It was during the Semana Santa (the week before Easter that is the Catholic celebration to commemorate the last seven days of the earthly life of Jesus Christ), and there was little private transit on the road. Public transportation was scarce as well, so after waiting more than 30 minutes without seeing any buses or public cars, I decided to hoof it the few blocks that remained for me to reach my apartment. About three meters later, I heard something and turned around to see if it was perhaps that bus finally coming. But, it wasn’t. It was a pasola (a type of motor scooter popular in the area) with two guys on it who were checking me out as they went on by.

Normally this would be a passing event that was not worth noting, and would hardly be considered disturbing.  However, after being robbed several months back, I’d started being more observant of my surroundings, and noticed these guys were doing more than checking me out. In actual fact, it seemed more like they were taking an inventory of what I had on me.

At the end of the block, they stopped, and acted like they were fixing something on their bike, as they stole glances to check my progress. A heartbeat after that I had considered my options, and decided that I could make it back to a little house (where a Dominican family had been sitting outside) and safely wait there. Which, I did. They watched me for a second, probably judging their options, and then quickly jumped on their bike and sped off.

The Reasons Why

This is just one of several stories like it. When I came to the island, more than 14 years ago, there was little noteworthy crime. However, the last few years has seen a marked and dramatic increase in crime, especially against tourists and foreigners.

An Associated Press investigation done recently noted that U.S. deportation laws that have recently been passed and enforced have shipped foreign-born criminals back to their homelands, resulting in a dramatic rise in crime in those countries. Eighty-percent of these are sent to Caribbean and South American countries.  The Dominican Today reported that by June of this year 792 deportees had been sent to the Dominican Republic.

Safety and Other Basic Precautions

The U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs cautions visitors and foreign residents to be aware of the current tide of robberies, pick pocketing, and other types of street and petty crimes, that are targeting foreigners and sites several examples of such.

The International Travel section of the U.S. Department of State’s official website recommends the following to assist travelers in avoiding robbery attempts:

• Not wearing or displaying anything that looks valuable.
• Limiting cash and credit cards carried on their person.
• Take particular care leaving airports, or at times that criminals can take advantage of (like during power outages).
• Avoid traveling alone.

Crime can happen anywhere, but since surroundings are unfamiliar more care should be taken when traveling to foreign counties. Also, in closing, I would add that I don’t recommend travel during the Semana Santa, and that it would be a good idea to be wary on isolated roads…

Setting Up Shop
Since there are few already furnished houses and apartments, most people have to buy everything to set-up their place as they want it. For a one bedroom, one bath, dwelling it will cost around $61,050 pesos ($1,695.83 US) to equip it with the basics.
Here’s an expense breakdown based on what I spent:

• Fridge $15,000
• Oven/Stove $10,000
• Cutlery $2,000
• Dishes $850 (four place set)
• Glass Set $250
• Bathroom Items $1,000
• Double Bed $3,500
• Desk $1,500
• Bookshelf $1,000
• Sheets $1,500
• Blankets $700 each
• Pillows $250 each
• Living Room Set $10,000
• Dining Table Set $8,000
• Washing Machine $7,000

Since it is an island, everything that is imported is more expensive, so anything that you can bring as far as electro-domestics would be recommended. Radios, computers, and other such items are much more expensive here than they would be anywhere else, and are generally of lesser quality since developing nations generally get sent irregular or imperfect items.

This may sound a bit odd, but buy your bed sheets before you come. The bed sheets here are super expensive, compared to what you can get them for at home, and have very low thread counts, making them expensive and uncomfortable.

Also, if you have any special hair care items or instruments (flat iron, curling iron, electric razor, special hair product, etc) bring them with you too. Otherwise, you will have to make a special trip to the capital and do a grueling search for trusted brands, or have them sent to you from home.

General Shortcuts and Other Useful Tips
One way to avoid set-up expenses is to find someone who is looking for a roommate, since they will have already purchased most of the above items. Usually, this sort of arraignment comes word-of-mouth, so be sure to network with others you know who are here to see if something can be arranged. Don’t be surprised if the person wants to charge you a little more than half the month’s total rent, since many do this to cover ware and tear on the items you will be using.

