Ex-pats (3 or more years in the DR), any change of heart?

[AZB]

That's why I'm surprised how Rob and AZB speak so wonderfully about a nation where kidnappings are prevalent. AZB could fit in but WHITE ANGLO SAXON Rob would stick out like a sore thumb. Wouldn't that be a security concern?
LOL, I like this-funeral room standards, LOL

O&C, the media tells one side of the story and the real life tells you the other half. Its not so common to get kidnapped in colombia. You probably have a better chance of getting killed by a tigre in santo domingo than as a tourist being kidnapped in colombia. Put it like this, you have a better chance of getting hurt on the road here than getting kidnapped in colombia.
There are plenty of colombian and dominicans who are just as white as robert.
AZB

 

[RacerX]

That's why I'm surprised how Rob and AZB speak so wonderfully about a nation where kidnappings are prevalent. AZB could fit in but WHITE ANGLO SAXON Rob would stick out like a sore thumb. Wouldn't that be a security concern?

I recommend traveling with a that hair in a can that was the big thing in infomercials 15 years ago.
If a kidnap attempt happens, pull out your can and give yourself big bushy chest hair and swarthy "Greek" arms and then paint a beard on your face like Brutus from the Popeye cartoons and you should be able to evade your kidnappers.

 

[RacerX]

Quite right..... they teach that in Business School - the 6 P Principle

Proper Planning Prevents P*ss Poor Performance

Business 101

WW

You guys could be right but I also think it is because many people do not understand their market nor their core clientele or lose an identity with it. I call this "The Apocalypse Now, or later...at some time it will be here" Theory.
Many of these folks could run the same business they try to here on the coast and fail in other areas like Key West, Galveston, Tx or New Orleans and be quite successful.

And lets leave business school out of it. They dont know much more than anyone else.

 

[cobraboy]

You guys could be right but I also think it is because many people do not understand their market nor their core clientele or lose an identity with it. I call this "The Apocalypse Now, or later...at some time it will be here" Theory.
Many of these folks could run the same business they try to here on the coast and fail in other areas like Key West, Galveston, Tx or New Orleans and be quite successful.

And lets leave business school out of it. They dont know much more than anyone else.

That's an integral ~part~ of the planning process, X.

And that is where the "Fail" comes in.

And I don't know where you went to business school, but MY MBA program had a LOT of core planning processes in it. A LOT!

 

[william webster]

If you had the "case" method at business school, it was heavily planning and much lighter on the math emphasis.

We need to be careful here..... X-man appears to have a disdain for the academia. :-((

No more text book stuff !! Back to Hard Knocks !

WW

 

[Onions/Carrots]

Greater Fool Theory

Most of the answers have been positive saying they are glad they came here.

One poster brought a valid point though. It's like trading stocks. We only hear about the victors yet in the CEMETERY of DEAD Traders, there are many more investors who we will never hear about.

OTOH though, if the total quantity of ex-pats is increasing, then that might point to an improving picture as it concerns ex-pats.

As a counterpoint though, it may also point to rotation of ex-pats much like the merry-go-round of failed businesses wherein the loser gives up and another greater fool comes in believing that he may have a better go at it than his predecessor.

One failed entrepreneur after another giving the impression of successful businesses yet the success lies in a GREATER FOOL'S THEORY of sorts and not in the underlying factor which are the businesses themselves.

These businesses are failures themselves due to the unsustainable nature of businesses in the DR and not due to the character or knowledge of the participants i.e. the fools.

Thus, using these analogies to determine TRUE ex-pat contentment with the DR does muddle the picture a bit.

 

[RacerX]

And I don't know where you went to business school, but MY MBA program had a LOT of core planning processes in it. A LOT!

All them MBAs didnt help GM, Enron, Lehman Bros, Montgomery Ward, Washington Mutual or digital computer or Grand Union Supermarkets.

I dont hate academia. I dont MBAs mean you can run a business. Its as though no one ever did it before they have an MBA. I remember Henry Ford didnt have one. Neither did Daimler nor Benz, nor Robert Fulton nor Samuel Goldwyn. Nor Anheiser or Busch, or Oscar Mayer, but there you go they started a business and made it run, brother can you spare a dime.
If anything MBAs only find ways to ruin a business or alienate your clientele.

 

[mountainannie]

What really continues to amaze me is that the DR continously fails to be mentioned in the US press and books as a retirement haven.

We can all agree that making a living here is a hard road but retirement on a modest income here provides a much better life than in the States... and certainly-- for the more affluent-- a second home here has to be cheaper for Canadians than a second home in Florida, no?

