i know it's been done to death, but....

johne

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Jun 28, 2003
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But..

I concurr. I would recommend living near a major metropolitan center like Santiago or SD for the free and or cheap health care, however, medicine won't be free. Also, living in the tourist areas like Sosua is more expensive than in the non tourist areas. If you don't speak Spanish you may need to choose an area with a lot of gringos.

good luck
OP didn't ask for part-time employment or cheap health care Chip. He said I have X number of dollars . All I want is beer, one meal a day, a cheap room with a pack of smokes. And by-the-way---do you think there are any girls that might be interested in me?? Can I do it on $900 + a month?

Si or no? Answers so far are subjective. Depends, bla, bla bla.IF all you want out of life is what OP descibed--I guess the answer is yes at the base level. Any modifications of his parameters are what you and I would need as a BARE minimum to survive.
JOHN
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
OP didn't ask for part-time employment or cheap health care Chip. He said I have X number of dollars . All I want is beer, one meal a day, a cheap room with a pack of smokes. And by-the-way---do you think there are any girls that might be interested in me?? Can I do it on $900 + a month?

Si or no? Answers so far are subjective. Depends, bla, bla bla.IF all you want out of life is what OP descibed--I guess the answer is yes at the base level. Any modifications of his parameters are what you and I would need as a BARE minimum to survive.
JOHN

I didn't mention anything about employment and it is just common sense for a medically retired person to be close to accessible and affordable healthcare, whether he mentioned it or not. As far as chicas goes, well this island is full of them, and I'm sure he has already gathered that. :)
 

Ricardo900

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Jul 12, 2004
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If the OP, god forbids, falls off a motoconcho and gets injured, his budget could be screwed and start him on a downward spiral or if he gets hooked up with one of those leeching chicas he might encounter.

But, like Johne said, the OP wants, Hoes, Hooch, Smokes and a One Room Shack! Well go to it, please keep us informed.
 

planner

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Sep 23, 2002
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Medical - there is a very affordable medical plan available to ex pats. For 630 RD a month I have medical, dental and prescription coverage.

As for his budget and requests - very doable. Thousands do it all the time. I know of many foreigners living comfortably on less then this.

Of course it can be done - it is about choices - his choices!
 

tlbaker78

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Mar 24, 2008
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Hi Planner, could you please give me a little more info on the Expat insurance you have.. Thanks
 

Ringo

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Mar 6, 2003
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Our med. Insurance in the U.S. went down by over 3/4 being in the D.R. Same company and same coverage. I had a simple operation here a couple of years ago for $700 with private room and all. In the States, would have been over $15K US.

The Insurance Company called and asked if we had left off a Zero or not sent all the papers.

We did take the Medi-Jet option. Hospital type jet with doctor/crew out of Miami to POP in one hour. Don't remember the cost of this option, but still less then our original policy in the States.

And tlbaker is correct, another thread, P.R. has most that the U.S. has to offer concerning medical and U.S. benifits.

Regards, Ringo
 

CarlaV11

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i went on a mission trip and the barrios are not somewhere you would want to live. unless your pretty much homeless you shouldn't consider moving to the barrios. the girls respond really well to the american guys though. especially if you have blond hair and/or blue eyes/ tall.
 

augustus

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Dec 19, 2007
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I plan on moving there soon myself, with a little more than twice of which you have comming in, but if I had your amount, yes, hard, yes and no.

Now I'm told Med Ins in DR $20.00 US and in 2yrs I will have to pay here in Phila. or USA $800.00 or more , or have to get a job because my pension will be a little more than what you have now. As long as we have that guaranteed monthly money, yes we can excape at the end of any given month............When visiting POP three years ago, I fell and busted my head in a cabana, after a young lady shocked me with a price, on my way out of the tub, forgot the fixtures were broken and the tile floor was wet, I slipped in my excitement and bam, hit the back of my head on the tile bathtub, don't know till this day whether I was knocked out or not, but a puddle of blood like one of those movie scenes......... Well, my cousin and his friends in the cabana next to mine took me to the small hospital in Porta Plata and it was about 5am. Well, stitches, about 6 or more, my instructions to the female doctor to make them tight and X-rays, that took the bill up, now that I think about it, came to a whopping $110.00 US and that was after the price gouging for the X-ray, which she gave me to take with me. She would no accept my US insurance plan and wanted to know for sure I could pay for the X-rays, before taking it.

