Some questions

I am going for the first time ever to another country (Dominican) and am very excited. I am not going to a fancy resort or ritzy hotel or anything. I plan on living like the locals and getting an apartment. This isn't a vacation at all. I was told from someone that stayed in the D.R that electricity and water goes out a lot and sometimes for long periods of time. Is that true or very rare? Is food scarce at times? I have no problem trying to adapt to new things, but should I bring some food from the U.S with me? I will be there in December, is that Summer there? I'm completely naive to the D.R so pls help out. In some ways it may be similar to other latin cultures, I'm Mexican so I know I will love the family-oriented people I will meet.

thanks

Electricity outages are frequent, sometimes multiple times a day. Sometimes it is just an hour, sometimes 16 hours. Sometimes there are no outages for a week, some times it is several times a day, every day for a week. When the power goes out, the water usually goes out too, since it relies on electric pumps to maintain pressure.

Food is never scarce unless you don't have money to buy it, except perhaps for a week directly following a big hurricane, since that clogs up roads and trucks can't make deliveries. I would not bother bringing food.

Tropical islands in the Caribbean do not experience a significant change in temperature year round. To see the average temperatures and rainfall for the different parts of the island, go to <A HREF="http://www.BocaChicaBeach.net/when_to_visit.htm">www.BocaChicaBeach.net/when_to_visit.htm</A> or click on the link below. There, you can read a more complete description of the weather patterns in the Dominican Republic.

Jim Hinsch
JimHinsch@CSI.COM

Agree completely with Jim, with a small exception for the food
part: I've been totally without a single peso at several
times. I NEVER went to bed overduly hungry! (In other countries,
yes, but never in the RD!)

What Jim says about electricity and water is basically
correct, but it varies from place to place. Up here in
Jarabacoa, it's rare that electricity goes out for long
periods. (Naturally with the exception of a hurricane hit!)
Normal outage is 3-6 hours daily, with almost uninterrupted
service between 10 pm and 6 am. In return, the most water-rich
region of RD is sufferring from a chronic lack of household
water. Our pump-system consists of two buckets, the trail to
the river and a rice-powered bio-motor (me)...

As I posted several times: I'd still prefer a little rice in the
light of a kerosene lamp with good friends, than sirloin steak
with bad.