I do not quite understand this.

Sure it does have a reputation as a sex tourism destination but so does Costa Rica where prostitution is legal. And it is certainly easier to live in the Capital of the DR and get to the beaches than it is in Costa Rica. Ditto fewer earthquakes. Was it that CR did that program for attracting retirees?

The reality now is that the largest generation in history is coming up to retirement with a lot less money than they thought that they would have-- many are looking for alternatives-- and many do not relish the "new" retirement plan -- which is to work until they are 75!!!

So I wonder whether or not the DR is really a good place to retire or how we might help to make it better?

I was lucky in that I was able to bolt in my mid 50s and so still had the energy to get settled in.. I think that there is a point at which one is simply "too old" or "too set" to relocate-- learn a new place.. learn a new language... get settled in.

The plan that WW has-- of a group that may be coming and bringing their elderly parents with them is very innovative and a great idea.

If nothing else, we ought to make an effort to get Juan Dolio back on its feet and help Matilda feel happier about being here!! It is a shame to see such a vast effort just sink into the sunset......

 

[MikeFisher]

All them MBAs didnt help GM, Enron, Lehman Bros, Montgomery Ward, Washington Mutual or digital computer or Grand Union Supermarkets.

I dont hate academia. I dont MBAs mean you can run a business. Its as though no one ever did it before they have an MBA. I remember Henry Ford didnt have one. Neither did Daimler nor Benz, nor Robert Fulton nor Samuel Goldwyn. Nor Anheiser or Busch, or Oscar Mayer, but there you go they started a business and made it run, brother can you spare a dime.
If anything MBAs only find ways to ruin a business or alienate your clientele.

I disagree,
it helped them a lot,
b/c none of the above mentioned is living in any poverty or such, they still drive Ferraris, they own more luxury Villas than I could count, and in Granny's name they have more money on the bank than Obama has available to run a huge Nation.
it helped them a lot to be smart and get rich themselves by frauding their shareholders to Dead.
I wonder anyways that not each single one of 'em is in Jail til the last breath, but money talks.
Mike

 

[Africaida]

I do not quite understand this.

Sure it does have a reputation as a sex tourism destination but so does Costa Rica where prostitution is legal. And it is certainly easier to live in the Capital of the DR and get to the beaches than it is in Costa Rica. Ditto fewer earthquakes. Was it that CR did that program for attracting retirees?

Costa Rica is a sex tourism destination ?? Never knew
Heard about Sanky (DR), Jinatero(a) (Cuba), Rent-a-dread (Jamaica), But CR ??

Isn't it that any poor country with tourism is somehow bound to become a sex destination ? Depressing....

 

[MikeFisher]

Costa Rica is a sex tourism destination ?? Never knew
Heard about Sanky (DR), Jinatero(a) (Cuba), Rent-a-dread (Jamaica), But CR ??

Isn't it that any poor country with tourism is somehow bound to become a sex destination ? Depressing....

correct,
every one of such countries is,
and the poorer the cheaper the Se$ and tho more attractive for the Travellers, Male and Female and Same Se$ alike, all of 'em.

the cheaper the flights to a destin and motel rooms at a destin and 'labour'/work at a Destin, the more effordable for the cheap bast.. 's to watch out for what is not available or not effordable at Home.
for Adults to have Fun the same like for those countless Predators out there looking for the Minors.

there is no poor country without Se$ Tourism,
not even in the deepest African Continent where the HIV rate is higher than the Car per Citizen rates in 1st world countries.
Mike

 

[SKY]

Costa Rica is a sex tourism destination ?? Never knew
Heard about Sanky (DR), Jinatero(a) (Cuba), Rent-a-dread (Jamaica), But CR ??

Isn't it that any poor country with tourism is somehow bound to become a sex destination ? Depressing....

YouTube - Hotel Delrey Cafe, San Jose Costa Rica

Guess you never visited this place in Costa Rica.

 

[waytogo]

I've been to the Hotel Del Rey back in 2005. Actually the atmosphere was pretty nice.
But the women selling their wares, absolutely beautiful.
The going price back then was 100 U.S. AND I didn't participate.
With all the money floating around inside, right next to the taxi stand in front were 2 homeless boys about 8 years of age sleeping in 2 cardboard boxes in the rain.
I went to give them some money and a local told me not to because they would use the money for drugs.

 

[mountainannie]

Prostitution is legal in Costa Rica. Sex workers are licensed -- by that I mean that they are regularly checked for STDs by the government, their earnings qualify for social security, AND they receive police protection.. perhaps that is why you have not heard of it as a "destination"-- since the shadier side of the sex tourism-- the pediphiles etc.. do not go there.......

