I took my first trip to the DR (Peurto Plata) back in March 2020 (sorry, forgot to post this trip report earlier).
I'm a 39yo white, obese, American guy who does not travel, does not enjoy "new things", and does not enjoy people. My wife has dragged me to a few places over the years, but I've never been away from the East Coast of the US, and have only flown a few times. I learned un poco of Spanish in High School 25 years ago.
After my boss got back from a Punta Cana resort and told his stories, I decided the DR may be a good place for a future early retirement. I spent almost a year reading sites like this, watching Youtube videos, etc. Finally, in a mid-life crisis sort of moment, I decide to visit the DR...by myself.
I wanted to avoid the resorts, so I stayed with Diane at SunCamp DR in Puerto Plata. She had someone pick me up at the POP airport, and I arrived late in the evening, hungry/tired, and with no local money (I know airports have expensive exchange rates, but if you are going someplace away from tourists, I suggest having more than zero pesos when you leave the airport). I went to bed that night hungry, questioning my life decisions.
In the morning, I was relieved to hear….English! Diane’s place is filled with very nice Canadians. I went down to the table near the river, and found folks very willing to help me get oriented. From there, I simply asked to tag along with anyone that was leaving the compound….…so I quickly experienced rural taxis, money exchange, grocery stores, etc.
Once I got the basics of transport, money, and food there wasn’t anything to hold me back much. Over the next week, I simply explored the Munoz and Puerto Plata area, often by myself. I even took an Uber up to Caberete. I brought my Google 360 camera and took a ton of pictures of the Munoz area, which you can find on Google Maps.
On the topic of Uber….yeah DR Uber doesn’t work like American Uber. You bring up the app, put in the to/from, Uber gives you a price, and you select the desired driver. The driver will text you back and tell you to abandon the Uber app and switch over to WhatsApp. The driver then negotiates a new price, always higher than the Uber price, and then you have to pay the driver in cash. This happened to me with like 6 drivers, so its not a one-off thing. I finally found a young kid with a nice car, fair prices (still way cheaper than a private taxi), and I just texted him anytime I wanted a non-rural route ride. This kid took me all the way to Caberete, and said “Don’t let any fool drive you back, text me instead.” At the end of my day, he drove all the way back to Caberete just to pick me up. I don’t regret the Uber experience, I just want to warn folks that it doesn’t work in the DR as designed, so be prepared as it complicated the plans I had made.
I walked a lot by myself through the rural streets of Munoz and the city of Puerto Plata. I pretended like I knew what I was doing, and I had zero problems. I just made sure I was inside the compound before dark. So I can’t offer any insight into DR after dark. I also did not do any touristy things; I avoided anything that looked like it was priced only for rich American tourists.
I made mistakes, I got lost, I screwed up counting money, I screwed up the Spanish language, but whatever .., 99% of the people I met in DR were very patient. My favorite screw up story is when I asked the local shop for ojos (eyes) instead of juevos (eggs). Lady about fell out of her chair laughing when she eventually figured out what I was talking about.
I’ll stop writing now. If you have specific questions, I’ll be happy to answer. The reason I am posting is to give folks confidence: If I can travel to rural DR by myself, anyone can. I was way out of my comfort zone, but nothing bad happened. I can’t wait to visit Diane again once this pandemic thing eases up. I'll be bringing my 11yo daughter next time, to get her out of her comfort zone.
And thank you to the DR1 community. Your posts helped a lot in getting me ready for my trip.
I'm a 39yo white, obese, American guy who does not travel, does not enjoy "new things", and does not enjoy people. My wife has dragged me to a few places over the years, but I've never been away from the East Coast of the US, and have only flown a few times. I learned un poco of Spanish in High School 25 years ago.
After my boss got back from a Punta Cana resort and told his stories, I decided the DR may be a good place for a future early retirement. I spent almost a year reading sites like this, watching Youtube videos, etc. Finally, in a mid-life crisis sort of moment, I decide to visit the DR...by myself.
I wanted to avoid the resorts, so I stayed with Diane at SunCamp DR in Puerto Plata. She had someone pick me up at the POP airport, and I arrived late in the evening, hungry/tired, and with no local money (I know airports have expensive exchange rates, but if you are going someplace away from tourists, I suggest having more than zero pesos when you leave the airport). I went to bed that night hungry, questioning my life decisions.
In the morning, I was relieved to hear….English! Diane’s place is filled with very nice Canadians. I went down to the table near the river, and found folks very willing to help me get oriented. From there, I simply asked to tag along with anyone that was leaving the compound….…so I quickly experienced rural taxis, money exchange, grocery stores, etc.
Once I got the basics of transport, money, and food there wasn’t anything to hold me back much. Over the next week, I simply explored the Munoz and Puerto Plata area, often by myself. I even took an Uber up to Caberete. I brought my Google 360 camera and took a ton of pictures of the Munoz area, which you can find on Google Maps.
On the topic of Uber….yeah DR Uber doesn’t work like American Uber. You bring up the app, put in the to/from, Uber gives you a price, and you select the desired driver. The driver will text you back and tell you to abandon the Uber app and switch over to WhatsApp. The driver then negotiates a new price, always higher than the Uber price, and then you have to pay the driver in cash. This happened to me with like 6 drivers, so its not a one-off thing. I finally found a young kid with a nice car, fair prices (still way cheaper than a private taxi), and I just texted him anytime I wanted a non-rural route ride. This kid took me all the way to Caberete, and said “Don’t let any fool drive you back, text me instead.” At the end of my day, he drove all the way back to Caberete just to pick me up. I don’t regret the Uber experience, I just want to warn folks that it doesn’t work in the DR as designed, so be prepared as it complicated the plans I had made.
I walked a lot by myself through the rural streets of Munoz and the city of Puerto Plata. I pretended like I knew what I was doing, and I had zero problems. I just made sure I was inside the compound before dark. So I can’t offer any insight into DR after dark. I also did not do any touristy things; I avoided anything that looked like it was priced only for rich American tourists.
I made mistakes, I got lost, I screwed up counting money, I screwed up the Spanish language, but whatever .., 99% of the people I met in DR were very patient. My favorite screw up story is when I asked the local shop for ojos (eyes) instead of juevos (eggs). Lady about fell out of her chair laughing when she eventually figured out what I was talking about.
I’ll stop writing now. If you have specific questions, I’ll be happy to answer. The reason I am posting is to give folks confidence: If I can travel to rural DR by myself, anyone can. I was way out of my comfort zone, but nothing bad happened. I can’t wait to visit Diane again once this pandemic thing eases up. I'll be bringing my 11yo daughter next time, to get her out of her comfort zone.
And thank you to the DR1 community. Your posts helped a lot in getting me ready for my trip.
