why DR so expensive? how domicans can face it?

[bob saunders]

Dominicans may not be malnourished but I do not think anyone could say that the average diet of the less well off Dominican is healthy. Very high in oil and salt and sugar. Main staple is rice or plantain or root vegetables such as yuca. Low in fresh green vegetables and salad. Yes there is some meat and occasionally fish and eggs. I would say low in vitamins too. The good point is nearly all if not all of the food is organic, no fast food, no pre packed frozen stuff, and lots of fresh fruit straight from the tree.

matilda

Really, I've eaten at many a Dominican house, and watched Dominicans shopping for food. The Fruit and vegetable markets in Jarabacoa sell peppers, tomatoes, onions, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, and then there's the fruit. It's true that green bananas, yucca, rice, beans, and chicken are the staples. The truly poor don't have the money for sugar, or much salt. As an aside Goiter is a serious problem in the DR, but less now that iodized salt is available. Rice and beans is usually cooked with Cilantro, onions, garlic at least in my mother-in-laws kitchen. I have eaten in campo kitchens where the people eat only what they grow, and these people live to be very old.

 

[frank recktenwald]

The DR is very expensive compared to other countries. With 57% living below the poverty line many poor people live on a diet of rice and fideo or bread and hot chocolate. Sometimes they catch the neighbors cat and cook it. I even know people who have eaten owl!!!
They do use a lot of salt or sazon to give at least some flavor to the food.
Many poor people don't even know what a Big Mack is. In a city as large as Santo Domingo there're only a few Mcdonalds restaurants and that should say enough. Liquor is also fairly expensive, the smallest bottle of Brugal costs RD110 in a colmado.
Fish costs at least RD150/lb and that for a country which is surrounded by water!!
Rice about RD25/lb and we're not talking about long grain rice.
Electricity costs almost the same as in a first world country and it's not even 24/7 available in most places which is outrageous!!
Must say though housing is fairly cheap and off course the chicas. Quite often it's cheaper to get your rocks off than to buy a Big Mack combo!!!

 

[Chip]

The DR is very expensive compared to other countries.

Based on my experience living here after 5 years it's a lot cheaper than the States. We're living off of a third of what I made in the States and in fact if we had stayed I'd probably be on welfare.

With 57% living below the poverty line many poor people live on a diet of rice and fideo or bread and hot chocolate. Sometimes they catch the neighbors cat and cook it. I even know people who have eaten owl!!!
!

Certainly people who are hungry will eat anything but that happens in the States too. At any rate to assume 57% of Dominicans are eating like this because they are below the "poverty line" is a myth, plain and simple. What a Westerner consider "poverty" is not necessarily the case in reality. I lived in the campo and saw how people lived and only a minor percentage didn't have sufficient enough to eat on a daily basis.

 

[frank recktenwald]

Based on my experience living here after 5 years it's a lot cheaper than the States. We're living off of a third of what I made in the States and in fact if we had stayed I'd probably be on welfare.
Will not argue that one can live in the DR as you stated but that doesn't mean that the DR is not expensive for the average Dominican and it is!!!


Certainly people who are hungry will eat anything but that happens in the States too. At any rate to assume 57% of Dominicans are eating like this because they are below the "poverty line" is a myth, plain and simple. What a Westerner consider "poverty" is not necessarily the case in reality. I lived in the campo and saw how people lived and only a minor percentage didn't have sufficient enough to eat on a daily basis.

I didn't assume the 57%, there's a thread about it on DR1.
Do agree that people in the campo in general eat better than their counterparts in the city even though they might be poor but isn't that the same all over the world? Why is that?
They grow their own food and therefore have easier access. People in the city don't!!
Please correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't more than 50% of the population in the DR live in urbanized areas? Do these areas provide sufficient space so that people can cultivate enough to fill their needs?
No they don't!!

 

[Chip]

I didn't assume the 57%, there's a thread about it on DR1.

I'm not disputing the 57% poverty simply that it is according to US/Western standards and not necessarily "real" poverty.

After all, if you have sufficient food (debatable of course) and a place to eat and clothes to wear and plenty of love why should that be considered poverty? If I'm not correct the poverty definition in this case was defined some gringo in the US with all types of creature comforts and will therefore naturally consider others living without such are in a povery situation.

 

[cobraboy]

I spend 1/3 of what I spent in the US and live a far more enriched life.

The secret is no longer being caught up in the consumer mentality, there are no Jones to keep up with and folks are judged less on what they "have" than who they are.

If you try living in the DR just like you do in the States (or Europe or Canada) it WILL cost more. But you don't have to for a satisfying life. Unless you want to.

