Why not the North Coast
Rocky, I have seen the locals on the North Coast. They have an eerie look to them. I wouldn't want to deal with any of them. Why can't you guys pick up and move somewhere else like Ocoa? The populace there is very amicable. Your restaurant would surely thrive there. So why are so many foreigners holding onto the place they live at?
As a relatively new comer maybe I can shed a little light on "why the north
coast, and not somewhere else".
First of all I have no idea where Ocoa is but more importantly I looked over
the DR from Santo Domingo to La Romana to Punta Cana to Miches to Las
Terrenas and Samana to Nagua and all the way to Puerto Plata. We liked
the North Coast best in general and the area between Sosua and Cabrera
specifically. We were told that we had to live in a gated community for
security reasons. But this is not our life style. Sea Horse Ranch, El Choce
et al are simply not what we came to look for in the DR. Those kind of
residential areas are plentiful in the southern and south western USA.
So we settled in Sosua, bought a house in the hills overlooking the beautiful
coast line and are surrounded by a mixture of Dominicans, Europeans,
Canadians and some Americans. We love the area with all its institutional
problems (EDENorte.CORAAPPLATA,Verizon DSL etc.) The Dominican
neighbors are mainly the gardeners, maids and watchmen for absentee
home owners from Santiago. The expats are for the most part gainefully
empoyed in the Sosua area and us, a retired couple. We keep a friendly
relationship with those around us and otherwise a low profile. We do not
need a gardener, pool boy or maid so far. If and when this situation changes
we will evaluate very carefully our next steps. Until then we are quite
contend to live on the North Coast with its beauty and laid back life style.
Bear