Try to buy local produce and other grocery items where possible, since it can cut down considerably on your monthly bill.

Along these same lines, if you are planning to live alone, you will notice that it is less expensive to eat out at a local Dominican style diner than it is to buy and cook your own meal.

This was pretty important during our moving process. Now that our trips are more to visit family and friends our criteria has changed and so has our preference in airlines.

Our recent experiences with Jet Blue has made it a clear favorite with my family, making the news that Jet Blue is added another Dominican city, Punta Cana, to its list (Santo Domingo, Santiago, and Puerto Plata) welcome news.

While prices vary by trip, Jet Blue seems to always be at least as good as American Airlines. But even if they were slightly higher we would now choose a flight with Jet Blue when going from California to the Dominican Republic. There are several reasons why:

Overall Flight time: Most of the flights (perhaps all Jet Blues flight) go to JFK and then down to the DR. While it would seem like the less direct rout of heading north to New York and then down to the DR would add to the travel time. When you count in the additional layovers that seem inevitable with American Airlines along with the much longer layover times our trip can take as much as 10 hours less.

Airport lines: While you still have the same lines when going through customs, so far every trip we have taken, the airline lines have always been shorter and mover faster with Jet Blue.

Comfortable seats: Some of the seats we’ve had with American Airlines have been comfortable enough, however several of their planes are designed with much shorter occupants in mind. My knees are jammed into the seat in front of me. Jet Blue planes offer far more leg room and the seats are more comfortable.

Entertainment: With American, you are pretty well stuck with whatever movie they offer. Jet Blue has individual TV screens on the back of every seat. Each person chooses their own program from a large list of channels including music channels. I personally also liked the Jet Blue channel, yah it’s mostly advertisements, but the part I liked was the GPS of the plane that comes up every couple of minutes. You can actually track where you are over the US, how fast you are going, and what your altitude is. Probably not every important, but I found it to be interesting to check out.

Snacks: They are never too large, but at least with Jet Blue you get a choice. Several types of chips, cookies and other small items, instead of just getting the bag of whatever tossed in front of you. You also get a variety of different sodas, ice teas etc. Then of course there is the overpriced “Paid food” we didn’t opt for to pay for the extra, neither did any of the passengers near us so I can’t voice for the quality, with either, the price seemed pretty steep for what they were offering though.

Well, there is nothing really any airline can do to make 12-14 hours in a plane something to look forward to (maybe that’s different if you are in first class), but so far for my family Jet Blue is the clear winner.

First get used to the horn; drivers in the DR have one hand permanently on the horn. Don’t get irritated when they use it. The horn is considered a notification devise, not just a sign that the person irritated at you. They will use it when they pass you, at intersections, when passing people or just when they feel they haven’t heard the horn enough that day.

People drive extremely close here regardless of the speed you are going. Cars drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid pot holes and for almost any other reason you can imagine. It’s common to see 3-4 cars side by side on a 2 lane road, when preparing to cross intersections etc. They pretty much consider the lines in the road to be optional, and which side of the road you are expected to drive on to only be a suggestion not a law. Motorcycles use either side of the road about the same, with only a slight preference of being on the right side of the road.

The only way to merge into heavy traffic is to force your way in, if you wait for someone to give you a break it is very unlikely to happen. When you are forcing your way in, or when they are forcing their way in, they will get within inches of your car.
Most of the roads here are pretty bad, so you need to constantly be on the watch for potholes. There are very few street signs to help you navigate.

With all that said, once you get out of the largest cities like Santo Domingo and Santiago, and if you are not trying to drive during the most congested times of the day or at night, then driving here really isn’t that bad. It just takes some getting used to.

Something to be aware of: I have a lot of foreign friends here in the DR. A few have gotten in small accidents. When you are a foreigner, you are considered rich. Therefore, if you get in an accident it is pretty much always considered your fault and it is very difficult to prove otherwise. Court proceedings can take years. When you drive here you drive at your own risk.

