Another gem is Mojitos bar on the Cabarete beach, run by an Italian expat. All the other places on the beach may be empty, but these guys are hard to get a table at. They are doing something right....
- Thread starter silkesmo
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Why I think I'll be leave the DR (2.)
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Another gem is Mojitos bar on the Cabarete beach, run by an Italian expat. All the other places on the beach may be empty, but these guys are hard to get a table at. They are doing something right....
It is good that you found the perfect place for you to live. I would not want to live inland on a island, having spent much of my life way inland.
As for Gorditos and Mexican Restaurants, you have just made my point. There is a new Mexican Restaurant on Callejon de la Lloma in Cabarete just about 300 yards from Gorditos. There isn't a third one yet, but that could happen any time now if the second one starts to do well.
As for businesses? I would love to see a Trader Joe's in Cabarete.
Dar I was think pig because there is so mouch of it over there .
Mojotios now that is using your head mint rum sugar lime the hardest ingreadient of a Mojotio to get in the DR is ice ......
But you get where I am coming from. I hope the op gets my point .
I am in Florida poor as hell having to rent out my apartment in santiago and the op wants to leave so soon I here him F pop
But not the DR . I miss the hell out of it the good and bad .
Mojotios now that is using your head mint rum sugar lime the hardest ingreadient of a Mojotio to get in the DR is ice ......
But you get where I am coming from. I hope the op gets my point .
I am in Florida poor as hell having to rent out my apartment in santiago and the op wants to leave so soon I here him F pop
But not the DR . I miss the hell out of it the good and bad .
Two months is not long enough and my lord, why PP when there is a whole island to explore. We visited 12 times in different areas before we found what was right for us. What is good for one person is not for another. Go with the flow for a while, visit different areas and don't judge a book by it's cover. You can have resort life in Punta Cana, Jaracoba gives you nature, Cabarete the wind and surf, Cabrera peaceful and quite, Santo Domingo all the big city plus and minus and on and on Oh yes Sosua, maybe the best of all worlds, you can be downtown for the action and interactions and live out of town for the peace and tranquility. Only you know what is right for you.
A bar , really this country needs another bar/colmado/resterant like it needs a hole in the head. Look, watch, see through the eyes of a child and you will find what you want and what is good for you and the Dominican Republic. If you are fortunate enough to have the money to invest in a business take some time and walk the walk and you will find the right business. It will be your inspiration, personality and your employees that will make your business successful.
A bar , really this country needs another bar/colmado/resterant like it needs a hole in the head. Look, watch, see through the eyes of a child and you will find what you want and what is good for you and the Dominican Republic. If you are fortunate enough to have the money to invest in a business take some time and walk the walk and you will find the right business. It will be your inspiration, personality and your employees that will make your business successful.
If a tourist told me they were going to POP on a day trip, I'd try to talk them out of it. Dusty, noisy, and walking around you get covered in residue from blue moto concho smoke. Every time I've been there, I felt exhausted and filthy by the end of the day and I wondered why I bothered.
I was planning on going to Samana tomorrow. Check out Playa Rincon, Las Terrenas, and of coarse Samana. I've been battling this stomach bug I got from eating in Playa Dorada for the past few days. May have to postpone the trip. Have family visiting next week and we are going to SD.
Thanks for all the advice everyone. I spent some time looking up places to visit Here's my list. PLease let me know if I missed anything::
- Monte Cristi
- Barahona
- Punta Cana/La Romona/ Isla Saona
- Santiago/ Moca
- Samana/Playa Rincon/ El limon Waterfalls
- Constanza
- Pico Durante
- Lago Enriquillo/Bahia de las aguilas.
Thanks for all the advice everyone. I spent some time looking up places to visit Here's my list. PLease let me know if I missed anything::
- Monte Cristi
- Barahona
- Punta Cana/La Romona/ Isla Saona
- Santiago/ Moca
- Samana/Playa Rincon/ El limon Waterfalls
- Constanza
- Pico Durante
- Lago Enriquillo/Bahia de las aguilas.
While we are talking about places to check out, please don't write off Santo Domingo. The Colonial Zone is like a big village, I think it is much quieter than a lot of other places on the island and you can walk around it reasonably safely. We have really reliable 24 hour electricity. Police patrols that run all night and pass my door every 2 minutes. And life is a lot easier in Santo Domingo because you have got some great shops and some great services on your doorstep. Every time I get visitors who live in other parts of the island, they say that they forgot how nice it is in the Colonial Zone.
I went to SD on my second visit here and hated it. I stayed in a wonderful hotel a block south of the presidential palace. It was called Carey House Hotel. I would recommend. I would walk to the Malecon which was nice, actually I would try to walk everywhere because the taxis where robbing me blind. I did visit the zona colonial. It was nice, very touristy, but def. one of the better parts of the city. I was harassed a lot less by street vendors there epsecially when I broke out my spanish.
I found the people to be a different sort. The thing I will always remember is, I gave a waiter a 20% tip (just being nice bc there was noone else eating in his restaurant) and he scoffed in my face. He didn't even deserve that bc his service was adequate at best. That epitamized my stay in SD. Everyone was either rude when I wouldn't give them money, or just down right annoying.
