went during the day time though. here are some pictures that i took from up there. i took alot but these are the only ones i have available. and i was kind of dissappointed that the trujillo cars were only "replicas" of the actual cars....








for the rest of my pictures go to http://the305.com/domrep2005/page1.htm

I think that the death of the builder and owner, Jos? Manuel Berm?dez, of Lou Geherig's Disease has been the cause of the downturn of the place. Sort of Resting on Laurels..
And I will so tell them, as this has always been a favorite place of mine, too.

HB

Beatyfull vista, been there december 1998

Hope to go back this year, recommended to everyone.

Do they still keep up there some old cars that belong to Trujillo ?

I think the Chevrolet car he was riding when killed is up there.

Just be aware that after going through the Texaco station, the road before you actually get to the Camp David "entrance" (paved) road, it's about as bad a road as anywhere in the DR. Horrible.

But it is worth it. I had my first date with the woman who is now my fiance at Camp David (Hillbilly has met her). Wonderful place, indeed.