Skincare Using Sunscreen

In order to get adequate protection from the sun’s ultraviolet rays you should use enough SPF 15, or higher, rated sunscreen to form a film on the area of skin that will be exposed to the sun. It is important to make sure to apply it 30 minutes before you go out into the sun so that there is time for your skin to absorb it. Also, sunscreen should be reapplied every 2-4 hours or after any activity that wears it off (like swimming, drying off with a towel, exercising, or perspiration) to avoid getting burnt and sun damaged skin. Daily sunscreen use effectively protects areas of the skin exposed to sunlight from getting burnt.
A cloudy Dominican day only filters out 20 percent of ultraviolet rays; leaving a remaining 80 percent that can cause a serious burn if no precautions are taken. So, if you are concerned with skincare, make sure to put sunscreen on even if you’re not going to be in direct sunlight.

Sun Tanning Tips

If you choose to lay on the beach and tan you should make sure to use a tanning lotion that has a broad spectrum nonacneginic element to keep your pores clean and prevent them from enlarging from sun exposure. In order to limit your UV exposure and risk of serious skin damage, avoid tanning from 11am-3pm. If you take any medications, make sure it doesn’t cause heightened sensitivity to the sun. And if you use moisturizing body lotion on your skin afterwards it will help your skin to retain its elasticity, keep your tan longer, and slow signs of sun damage and aging.

Despite taking protective measures, at some point you will get sun burnt, but you want to avoid frequent sunburns. Otherwise, your skin will start to show signs of sun damage. The good news is that there are quite a few sun damage, and sunburn, remedies and treatments that you can use.

Aloe Vera, also called a “burn plant” according to my dictionary, is naturalized in many areas of the island and easy to find. Just cut open one of the leaves and put the natural salve directly onto the burn, or go to the nearest pharmacy and buy a bottled version that you can keep in the fridge and apply when needed.

There are a variety of herbal salves are other skincare products that can sooth a sunburn. They contain a variety of natural substances like hemp butter, macadamia nut oil, and an assortment of aromatic essential oils. They are effective, contribute to skin beauty, and smell good.

If you are particularly sensitive to getting burnt, you may want to take extra precautions. Sun protective swimwear, sun protection hats, and long sleeve loose clothing, are good options to use to unwanted skin damage.

What is Sun Damage?

Overexposure to the sun can make skin become dry, leathery, wrinkled, and show other signs of aging. Chronic exposure can even cause carcinoma, lymphoma, and melanoma skin cancer for those who have fairer skin and freckles, or a genetic pre-disposition.

Sun Damage Treatment Methods

There are many natural cosmetics, organic beauty products, natural body creams, facial treatments, and anti aging creams that help remove wrinkles and other signs of skin damage.

Skin peels are among the most effective facial treatments because they take away dead layers of skin, which makes your skin firmer and lessens the signs of wrinkles (like a nonsurgical facelift!).

In order to avoid the stressful experience of infamous wedding scheduling, issues with dresses, cakes, decorations, bands and music, bridesmaid’s gifts, and the human element of everyone involved in each of those, many engaged couples decide to consider the option of a tranquil destination wedding as an alternative. After looking at the information available and realizing that a beach wedding costs thousands less than a traditional church wedding, many decide that this is the way to go, and start to look at specific places to have it.

Where to Go

The Dominican Republic has recently been luring couples with its romantic beaches, relaxing atmosphere, and affordable prices. Like other destination wedding locations, DR allows the wedding, reception, and honeymoon to be booked all together in one inexpensive and stress free package. This saves money, and leaves everyone free to sit back and enjoy the experience.

There are quite a few towns that lend themselves to weddings, with two of the most convenient being Puerto Plata and Punta Cana, since they are both nice areas and close to international airports.

Puerto Plata is located in the Northern region of the island, (what we northerners refer to as the “Cibao”), close to the Gregorio Luperón International Airport. Many of the resorts along the same beachside strip of highway as the airport specialize in wedding packages and include airport pickup of the bridal party and guests, which assures that no one will get lost or overcharged. The Gran Ventana Beach Resort and the Casa Colonial Beach and Spa Resort are both well known to do lovely weddings with groups of 190 people or less.

The Dominican Republic is not the only tropical wedding destination. Mexico, Hawaii, Nassau, and Puerto Rico, also offer great beach wedding packages. So, feel free to check them out too.

