sosua beach parking fee: is it true?

El Diego

New member
Apr 24, 2006
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is it true it now cost $20 pesos to park car in sosua beach?
this is the small parking lot near the beach after the you pass all the
souvenir stores and right by the coconut guy.

i remember last year or year before they did not charge.
and where does the money go to?
as i understand, there's a man there in parking lot who gives you
receipt and asks for $20 pesos upfront.
 

jojo2130

New member
May 30, 2005
492
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20 = 50

I don't mind paying 20 Pesos top park but the idiot there comes up to me and wifey andwith ticket in hand, a 5 written overtop the 2 and saying it is 50 pesos ! Not realizing that we are locals I guess.... I refused to pay 50 he got very mouth to which my hot blooded latina wife got mouthy back. He said it is 20 for a few hours and 50 for the whole day (it was 2 in the afternoon when we pulled in) It got to the point that I called over the Politur and he was calling my wife names in spanish which I didn't understand .......
I have been there earlier this year several times then all of a sudden this clown is there with no signs or uniform .

And the politur could not confirm whether he was for real or not while we were there.

Anyway , he is gonna try and scam like everyone else on Sosua beach does I suppose........... A real tourist trap down there.........
 

Bob K

Silver
Aug 16, 2004
2,520
121
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Yes he does charge the tourists 50 pesos and the locals 20. Just like the La Rocha, Bailey's and others give the locals a break on thier meals. Isn't it worth 20 pesos to konw that your car is ok and not to walk up the hill after a presidente or three. Give the guy a break, he is "working" for a living. Is he doing it leagly... probably not, but lighten up

Bob K
 

El Diego

New member
Apr 24, 2006
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Yes he does charge the tourists 50 pesos and the locals 20. Just like the La Rocha, Bailey's and others give the locals a break on thier meals. Isn't it worth 20 pesos to konw that your car is ok and not to walk up the hill after a presidente or three. Give the guy a break, he is "working" for a living. Is he doing it leagly... probably not, but lighten up

Bob K

20 pesos is no big deal if he's really going to look after your car.. true.
But is he employed by sosua local gov't? or he just making it up that the money is not for him but for the local gov't? It's better to be honest and
say he will take care of your car and for you to give him 20 pesos than to say that the 20 pesos is not for him but for the local gov't.
 

jojo2130

New member
May 30, 2005
492
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You can't be serious ?

Isn't he a public servant like the police ? But we shouldn't pay the police for services rendered.

If the city of Sosua owns the lot and are charging for parking then why does he have the "privelege " of overcharging tourists and determining WHO shuld pay and who shouldn't and on top of that treating us like dirt and threatening us , and I mean saying that if we go to the police that we will have a BIG problem with him,.

Is that the kind of person that you want our major industry to encounter?

I can't believe the double standards.

I have a business, tell me your name and # and I got some services to sell you for more than the regular price cause I am just trying to make a living ..... Only 2.5 x the regular price ! No big deal !

the restaurants give us a break and make it up in Quantity cause we go back and back .

He can't line his pockets using public property and shanghaiing tourists .
 
You can't be serious ?

Isn't he a public servant like the police ? But we shouldn't pay the police for services rendered.

If the city of Sosua owns the lot and are charging for parking then why does he have the "privelege " of overcharging tourists and determining WHO shuld pay and who shouldn't and on top of that treating us like dirt and threatening us , and I mean saying that if we go to the police that we will have a BIG problem with him,.

Is that the kind of person that you want our major industry to encounter?

I can't believe the double standards.

I have a business, tell me your name and # and I got some services to sell you for more than the regular price cause I am just trying to make a living ..... Only 2.5 x the regular price ! No big deal !

the restaurants give us a break and make it up in Quantity cause we go back and back .

He can't line his pockets using public property and shanghaiing tourists .


Easy JoJo I will pay the other 30 pesos for you, Its not that big a deal.
 

Snuffy

Bronze
May 3, 2002
1,462
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0
This kind of thing happens to me all the time. I used to get upset. It isn't the money. It is that you feel discriminated against in some way. You are welcome as long as you pay double the fee. But I don't get upset anymore. I just pay it or go somewhere else. You are going to get this all the time here. So get used to it. Not letting it bother him is probably why JD has been successful here.

Just yesterday I took my log of Mequite wood to a taller to have him cut it into little blocks for me. He wanted 200 RD for about 5 minutes work using his machine. I said, you are kidding right. NO. He was not kidding. So I passed and went down the street to the next taller. He listened to what I wanted and said sure he would do it. I said how much. He said Nothing. What is the difference? The first guy had a small shop and when I arrived he was sitting in there doing nothing. The second guy had a big shop and had about ten people working for him. Now, if I ever need a piece of furniture made...who do you think I am going to. And what was it Richard Pryor said, "Come Christmas, that N's got some mesquite smoked ribs coming to him". :)
 

jojo2130

New member
May 30, 2005
492
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I wasn't upset at all

I wasn't at all upset , nor am I now..........
I agree, used to make the hairs stand up on my neck.

I have heard so many people talk about the scams against the tourists and to see that 5 written over the 2 was sad really. It gives ALL Dominicans bad names and as we all know they are not all like that .

They have gotten to the point that it is so blatant and they don't care and then to react and threaten violence to the car and to us .........

What if we WERE tourists ! What message do we tell 2 peole who tell two people and so on and so on ?
 

