If you’re thinking of either moving to the Dominican Republic or staying long term, you are probably interested in what you might find in the way of larger chain stores. The DR is not all comados (small family owned stores). When you get into some of the larger cities you will find a large selection of Stores we are more familiar with in the United States.
(more…)

If you plan on doing any traveling outside to the city that you flew into during you stay in the Dominican Republic, you are likely to need to know about the various tour buses. First thing to know is “Tour Buses” is a little misleading. Even though some of the bus companies like Caribe Tours have the word tour in them, that does not mean they are guided tours. This is just transportation from one location to the next.

That doesn’t mean there are no tour companies in the DR, you just need to make sure of what they are offering before you book. There are some great companies offering excursions and we plan on hitting a bunch of then as time goes on. We’ll be posting reviews of the companies as we try them.

Especially if you fly into Santo Domingo or Santiago, you are likely to take one of these buses to get to your vacation destination. These are the Bus companies to choose from: (more…)

Bachata not to be confused with Baracha (a Female Drunk) is a genre of music that was created and formed in the Dominican Republic. It represents the mentality of the country very well. Their love of life, music and dancing. Although Bachata has been in the making for about 60 years it has only really become internationally accepted in the last 20 years.

Much of the international popularity and even the national popularity are do to one artist. Antony Santos. Bringing the genre of Bachata to being a music respected by the people was no easy task.

(more…)

Gatorade is hosting it’s 2010 10k Run on April 25, 2010 at Puerta de la Atarazana in Santo Domingo. This annual event is becoming a tradition for Dominican runners. The La Carrera Gatorade 10K raises fund for thousand of children.

There are 9 categories Elite, Master (must be over 40 years old), Wheelchairs, Blind, Military, Colleges/Schools (must have 10 or more on your team), Companies (must have 10 or more on your team) and walkers.

If you are interested in competing you can register at one of these locations (more…)

Boasting a $1.6 million purse and a Winning Share of $240,000 the Cap Cana Championship golf tournament will be coming to the Dominican Republic on March 26 – March 28. The Cap Cana is part of the PGA Champions tour and is played this year at the Punta Espada golf course which was ranked as the best golf course of the Caribbean and Mexico by Golfweek magazine in it’s last published ranking.

Cap Cana is just a few minutes from the Punta Cana airport on the southeast side of the island. Punta Cana is known for it’s beautiful beaches and pristine waters. If you are a Golf fan there couldn’t be a more gorgeous place to spend a few days watching some of golfs greatest players. Some of the top names that will be playing this year are Keith Fergus, Fred Couples, Mark Weibe, Bernard Langer and Eduardo Romero.
(more…)

Latin Award winning, Puerto Rican, Reggaeton recording artist Daddy Yankee will be performing at the Chavon April 3rd at 8pm. Ramón “Raymond” Luis Ayala Rodríguez or Daddy Yankee got into the underground rap movement in Puerto Rico while it was still in it’s early stages. Later this style of rap took on the name “Reggaeton”.

Starting with his first album to go international in 2002 Daddy Yankee has received numerous awards and nominations Daddy Yankees music has been well received in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Japan.

Tickets to his DR show will be available at Uepa Tickets, Hotel Casa De Campo and Tiendas Corripio. La Romana. General Tickets go for $1500 and $2000 (about $50 US Dollars) or $3500 (about $100 US Dollars)

(more…)

Singer, songwriter Ed Kowalczyk of the Band “Live” will be in Santo Domingo March 17th as he continues his Latin America tour. He will be at the Teatro La Fiesta, Hotel Jaragua at George Washington Ave. 367, Apto. Postal 769-2 Santo Domingo. The show starts at 8:30.

Kowalczyk is in the midst of a two year break with the band “Live”. You can sample his acoustic style of music at his website at http://edkowalczyk.com.

Following his show in Santo Domingo he will be at Leuven Belgin, Cologne Germany and finally at Hellendoorn Holland. In his previous tour Kowalczyk was playing solo, Starting with the Dominican Republic show he will have a full band including drums, bass, rhythm guitar and lead guitar.
(more…)

The Dominican Republic has recently changed how they handle long term visas, and this is subject to change again. So, look as this as an approximate guide which is based on their current requirements.

On entry into the DR you are required to pay a $10 entry fee. This entrance fee is paid at the airport by buying a card and giving it to someone as you go through customs. This allows you to stay in the country for 90 days. If you go past that and do not renew your visa you will have to pay a small fine when you leave the country.

If you stay longer than 90 days you should go to the capital (Santo Domingo) and renew your visa at the immigration office. This costs about 700 pesos and gives you another 90 days after which you will need to renew the visa again. You can renew your visa twice.

If you plan on staying longer you can apply for an extended visa. This costs about $350 dollars to apply and is a bit of a hassle. When you apply for this they will send back to your country for verification of your documents birth certificates etc. This can take a while and should only be done if you plan on staying in the country pretty much permanently. This gives the advantage of being able to get a drivers licence, easier to get bank accounts and so on.

When you come into the country you can drive for the first three months legally. after that you need the extended visa to continue to drive. Renewing your visa does not renew your being able to drive. The easiest way to get around that is to leave the country and come back in, afterwards you have three months again. This can be easily done by traveling to Haiti crossing the border and coming back. Your passport gets re-stamped and you can legally drive again. This is a little more expensive, it costs about $45 usd to reenter the DR from Haiti.

Once again, use this as an approximate guide. They seem to adjust this once in a while.

The Playa Dorada is one of the two more famous resort beaches in Puerto Plata, the second one being Costa Dorada. In case you are checking a map you will likely find the name of the city to be San Felipe de Puerto Plata although the locals just call it Puerto Plata.

Playa Dorada is surrounded by the many resort hotels, many of them offer special “All Inclusive” rates for staying there. It’s said that there are 100,000 hotel beds in the city. Which gives you a little bit of an idea of how packed the beached can be in the main tourist season. It’s best to try and hit these beaches in the off-season.

Another great reason to think about going to Playa Dorada or Costa Dorada in a off season it the rates. Often “All Inclusive” hotels drop their rates from about $120 USD per person per night to as little as $30 USD per person per night. A that rate it is cheaper to go to an all inclusive then it is to get a normal hotel room and buy your own food. “All Inclusive” are exactly what the name implies. All food and drink is included with the price of the room making it a great deal. (more…)