Traveling and Planning Tips

Just like many projects, it is best to start out with a list of things to take along for the wedding and honeymoon, and then go over it several times to make sure nothing is lacking. Add the following to the list:

Make sure of all the availability details of the resort, minister, location, and anything else of importance, before setting the wedding date and mailing out all of the invitations.

Before leaving, all final fittings on the wedding dress, and bridesmaids’ dresses and the men’s tuxedos should be done, to avoid any alteration issues once everyone arrives. Closely related to the dresses are the accessories. Make sure to have all of them before flying, including extra stockings, and other little things that could get ruined. Those sorts of things are difficult to find in foreign countries, and having them will avoid stress.

When booking the resort beach wedding package, it is important to ask enough questions to get all the details, so everyone know exactly what to expect. Talking to the minister beforehand is a good idea, just he or she is clear on how the ceremony should take place.

Diana, a professional wedding planner at destination wedding planning added this concluding advice, “Once the bride and groom have made sure of the arraignments, they should take a day before the wedding to relax, so that they will be able to enjoy their Caribbean wedding experience that they will cherish forever.”

That sums it all up neatly. The point is to enjoy the experience, and these pointers and advice are meant to do just that.

While this is what makes up much of the Dominican Republic many people don’t think of what Dominicans have done within the USA. There are approximately 1.2 million Dominican residents in the US.

They are primarily on the East Coast. You will find a large population in New York, New Jersey, Florida and other eastern states. While you don’t find to many Dominicans among the general population on the west coast, it is interesting to see how many people with Dominican heritage make up Hollywood.

Recognize the lady to the right. Yah you probably do, that’s Zoe Saldana and she’s half Dominican. Maybe you don’t recognize the name, but you definitely recognize the face. Some of her most recent performances include major roles in Avatar and the new Star Trek. She played Neytiri in Avatar and Nyota Uhura in the new Star Trek. For those of you who aren’t Trekkies, that was Spock’s Girlfriend in the new Star Trek.

Her breakthrough role was in Drumline, where she played Laila. She also is playing a leading role in The Losers, which is coming out this month. You can follow Zoe on twitter at Zoe Saldana or check out her website at Zoe Saldana

Mayte Michelle Rodriguez is also a successful actress with Dominican heritage. She starred in both of the The Fast and The Furious, Blue Crush , Resident Evil, S.W.A.T., and Avatar. You can follow her on Twitter at Michelle Rodriguez

Baseball Players

Then there are professional Dominican baseball players. That is a whole different story, you step one foot in this country and you know why there are so many Dominicans in the Major league.

Baseball is like dancing here, they all do it and they are good at it before they can walk. I have been living here for about 6 months and I have yet to meet a single Dominican guy that doesn’t absolutely love baseball. If you look at the list of players with Dominican origin that have become MLB players you will find hundreds. It practically runs in their blood.

You will find that such players as Sammy Sosa, Juan Marichal, Manny Ramírez, and Alex Rodriguez all have Dominican heritage. It is interesting that Alex Rodrigues, born in New York to Dominican parents, is the highest paid MLB player with a $275 million 10 year contract with the Yankees and known to be one of the best all around players in the sport.

Those are just a few of the famous Dominicans in the entertainment industry. You will also find famous Dominicans in the Fashion industry, music, and beauty pageants. To read more on famous Dominicans you can visit Wikipedia.

1. Your Cell Phone. If you keep your plan from the US or another country and try to call back home, just connecting into the DR cell phone network is going to cost you (a lot!). Unless you have money to burn this is not really a good option. You can however, switch out the chip in your phone to a Claro or Orange chip and buy minutes here. This also lets you call the US and the rates are pretty good. You then switch chips again when you head home.

   The one possible problem with this is that many phones are locked out from being used in other countries. That means you have to find a place to “Unlock” your phone. Not difficult but a little more of a hassle. They will not do that in the phone company offices. You also have to be sure that your phone can take the same chip. An alternative is to just buy a cheap phone here in the DR ($15 – $20) and put some minutes on it.

2. The second option involves your computer. If you have a way of getting internet connection via your hotel, using one of the internet cafes, or perma-vacationer and buy your own internet, Magic Jack is a pretty good option. You pay $20 to buy the Magic Jack component that plugs into a USB port on your computer. You then pay $20 per year for unlimited use.

