Do you feel most expats are senior citizens

indiana16

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Jan 5, 2006
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I wonder if most foreigners who relocate to DR are senior citizens or are they young people who decided to relocate?
 

carina

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Mar 13, 2005
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It is difficult to say, as there are no specific census of expats, not does the majority have residencies probably.
I?d guess the snowbirds are mostly middleaged and up, otherwise I think it is a wonderful mix.
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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indiana16 said:
I wonder if most foreigners who relocate to DR are senior citizens or are they young people who decided to relocate?
I'm 61. Came down here 20+ years ago. Lived here during the best years of the DR. It's new times, new ways of life and it will never be the same way it was. All the things people find exciting about this country have the opposite effect on me. I'm sure most old timers will agree. I miss the good old 80's
 

Mirador

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Apr 15, 2004
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Eddy said:
I'm 61. Came down here 20+ years ago. Lived here during the best years of the DR. It's new times, new ways of life and it will never be the same way it was. All the things people find exciting about this country have the opposite effect on me. I'm sure most old timers will agree. I miss the good old 80's

Eddy, I know what you mean, I also suffer from this chronic ailment, anachronic, that is.
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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Eddy said:
I'm 61. Came down here 20+ years ago. Lived here during the best years of the DR. It's new times, new ways of life and it will never be the same way it was. All the things people find exciting about this country have the opposite effect on me. I'm sure most old timers will agree. I miss the good old 80's

I agree, Eddy, not like it was when Barbara and I arrived in 1986. Rate of exchange less than 2 to 1, but money went farther than it does today.

But I have to say that when I go to Santo Domingo on Caribe Tours I'm glad I'm not still riding one of those cast off yellow school buses with 3 in a seat and tires, roosters, boxes, etc., in the aisle.
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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Ken said:
I agree, Eddy, not like it was when Barbara and I arrived in 1986. Rate of exchange less than 2 to 1, but money went farther than it does today.

But I have to say that when I go to Santo Domingo on Caribe Tours I'm glad I'm not still riding one of those cast off yellow school buses with 3 in a seat and tires, roosters, boxes, etc., in the aisle.

Remember the big Hong Kong buses with the driver on the right and a co-pilot on the left looking through the dust to check for oncomming vehicles before passing. My first trip from Santo Domingo airport in 82 took about 12 scary hours. LOL BTW our co-pilot that day got off in Puerto Plata. Guess what I wound up doing for the rest of the trip.
 

SweetSue

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Dec 15, 2005
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Perhaps not only the D.R. has changed but also you. I think wisdom comes with age and some of the things we choose when we are young may be fun but not to wise.
 

Ken

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Eddy said:
Remember the big Hong Kong buses with the driver on the right and a co-pilot on the left looking through the dust to check for oncomming vehicles before passing.

LOL. Another change I enjoy is having a supermarket like Playero where we can buy meat without flys swarming around and no smell of blood. Shopping for meat in Samana meant going down to the farmers' market and either wait while a chicken was killed and plucked or taking one of the ready ones that was lying on the counter. For beef, we would point to a piece we wanted on a half or quarter cow and wait for the butcher to hack it off for us. We ate more canned tuna in those days than we do now.

Our first Thanksgiving there we ate with a group of cruising people anchored in the harbor. One of the boats contributed a turkey they had been carrying for the occasion and we had the Camilo's Restaurant buy a local range-fed turkey. Camilo's cooked the birds and carved them, except what they did was to lay the cooked turkey on the counter and chop it up with a meat cleaver. Consequently when you got your piece of turkey it was anchored to part of the skeleton of the bird.

We had dressing, too, and that was quite an eye opener for the restaurant staff. One of the people from the boat brought dressing mix and prepared it in the kitchen. The cooks were dumb founded that anybody would want to stuff a dead turkey with bread.

Imagine the sort of Thanksgiving dinners Scott would be organizing if times hadn't changed in that respect.
 

Marcus

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Mar 13, 2002
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Old Folks!

I have been here for four years and have met more than a few dozen expats with the average age being around 45. This is in the Santo Domingo. You may find more senior citizens or retirees in other parts of the country, but I don't see that many in the city.
 

Charlielyn

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Jul 31, 2005
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I'm insulted that you think retiring "freedom 55" puts you in as a senior citizen. I feel 18 all the time.
 

Ken

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Charlielyn said:
I'm insulted that you think retiring "freedom 55" puts you in as a senior citizen. I feel 18 all the time.

You should, Chalielyn. With life spans longer now that ever before, they are having to redefine senior citizen. You are still considered middle age.