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Dominican Republic is one of two
countries located on the island of Hispanola, the other being Haiti.
Generally the two nationalities don't seem to get along very well, likely
due to a shared history of conflicts, invasions, wars and poverty.
Dominican Republic is by far the richer of the two countries and is a
major tourist destination.
The People
Dominicans are generally quite
friendly, fun loving and hospitable. But once you get them in an
automobile they are aggressive, chaotic, rude, and hell bent on
destruction. The driving in Santo Domingo and elsewhere in the
country is completely insane. Want to drink extra strength
 cervezas
while speeding helmetless on your motorbike down a busy street? Go
ahead, everybody else does! We looked up the statistics on the
Dominican Republic and discovered that there are over 3,000 deaths yearly
due to traffic accidents. Although the Dominican Republic is
located in the Caribbean, it has a very third world feel. Poverty is
the norm and corruption abounds. But at the same time people are
faced with Caribbean prices so it makes a hard life for the majority
of people. But there is also a sect of extremely wealthy people
which is evident from the large number of Jaguars, Mercedes, Porsches, and
BMW's you see driving around Santo Domingo everyday.
Things to Know
The currency used is the
Dominican peso which is currently at 16.8 to the US dollar. You can
immediately identify a Dominican banknote as they all look as if they have
been used to wipe something up. Don't stick your fingers in your
mouth after handling them.
After deboarding the plane, you
will be led to the immigration area of the airport. There is a
ticket booth immediately to the right as soon as you enter the hall.
You must go here first to purchase a tourist visa which is USD$10 payable
in US only. This form must be filled out before proceeding to the
immigration officials. They will give you the yellow copy of this
form and you should keep that with you the whole time you are in the
country in case you get stopped by the cops - they will ask for it. The Las Americas airport is a
thirty minute drive from the city of Santo Domingo and the taxi ride
should be about 300 pesos. The taxi drivers usually don't speak much
English so use your best hand signals.
If you plan to rent a car,
consider that the driving conditions here are treacherous. Crashes are
commonplace and if you are a foreigner and at fault you could get in
serious trouble. I don't know if this is true, be we have been told
that when there is a crash the driver who gets hurt is not at fault, no
matter what. So it may be wise to feign injury just in case.
The main accommodation for
tourists in the Dom Rep are the all-inclusive resorts, of which there are
hundreds. As with other all-inclusives, it is not a great way to see
the country as you will be virtually isolated from local Dominicans.
But if your only goal is to get sunburnt, eat trough food, and meet plenty
of French and German tourists then you will find what you are looking for.
As far as other options for
accommodation more suited to independent travelers....you have to work to
find them. Throughout our travels in the country, we have found very
few really good hostel/B&B type places. That is likely the
reason there seems to be a lack of independent travelers here. The
other problem is that things are generally quite expensive.
Caribbean prices definitely apply. The only exception that comes to
mind is public transportation which is very cheap.
There is a great
website at www.debbiesdominicantravel.com
where Debbie and a thousand tourists' tales tell you absolutely
everything you need to know about the Dominican Republic.
Where to Go
During our time here
we have visited many parts of the island - some we liked and
some we did not. Here are some of the places we liked the
best.
Las Galeras - Club Bonita
This is the furthest
trip we made and was definitely worth the 5 hour drive from
Santo Domingo. It is a quiet seaside resort in a tiny town
on the north east corner of the island. The resort costs
around USD$50/night which includes breakfast. It is owned
by a Dutch lady who is extremely friendly and takes immaculate
care of the place. The town of Las Galeras appears to be
nothing more than a dusty meeting place for dirtbikes...oh, and
a couple seedy discos but the seaside is very beautiful.
My friend Martin and I took a day trip to a nearby beach with a
cooler full of
Presidentes
and a couple rounds of cigars which got us nicely through the
day.
The phone number for
Club Bonita is (809) 696-0082 or (809) 538-0061, email is club.bonito@codetel.net.do,
and website is www.club-bonito.com.
Santo Domingo - Colonial Zone
Don't be like the
majority of tourists who spend two weeks in an all-inclusive
resort and never get to see Santo Domingo. The old city,
called the "Zona Colonial", is a treasure trove of
early New World architecture and culture. Our favourite
restaurant is called "Cafe Anacaona" and is across
from the cathedral. The Presidentes are always cold and
served in bamboo sheaths. My favourite dish is Jambalaya,
a great pasta/meat/seafood concoction. There are many,
many other restaurants, bars,
 museums,
clubs, etc in this area and you really do need a lot of time to
cover it all. After living here almost a year we still
sometimes feel as if we have not even scratched the surface.