 

[yanandu]

There are still a lot of people with 2-4 hectares smallholding and with care it is possible to grow enough food to feed a family. Beans are grown and dried on the road. A few plantana plants / trees ( what is right term ) will provide steady supply of plantanas in many parts of the country.
Chickens for eggs are common.
Houses are often built collectively with different members of the family providing labor outside the money economy.
Rice by the way can be had for 15 pesos a lb. The international export price is 520 dollars per ton for 5% broken.
Dominicans have their own ways of cooking short grain rice. If there is a remittance from work abroard or a family member gets a good job a sack of rice and 5 galls of cooking oil will be purchased; maybe sardines. With home grown beans, plantanas etc. meal probably costs 5 -10 pesos per person to prepare.
In the electric offices you can see people paying 100 pesos for a months electricity.
Presumably a light bulb for evenings and some small tv on sometime.
Traditional root beers are prepared and other drinks as well.
Clothes /shoes are often bought re-cycled from other countries.
However there are the 'real poor' who have less than is needed to get by and infant mortality up to the age of is high at about 1 in 25 high compared with other countries. Many children also never reach threir true potential ; sometimes through lack of good meals with adequate nutrition.

Yanandu

 

[DMV123]

I'm not disputing the 57% poverty simply that it is according to US/Western standards and not necessarily "real" poverty.

After all, if you have sufficient food (debatable of course) and a place to eat and clothes to wear and plenty of love why should that be considered poverty? If I'm not correct the poverty definition in this case was defined some gringo in the US with all types of creature comforts and will therefore naturally consider others living without such are in a povery situation.

Poverty is defined by a set of guidelines appropriate for this country. Creature comforts? You mean like electricity. Water. Basic food items.

Now I agree with you that living in poverty here is very different then living in poverty in the USA or elsewhere. Here living in poverty is more the norm. And the statistics support that.

Over 1/2 the population here live in the cities not in the campo. Barrio dwellers have little access to home grown fruits and veggies, they eat a diet heavily dependent on starches with little fiber, little protein and vitamin and mineral deficient.

And I absolutely agree with you that when you are not starving and you are surrounded by family,friends and lots of love it is not a bad thing at all!

 

[Timotero]

I've also wondered how they do it?

The DR is very expensive compared to other countries................. Liquor is also fairly expensive, the smallest bottle of Brugal costs RD110 in a colmado..............................

For tourists, we think that liquor prices are cheap, but for locals, I agree they are more than expensive if you look at what they cost as a percentage of income.


Here is an example:

The OP said that he thought the average salary here was around $600 US per month. At current exchange rates, that's approximately 20,000 DR pesos per month.

(Now to me, that 20,000 seems high as an "average salary". One Dominican I know who works in a resturant makes 5,000 pesos per month. Another, who has a government office job makes 10,000 per month).

But for my example, we will use the 20,000 figure.

Now how much does a beer cost?

In the tourist areas, a Presidente pequeno is around 100 pesos.
In non-tourist areas, you can get a Grande for the same 100 pesos.
And as the poster quoted above stated, the smallest bottle of rum also costs around 100 pesos.

So, for discussion purposes, lets use 100 pesos as the cost of a drink.

And if you divide the cost of a drink by the montly salary (100 / 20,000) you find that the cost of a drink is 0.5% of the average salary!
(100/20,000 = 0.5%)

Now ask yourself, would YOU pay 0.5% of your monthly salary for a beer?

Do the math for your own situation. For me, that would mean paying $30 US per bottle of beer.



Yet, as another poster has pointed out, people in this country always seem to be able to find the money for a daily cerveza (or three!)

So, I second the question, How do they do it?

 

[Tamborista]

Now ask yourself, would YOU pay 0.5% of your monthly salary for a beer?

Do the math for your own situation. For me, that would mean paying $30 US per bottle of beer.



Yet, as another poster has pointed out, people in this country always seem to be able to find the money for a daily cerveza (or three!)

So, I second the question, How do they do it?

They buy beer in a local colmado for a lot less than RD100/beer.

 

[Timotero]

They buy beer in a local colmado for a lot less than RD100/beer.

Yes, I know that (and do it myself). My intent was not to debate the actual cost of a beer, but rather how much that beer costs as a percentage of monthly income.

So lets change the figures.

60 pesos for a Presidente grande in a colmodo (that's cheap!)
But use my friends 10,000 pesos per month government salary.

That works out to an even higher 0.6% of monthly income!


If I had to pay that same percentage in the US, a beer would now cost me $36!

(and at those prices, you and I would probably be teatotlers, right I?)

 

[pas]

how can you say beer is more expensive here in europe!!!
you mean in a bar???
at least not in the supermarket...
a case of beer 24 here cost only about 15 euro...(750 pesos)
and that for a premium beer....
not the cheap ones...they are maybe only half of that price
atleast here in holland

 

[rubenpriego]

Timotero, your example is absolutely right, very good, superb one, just to have clear that in DR cost of living is absolutely ridiculous high and as me, you cannot understand how dominicans can make a living or even see them in a bar every day having their Presidente beers ...
More examples, in Spain a beer in a bar can be about 60 pesos, but in a discount supermarket you can have it for only 25 pesos!!! where in the whole DR can you buy at any colmado a beer for 25 pesos!!! no way!!
Thats why taking into account our European or US salaries and dominican ones, DR is absolutely more expensive than USA or Europe! Amazing!!