I haven't dyed my hair in 5yrs now, since visiting DR. , don't seem to have to hide my age anymore and now could care less when here or in DR. Fantasy or no fantasy, life is a mystery in itself and then we're gone, history.....................So you might have some local young men mad at you because you are the richest man in the hood or countryside.................So take a chance and if that doesn't work, take another shot somewhere else. As long as you have that $900.00 comming in per month, you won't be a hobo on the street, dieing. Now me, the way I give my money to the first, second, third etc. pretty face I see on the street, that's a different story. I kinda wish I liked smoking cigars, hand rolled in a pack of 50 for less than $1.50 US . And you can travel the country until you land somewhere you find comfortable. When visiting Santo Domingo in 2005, I was hanging outside my buddys' girlfriend apt. where she paid $30.00 US a month, and I got a shave for 10 or 15 pesos and watched about two hundred women or more get onto 10 buses or so , taking them to the sweat shops to work for $10.00 US a day and they didn't get mad, like the Sosua Ho's , forgive me ,actresses, when I took their pictures. In fact they were laughing an waving, all smiles. So if you are not like the whoremongers, that I know too well and I'm trying not to look in the mirrow, do go, what do you have to loose. You already know what's here in the states for you with that $900.00. Go.......... I would be there myself if I wasn't being greedy trying to unload my assets here, hopefully where I saw those buses, because I saw about 15 of my soon to be ex-wives, and believe me, I have good taste. So go and hope to see you there soon............
 

Lambada

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www.ginniebedggood.com

augustus

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As long as he is alive with that $950.00 a month coming in every month he's got that bullet, he's a man. He can move with the clothes on his back, which is maybe what I should do also. I went 2yrs ago with my two bags for 10 day vacation and ended up staying one and a half months and finally finding an apt for $250.00 in sosua, if I had had to, I would be in some ghetto area in S Dom, I would have been paying $50.00 a month, hanging outside of some store or bar looking at the sights ( intertainment ) and messing with the ugliest girl in the neighborhood, which is probably fine or beautifull compaired to where and what he's with right now, as long as he doesn't have a drinking problem he can make it and be satisfied, if not happy, like said before, richest man in the hood, or as suggested by post # 10, DrMpe, gross girl with no teeth, just wait till the routine electric outage and have a paper brown bag available. But that's a bunch of crap, because what they call ugly would be kinda cute her, and I know what I'm talking about, believe me if I didn't I would shut up, I don't know any thing about computers or how to keep a wife, so you wont find me posting there. I know one expat that's been there for years in Sosua and Rocky probably knows him, but talk about freeloader and I mean freeloader.... He reminds me of Wimpee, from Popeyes cartoons, please lend me 5 cents, I'll gladly pay you TUESDAY. And then after you lend him a little, he never bothers you again and he stayed where I was at last Sept. , probably for free, but I never asked, because it was none of my business and I could care less about what's going on in his life. So sorry to take so long to put in my two cents, but it seems here I do care.............
 
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Dully

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Aug 24, 2007
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My wife and i came here for 4 months, its turned into 6 and going to be here for alot more, We live on about 600 Canadian per month, We both have blood sugar issues so we have to buy alot of food, and cant live on rice alone, granted we dont drink bear (switch to rum its cheaper) but if you dont eat much then u can sub in the beer for our 4 or 5 meals a day we eat. We live very near Las Galeras, which for us is perfect, (the beaches and enuf countryside to hike a bit and stuff) but we haev to walk alot becuase we cant afford to take motos everywere. I personally met other people who rented places (lil village in the middle of nowere, and apartment in Puerto Plata) who rented for 100USD or less per month. The trick for you i think will be getting a place/base of operations cheap that you can try find where you want to go from there. We stayed at Dominican Republic RUSTIC Apartments Rental for 1 month, it worked out good for us, but man if we had $950 per month we could live it up IMHO! and thats 2 of us.
 

charmaine

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Mar 5, 2008
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there is a cheep 1 bed room apartment in the center of town (sosua)fully furnished & water electric inc for 250US$ PCM to get by in the DR u need 2 know were 2 buy ur food,fags & drinks buying your food from playero is expensive! go to the little colmardos its half the price!!!!!!! i have lived both the luxuary of not worring about money and then the next day having nothin for 2 whole months n now im just livin like an ordinary dominican/haitian. i have not running water & have 2 get my water from a well, the electricy is always out, i earn a basic wage, i still have time out on the weekends(going to the club ect..)and yet i still have change in my back pocket. it all depends on the type of person u r, if material things and flash car, flash house u know the thing that r not important dont matter to u then u will get by just fine mate, i have i had my ups & downs in this country but i would never go back to england.i have learnt alot from living out here n its done me the world of good.......i dont understand these people who come out here n just be negative about EVERYTHING wats the point??? :ermm:
hope this helps anyway good luck
 

Arrica

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Jun 3, 2006
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actually a very instructive thread - haven't lived for extended periods in the DR myself, mainly been travelling the DR as a tourist, but I have travelled and visited towns and villages in the centre of the country or along the south west coast that certainly are both affordable (even the hotels are cheap) and very, very safe - people are extemely friendly, crime amounts to stealing a mango from the neighbors tree, and people seemed to care for each other.