Rio San Juan
This is your standard
coastal Domincan town, but with an absolutely superb place to
stay called Bahia Blanca Hotel (ph. 809-589-2563). It is
located directly on the beach overlooking a lovely bay. It
is also close to an interesting lagoon called Gri-Gri which you
can walk to in a few minutes. The rooms are only about
$25/night and that is a real deal for the Dom Rep.
Altos De Chavon
You likely didn't come
to Dom Rep to see a fabricated medieval
 village but it is well
worth the stop. Altos de Chavon is located about 15
minutes from La Romana and features some spectacular views over
the river as well as the best pizzeria on the island!
There is a huge amphitheatre there
where they hold concerts quite frequently. We went on a
bus tour with our friends Mark & Sarah and Martin &
Marianne to see Duran Duran play. Too cool!
Cabarete
Cabarete is the
windsurfing hotspot of the island. It is also the best
place to go if you don't dig the all-inclusive resort type
vacation. There are a collection of smallish, often
backpacker-type hotels scattered all along the coastline.
This is where you will find the highest concentration of
hippies/potsmokers/surferdudes but there are also a lot of
locals there as well.
Punta Cana - Club Med
We spent a very short,
but very entertaining weekend at the Club Med in Punta Cana with
our friends James and the two Johns. This resort is more
expensive than most and does not have all inclusive
alcohol...though there is an open bar during meal times so you
can make the most of that. The food, in particular the
evening meal, was absolutely extraordinary! It is served
buffet style, but the quality of the food is better than what
you will find in any restaurant in the country. The resort
also had a huge array of things to do including sailing,
windsurfing, archery, tennis, trampoline, trapeze, basketball,
roller blading, weight lifting, etc, etc. The only thing
to be careful of is making the trip back to Santo Domingo on
Sunday as the traffic gets horrible when you approach the city.
Luckily, Ana took over driving duties so we could keep the Presidentes company in the back seat. Though
we did get one surprise when Ana decided to do a 'Dukes of
Hazard' jump over a gigantic speedbump which left us airborn for
what seemed like minutes. Luckily, we didn't spill any
beer.
Sosua - Cockfights
I spent one of my most
entertaining afternoons in the Dom Rep watching a cockfight,
with my Danish buddy Martin. We went to the 'Club
Gallistico' about an hour before the fights started to mingle
with the locals and scope out the chickens. We met one guy
who had a couple birds lined up for fights that day and he was
encouraging us to bet on his quail. We also met a couple
of drunken Swedes who were consuming rum at a profound rate and
exchanging stories of horrible tattoo experiences with each
other. We watched the owners ready their
birds ready by taping the sharp spurs onto their legs, and those
spurs looked bloody dangerous! The actual cockfights were
quite exciting as there are a couple hundred Dominicans circled
around the pit on two levels cheering, making bets, and drinking
beer. The fights lasted about 5 to 10 minutes each and
usually ended in one dead chicken and one near-dead
chicken. Not for hard core animal lovers, I suppose, but
definitely an interesting spectacle. The Club Gallisticos
can be found in any town in the country as it is an extremely
popular activity.
Casa del Mar
This was the first
trip we made out of Santo Domingo. Casa Del Mar
is a resort in the south-eastern part of the country in a region called
Bayahibe. We went with our good buddy Sarah Hooley and her friend
Jane from England. The resort itself was absolutely beautiful!
It had an enormous pool, a gym, great beach, plenty of activities, and
tasty pina coladas. We went on the all-inclusive deal which cost U SD$70/day
and included all food and booze. The food wasn't superb
but the beers were cold and plentiful. A good way to begin
our adventure in this country!
Boca Chica
Boca Chica is a resort
area about 30 minutes from Santo Domingo.
We have made many day trips there, often with our friend John Murray who is working on the same
project as me. This is the closest beach to the city so there is
usually many people there and almost as many beach vendors trying to sell
them a variety of things from inflatable alligators to pails of raw
squid. But the beach is nice, the water is warm, and the beach bars
are plentiful!
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