   This gives you a US telephone number that other people can call as if you were still in the states. You plug a standard phone into the component and use it exactly the same as if you were plugged into a phone company in the states. Calls in the US are then free. You pay long distance for calls outside of the US. At this time it only works if you want to have a US telephone number and most of your calls are to be in the US.

3. Skype. This also requires a computer and internet connection. Skype is a little more versatile. You can make text message, video/audio and audio only calls to any other computer that has Skype for free. In addition to that you can make calls to both mobile and landline phones around the world at a price that competes with other long distance plans. Skype also (for an additional price) will give you your own telephone number so people can call you and you will answer from your computer.

Sound quality: We’ve used both of these options a lot. We switch back and forth as necessary. The internet speed we get here in the Dominican Republic is far from consistent. With our wireless internet plan that works off of the cell towers it varies from 250kbs up to about 3Mbps. At anything lower than 1Mbps we start having problems with Magic Jack, you start to get a broken record repeating sound at times. When you get this isn’t very consistent. I’ve had good conversations with a speed as low as 500kbps and problems when it is as high as 1.5Mbps using the same computer with nothing else running. So the inconsistencies appear to be with their network. Sometimes it’s good other times it is not.

Skype seems to be more consistent. You can run one or two Skype (video/audio) connections off a 500kbps with few problems. We have run as many as 4 connections with a 1.0Mbps connection. Unfortunately, Skype isn’t perfect either. When Skype has issues you start losing video quality and the picture locks for a few seconds which is not a real problem but, you also get longer and longer audio delays. When this happens it may take 1-3 seconds for your voice to reach the other person. You then have a tendency to talk over each other a lot. That means you say something and you wait a couple seconds to see if the person is going to respond. This can take a little getting used to.

So, which system is best? In my opinion neither. It cost little to nothing to have both systems on your computer. So have them both. When one isn’t working as well as you would like, switch to the other. If you are visiting here and plan to make some phone calls, buying a cheap phone here is the easiest option. When you are done take it home and use it as a quick replacement if your cell phone dies.

Cheap electronics and the internet age have given us lots of options on how to stay in touch while we are traveling. A little preparation before you go will keep you in touch without a pause.

La Sirena:
A large super market chain with both Dominican and a large selection of American and other foreign foods. Likely if you are going to be able to find your favorite food, you are going to be able to find it here. Incorporated into the Supermarket is a department store. You can find electronics, automotive items, and furniture. Most of the stores also have Bon (ice cream, some of the best I’ve ever tasted), local cell phone providers, a food court, and some even have dry cleaning and other services.

Lets now forget the food!
In the larger cites like Santiago, Santo Domingo and some of the tourist towns you will find many of your favorite restaurants with the same menus you see at home. These include Burger King, KFC, Dominoes Pizza, Pizza Hut, TGI Fridays, Taco Bell, and McDonalds.

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:

• Caribe Tours 809-221-4422
• Expreso Vegano
• Expreso Bavaro 809-682-9670
• Metro Expreso 809-227-0101
• Prieto Tours
• Santo Domingo 809-685-0102
• Puerto Plata 809-586-5280
• Punta Cana 809-221-1335
• Samana 809-240-6417
• Terra Bus

This main North/South bus follows this route Cabarete – Sosua – Puerto Plata – Santiago – La Vega – Santo Domingo and then back again. If you plan on traveling the full route, plan on spending most of the day doing it.

When you get into a public car and want to go to one of these bus stations you get the drivers attention by calling him “Chofer” which sounds kind of like “show-fair” this means Chauffeur. When you have his attention you can then say “Parada de Caribe Tours” substituting whatever bus line you plan on using. All of the public cars know where these are. It really helps if you get a book that will help you with how the vowel sounds are made, this will greatly help having them understand what you say. In the larger tourist towns this is less of an issue many of the people speak at least some English.

Small luggage can be brought into the bus and stored in an overhead compartment. Suit cases and larger items should be stored in the outside compartments below the buses. These compartments are only opened at the main terminals although the bus will likely stop in many other smaller locations. When you get to a main terminal it is a good idea to have someone get out and watch you bags. The bus companies open the terminals and let people take their own bags out. They DO NOT keep track of who owns what, so someone can easily take your bag if you are not watching.