My mother had a successful prawn business in sosua for many years, some people would sit near her just to smell her prawns
From the little I have seen here and from having knowledge of doing business elsewhere the trick seems to be if you can set up something movable. In Bayahive there are many many restaurants by the sea and although I haven't done a surve they seem to be owned by Italians and have Dominican employees. There is a little corner across from the Saona bar that has a bar and a tiny disco. They have a small stand by day that sells fruit, veggies and a few other things. Around 6:30 the fruit lady stores all her goods and in rolls a BBQ. The chicken seems to be started at home and then he BBQ's chicken all night. A plate of 4 pieces served with yucca, some onions or bread is 200 pesos. Music is going, people dance outside all night or with new laws midnight on week days. Place is always full of tourist and Dominicans. Some just drop by to get chicken and leave. Very little overhead for the chicken guy. Shared space.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is try to have something simply at first unless you have a ton of money like others have said the bar/restaurant business is the most difficult business to be in yet everyone dreams of a bar on the beach.
As you travel talk to the expats as well as tourist and ask what they need/miss the most.
Good luck
So I guess what I'm trying to say is try to have something simply at first unless you have a ton of money like others have said the bar/restaurant business is the most difficult business to be in yet everyone dreams of a bar on the beach.
As you travel talk to the expats as well as tourist and ask what they need/miss the most.
Good luck
i don't see gorditos as an example of success. the owner is working like a slave, all days, every day. and it's not justifiable in a sense of "work now, benefit from millions made later on" because he is not making millions so that he can retire in 5 years, buy a yacht and cruise the world. enough to have a decent life, certainly. if he had any life, that is, because all he does is work. i am pretty sure the idea of working like that does not appeal to wannabe businessmen coming here.
miesposo had a business here and we both worked there. he was clocking 65-80 hours a week of work. i worked minimum 50 hours a week. how about f**k that, no?
miesposo had a business here and we both worked there. he was clocking 65-80 hours a week of work. i worked minimum 50 hours a week. how about f**k that, no?
"Tropical Paul" if you don't worry about health & safety issues here, please name your business' so I can avoid eating/drinking there!!!
The "OP" didn't do his "DR Homework" before he came here!
Just reading the DR1 "archives" would have given his some idea about all the negatives he listed about living here, and "Dominicanos/as.
I don't think he is "DR Material"!
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Anna, those people are "Surviving", not making a Living!
I doubt many Expats would be happy working/living like that!
"Ruby", I thank you for the "Set Up", but I'll be a "Good Boy" for once!
The "OP" didn't do his "DR Homework" before he came here!
Just reading the DR1 "archives" would have given his some idea about all the negatives he listed about living here, and "Dominicanos/as.
I don't think he is "DR Material"!
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Anna, those people are "Surviving", not making a Living!
I doubt many Expats would be happy working/living like that!
"Ruby", I thank you for the "Set Up", but I'll be a "Good Boy" for once!
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annac, right next to the pharmacy we had a set of colourful characters selling food...
at 5 am cholera would arrive. he had a name but i called him cholera because he stand was something from contagion movie. he could singlehandedly kill entire POP with just one meal. he made chuletas, pasta with some reddish sauce and boiled bananas. breakfast, in other words. if a chuleta fell on the ground he'd pick it up, wipe in his pants and drop it into boiling oil.pants looked like sleek black tubes, stiff from the dirt and oil... he'd sell out by 8 am thou.
in the early afternoon he was replaced by middle aged lady who'd fry slices of batatas and berenjena, served wrapped up in a napkin and dipped in ketchup. she'd sell out just in time for pollo man to arrive, who sold fried chicken with tostones and worked until 10 or 11 pm.
they all had lots of clients. and they all barely made a living.
at 5 am cholera would arrive. he had a name but i called him cholera because he stand was something from contagion movie. he could singlehandedly kill entire POP with just one meal. he made chuletas, pasta with some reddish sauce and boiled bananas. breakfast, in other words. if a chuleta fell on the ground he'd pick it up, wipe in his pants and drop it into boiling oil.pants looked like sleek black tubes, stiff from the dirt and oil... he'd sell out by 8 am thou.
in the early afternoon he was replaced by middle aged lady who'd fry slices of batatas and berenjena, served wrapped up in a napkin and dipped in ketchup. she'd sell out just in time for pollo man to arrive, who sold fried chicken with tostones and worked until 10 or 11 pm.
they all had lots of clients. and they all barely made a living.
Sounds like the Dominican version of "NYC's" "Dirty Water Hot Dogs"!!!!!
"Yummy"!
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"Yummy"!
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He has been living in the country for only 2-months and already he wants to "THROW IN THE TOWEL" and he wants to have a successful business and a beautiful faithful Dominican bride. "UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS" for the DR or anywhere else you decide to live in that time frame.
If you can't fall in love with the town or city you're in, there's no point in being in love with the country. I used to love Sosua back in the day, esp around 20 years ago, but I no longer care for it. It's not that it's bad, it's just no longer a good fit for me. Same thing happened when I was living in Brattleboro, VT for 10 years. Towns and cities change. Next time I come down to the DR to stay, I'm thinking of either Cabrera, Costanza or a smaller college town. Not needing a local income next time will make a HUGE difference.
Sometimes it helps to make a list of what you want and don't want. Need to be near the ocean? Need to have ex-pats? Good interenet? Too much noise a problem?
Sometimes it helps to make a list of what you want and don't want. Need to be near the ocean? Need to have ex-pats? Good interenet? Too much noise a problem?
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