And for the friend of Holland, man, you did not catch the example Timorero gave about beers, he does not mean it is more expensive in Europe, it is in the meaning of taking into account DR salaries and European salaries!

Cheers.

 

[amp]

i can see how it is hard for dominicans who make so little. take into account the haitians who work construction. they make about RD$1,200 for two weeks. some of the cheapest houses are about RD$1,500 per month. how the hell can they survive?

anyways about the brugal, the cheapest is RD$65 i dunno where you guys go but they are ripping you off if you are paying RD$100 for the same bottle.

 

[Chip]

The 22 oz Brahama beer here sells in the colmados for between RD100 and RD110 for three which comes out to RD33-37 per beer which would be RD19-20(US0.50-0.54)for a 12 oz beer.

I don't know of any beer in the States that is this cheap. Certainly Presidente is more expensive but then again there are alternatives.

Furthermore, a 750ml bottle of decent rum here goes for RD210-230(US5.68-6.21) whereas the same or similar Dominican rum in Florida costs me US13-16.

Finally, only Dominicans that are considered affluent drink on a daily basis much less beer but nonetheless there are many here.

Looks like that I've dispelled with the notion that all Dominicans are poor and that alcohol is expensive here in the DR, next!

 

[rubenpriego]

What I was told by the same dominicans i that dominicans will always get a life to have enough for their daily beers!
I remember some bars I was in Higuey where I could see the same guys every day having their beers.
But stopping talking about alcohol, and being more serious, in discount supermarkets here in Barcelona (one of the most expensive cities in Europe and the most in Spain) you can buy the basics: water, milk, rice, pasta, eggs, etc for even less price than in DR ... and that earning here 3 or 4 times more than dominican salaries ...
I will really never understand this ...
And some of you said that Dominicans get a life living all of them in the same house, all family inside, etc, but that must be about only poor people. I have been many times in DR and I dont see that much, I just see husband and wife and their kids living in homes, as we do here, not the "whole family" living together to share expenses ....
So again that thought, how they can face cost of living, and more having kids ...
Cheers!

 

[amp]

And some of you said that Dominicans get a life living all of them in the same house, all family inside, etc, but that must be about only poor people. I have been many times in DR and I dont see that much, I just see husband and wife and their kids living in homes, as we do here, not the "whole family" living together to share expenses ....
Cheers!

you'll see families living in a one or two bedroom shack with 5-8 people. i see it all the time. the haitians are even worse. you'll see 20 in one house.

 

[NALs]

With 57% living below the poverty line...

It's closer to 33%, not 57%.

In a city as large as Santo Domingo there're only a few Mcdonalds restaurants and that should say enough.

Yes, it says that the investors have a very conservative expansion plan, too conservative.

The people behind Burger King (Corripio) took a different approach based on the real average income of Dominicans. Thus, they are everywhere. Freestanding, in shopping malls, in hypermarkets and in gas stations. From the ritziest and not so ritzy parts of the Capital all the way to Punta Cana, La Romana, Hig?ey, La Vega, Puerto Plata, San Francisco, pretty much everywhere.

gre:

 

[DMV123]

Burger King just has a very different franchise model then McDonalds. You really cannot compare them.

 

[baby bori]

Lets get some things straight. In this country its like 80%-85% of the people are either middle class to lower class economically ( though to me class is not truly based on economic standing i.e. rich people being snobs and jerks). True there are people with money here that are rich but the disparity of those who have and don't have is immense compared to developed and/ or first world countries. Did you guys realize that just to the santiago airport alone that there are 4 or 5 daily fights coming into the DR from NYC predominantly loaded with Dominicans who save up alot of money or their IRS income tax refund check to spend here when they arrive on treating good family members and friends, partying, living a good life in the DR compared to that back at home. Its true very true I've seen it with my own eyes. Once in JFK airport in NYC I was conversating with a woman who told me she was a home health care aide she counted $5000 US dollars in front of me told me it was her income tax refund check funds and was going to use it in DR was going to be there for 10 days but the kicker is she was staying and eating in her family's home and wasn't renting a car she said was going to be with family thats it. The lady coincidentally gave me her number apparently I was nice to her I called her a month after she said she came back broke spending it partying have a good time. Point is many Dominicans are dependent on foreign income for survival to meet their needs. Many Dominicans have relatives, friends, or spouses living abroad providing economic assistance. As an example,you guys check out lately all the Dominican women on these internet dating sites in abundance extreme amounts of women. You telling me there aren't many Dominican men to choose from in DR??? Many Dominicans start to whine and cry to their relatives or friends overseas about economic hardship and asking for gifts or clothes to resell in the DR. Poverty line compared to other countries is closer to 57% than 33% Nals don't sugarcoat that reality. Just food for thought take away the tourism sector and remittances from abroad how worse things would be for the DR???? Food, clothes, electronics is expensive in this country but renting homes or an apartment is much much more cheaper than in most parts of the US compared to their monthly income. Economic disparity in this country is vast with less legal and legitimate opportunities for upward economic mobility than other developed countries.