On the up side of that, a john who is rolled by a hooker in CR will have the full force of the law on his side.

 

[Africaida]

Ok, sorry for sounding so naive, LOL . Indeed, I have never been to CR.
I have been to other central America countries though (Guatemala, Belize and Mex.) and didn't really feel that there were sex destinations.

I thought it was more obvious in the DR and Cuba in my experience.

Depressing nonetheless.....

Back to you Annie, why is that some sex destinations manage to attract more retirees than others ??

 

[cobraboy]

All them MBAs didnt help GM, Enron, Lehman Bros, Montgomery Ward, Washington Mutual or digital computer or Grand Union Supermarkets.

I dont hate academia. I dont MBAs mean you can run a business. Its as though no one ever did it before they have an MBA. I remember Henry Ford didnt have one. Neither did Daimler nor Benz, nor Robert Fulton nor Samuel Goldwyn. Nor Anheiser or Busch, or Oscar Mayer, but there you go they started a business and made it run, brother can you spare a dime.
If anything MBAs only find ways to ruin a business or alienate your clientele.

Whatever.

I was never involved in those businesses. Mine did just fine. I have many of my former classmates who have done quite well starting businesses; I know of very few failures.

Fact is, X, 90+% of new businesses fail within 3 years.

I suspect that number is far less when MBA's start one.

But the fact remains: poor planning creates a higher probability of failure, especially in the DR. Fact.

 

[cobraboy]

Back to you Annie, why is that some sex destinations manage to attract more retirees than others ??

I don't know about "more", maybe just a seedier class...

 

[aarhus]

What really continues to amaze me is that the DR continously fails to be mentioned in the US press and books as a retirement haven.

We can all agree that making a living here is a hard road but retirement on a modest income here provides a much better life than in the States... and certainly-- for the more affluent-- a second home here has to be cheaper for Canadians than a second home in Florida, no?

I do not quite understand this.

Sure it does have a reputation as a sex tourism destination but so does Costa Rica where prostitution is legal. And it is certainly easier to live in the Capital of the DR and get to the beaches than it is in Costa Rica. Ditto fewer earthquakes. Was it that CR did that program for attracting retirees?

The reality now is that the largest generation in history is coming up to retirement with a lot less money than they thought that they would have-- many are looking for alternatives-- and many do not relish the "new" retirement plan -- which is to work until they are 75!!!

So I wonder whether or not the DR is really a good place to retire or how we might help to make it better?

I was lucky in that I was able to bolt in my mid 50s and so still had the energy to get settled in.. I think that there is a point at which one is simply "too old" or "too set" to relocate-- learn a new place.. learn a new language... get settled in.

The plan that WW has-- of a group that may be coming and bringing their elderly parents with them is very innovative and a great idea.

If nothing else, we ought to make an effort to get Juan Dolio back on its feet and help Matilda feel happier about being here!! It is a shame to see such a vast effort just sink into the sunset......

Yes I think it is a good idea to try and get Juan Dolio back on its feet. Any ideas then? And what is really the plan of the Government and Local Government there? I have a hard time understanding what it is they want to do.

 

[el forastero]

Due to the increasing crime rate in the DR and some of it being perpetrated on ex-pats with extremely violent consequences, I am curious as to the answers to the following question:

Expats that made the Dominican Republic their full time home 3 or more years ago.

Would you do it now?

How about it mods? Back on track, start some new threads, or kill it (please).

 

[mountainannie]

How about it mods? Back on track, start some new threads, or kill it (please).

chill, man, this is the way we wander down here in the tropics... mods do not kill threads.. they let them just roll over and die a natural death when we have nothing more to say. Topics get killed only when we are punching each other out.

I was going to start another thread but I will perhaps add another strand into this thread by saying that I am making a vow today not to befriend any more people with visas or enough money to get home since right now I am going through losing 4 friends at the same time--- one who has kids and two who are going back to grad school (OK-- I KNEW they were probably going to bolt at some point just not all at once) and one whom I decided finally, just did not like the country and spent most of the time bitching about it and so was not good for my head..... so have to make a crop of new ones... ok.. will do it... but it is one of the things that people simply cannot judge in advance on how hard it is going to be

I already pretty much avoid the folks who are only here for four years or less on "assignment" or tourists ..

Of course, I am a single female which is a rare bird here-- certainly... and this is just temporary.. since I am generally happy here and it is

proper to mourn the loss of people who have touched your heart