HOWMAR

Silver
Jan 28, 2004
2,624
2
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It's the same everywhere. Anybody that went to a NY Yankees game and wanted a good place to park on the street would give the "watchman" half a $20 bill when he arrived and the other half when his car was safe after the game.
 

jruane44

Bronze
Jul 2, 2004
1,025
44
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A, A
It's the same everywhere. Anybody that went to a NY Yankees game and wanted a good place to park on the street would give the "watchman" half a $20 bill when he arrived and the other half when his car was safe after the game.

What year was that?
 

El Diego

New member
Apr 24, 2006
191
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It's the same everywhere. Anybody that went to a NY Yankees game and wanted a good place to park on the street would give the "watchman" half a $20 bill when he arrived and the other half when his car was safe after the game.

yeah what year?

doesn't it cost $10 to park in yankee parking lots?

anyway, this is off topic but going back to topic.
i don't mind paying $20 pesos if the guy is really going to look after my car.
But if it's just to park and he's doing this on his own and not employed by
sosua municipal gov't then i say it's not fair.. but what's fair, right? life's not fair, right? and what's fair in DR, right? If life is not fair in US, CA, EUR, then it must really not be fair in DR. So, even if the guy is working on his own and pocketing the cash he gets daily i will pay him the $20 pesos,,, b/c if i don't and refuse and leave my car there,, perhaps when i return i might just have broken windows, stolen tires... so i pay $20 pesos. Charging $50 pesos is just absolutely not correct though... if it's $20 pesos then $20 pesos should be. I hate it when people in DR try to take advantage of tourists/foreigners and charge higher prices.
 

HOWMAR

Silver
Jan 28, 2004
2,624
2
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doesn't it cost $10 to park in yankee parking lots?

And I bet you spend an hour trying to get out of the lot after the game. The point is, everywhere in the world there are parking hustles. Go to Atlantic City and you want to run into the casino for just an hour. The valet will tell you he can keep your car available up front for 10 bucks, or you can wait for it to be retrieved from the garage like everybody else. The same thing occurs at Belmont. My point is, this is not a Dominican thing.
 

SosuaJoe

New member
Feb 24, 2005
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I know this is not a big deal to many, but it frustrates me nonetheless.

I get it that Dominicans pay less for a lot of things than I do, and depending on what it is, I'm even ok with that -- I blessed in that I make a lot more than working class Dominicans do.

But I do not pay for parking on a public street and have never paid for parking at Sosua Beach (fair enough I haven't parked there for years). If the city wants to charge for parking, put up a sign and list the price. Until then, it's public property and no private citizen is going to set up shop charging me for using it. When Cabarete gets busy, there are often people trying to charge for street parking as well. No way in hell am i paying to park on a street that my not-inconsiderable tax bill paid for.

The 'watch your car' scam is just that -- a scam. The hidden intimation is that if you don't pay, something might happen.

Is RD$20 a big deal? No, it's not. But it's frustrating and I go to the beach to get rid of my frustration.

Best thing that ever happened to the beach? Standardizing silla prices. Used to be I'd get frustrated as hell with people trying to take advantage, even for a few pesos, by grossly overcharging me. I'm not shiney white because I'm a tourist; I'm shiney white because my job hasn't given me time to go to get out of the office and head to the beach for a couple of months, so would you kindly not **** me off on my day off?

I actually went so far as to buy a little foldable chair just to avoid the hassle. Now that sillas are the same price no matter where you go (fine, there are exceptions if you want to fight for it, but why bother), I leave my porta-chair at home and rent them all the time. Costs more than before, but without the useless hassle, haggling and annoyances.

Does that make me cheap? Some might say yes, but I submit that I'm far more tight with my enjoyment of my time off than I am with my money.
 

AlaninDR

Mr. Chunky Skin
Dec 17, 2002
702
135
63
So, someone just asked me how much DOES it cost to park on Sosua Beach, and who do you pay?

Currently the cost is RD50 and a receipt is given. If you're a tourist or from out of the area they want RD100, but will still settle for RD50. There is a guy that directs you where to park, he has the receipt book.
 
Sep 19, 2005
4,632
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your right Alan...I have been charged 100 pesos the last two times...i never thought about the 2 tier pricing...because i didnt see anyone else make the exchange...the killer is they take the money WHEN you park your car.....

we all know once the guy has the money he dont give a chit about your car.

now the guys on the other side of the beach who are hawking car watching...at least hang around and if all is good with your car...then you pay...at least you FEEL LIKE he watched your car....

bob
 

AlaninDR

Mr. Chunky Skin
Dec 17, 2002
702
135
63
Bob
I usually park by the middle entrance across the highway. Amazingly enough, the guy was still there when I left after 6:00pm. I think he was glad to see me return because when I got there and exchanged pleasantries, he left. Next time I stay late, i'll pay him again when I leave.
 

Trig

New member
Aug 20, 2006
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Even though I'm new to posting on DR1 and just back from my first visit to the DR, I feel I have to say something. I was just at this beach a week ago friday, I paid the $RD50, and was fine with it. Yes, I was a tourist, but I parked ten feet from the beach. Was it right? I don't know. But didn't care. My car was fine when I got back with nothing missing. I know things are different for those of you that live there, I'd get tired of it too, but as a tourist, I didn't mind. By the way, if you go there, Pablo did a great job of getting our drinks and food for us.