In the Dominican Republic, the internet can be a pain to deal with. That is why most people think that tips like these will really help when it comes to using and playing with the internet.

Initially Buying the Internet

In the Dominican Republic there are quite a few different types of internet that you can get. There are four well known internet/phone companies. There is Claro, Orange, TriCom, and Viva. Each company has individual benefits. Claro, for instance, is known to have the fastest internet, where Orange is known to have the largest area coverage. (more…)

Image complements of AA

AMR American Airlines and American Eagle

AMR is the parent company for both American Airlines (AA) and American Eagle so problems affecting one of the airlines will be affecting both. AMR has stated that it has $4.1 Billion dollars in cash to pay to keep services going for the two airlines so at this time it would appear your tickets for American Airlines of American Eagle to and from the Dominican Republic will remain valid. That includes if you have frequent flyer miles under the AAdvantage program of American Airlines and OneWorld Alliance.

In the press release issued by American Airlines today it was stated that they and American Eagle “EXPECT TO CONTINUE” normal services, and flight schedules as well as make reservations, exchanges and offer refunds under its normal rules.

Thomas W. Horton, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of AMR and American Airlines, said, (more…)

If your plans for the DR are an extended staycation or you plan on moving here permanently something you should likely consider is getting a credit card that offers frequent flyer miles. Round trip tickets range from $650 to $850 from the Dominican Republic to California so the frequent flyer miles tend to add up quickly.

There are quite a few things to check out first to make sure that the card you are planning to use is really going to save you money.

Annual Fee: Most cards charge an annual fee of $65 to $85. Some will waive the annual fee for the first year if you make an eligible purchase within the allotted time.

Where and when the miles can be redeemed: This is a pretty big one if you are planning to stay in the DR. Choosing a card that the miles can’t be redeemed for flight to or from the DR wouldn’t be of much use.

Max number of miles: Some cards have caps on the number of miles that can be earned each year. While it is normally pretty high (100, 000 to 150,000 miles) that is something to consider if you plan on making many purchases or you are normally booking for larger groups (like you whole family). (more…)

Two of the most popular scooters in the Dominican Republic are the Yamaha Jog and the Yamaha Axis. The Jog comes as a 50cc and the Axis as either a 90cc or a 100cc. While there may be other engines available for the axis, I haven’t seen them.

If you read my previous article on Yamaha bikes you will find a recommendation to go with one of the larger wheeled commuter style bikes. I still recommend this to be a good idea if you are in one of the more crowded cities or plan on doing any traveling between towns. The reason I have been researching the scooters more is for my wife.

Advantages of a scooter

The scooter does have some advantages, the main ones are that they are lower to the ground and so a little easier to control and they are lighter. These two advantages make these ideal vehicles for women just wanting a quicker easier way to get around town. And thus starts my search into the world of scooters.

I strongly prefer to go with one of the larger bike manufacturers. I have found while trying out bikes that the far cheaper scooters that you will find new here are all from china. As I’ve tested bikes from China I found that (more…)

If your planning a trip to the Caribbean you are likely hoping to get a good exchange rate on your money. The exchange rate from US Dollars to Dominican Pesos has varied between 35 pesos to the dollar to about 37 pesos to the dollar.

Right now (11/16/2011) you can exchange your dollars for pesos at 38.9 pesos for the US dollar. If you are currently living in the DR or if you are planning a longer vacation that extra couple pesos can add up, so this is a pretty good time to get some money converted.

If you’re not too sure on how you want to bring money over from the US to the DR you might want to check out our page on Getting Money In the DR for a few tips on how much money to bring in cash, travelers checks etc.

Something to consider if you plan on buying a bike in the DR is to pick up a security system while you are still in the states. You are going to be parking your motorcycle or scooter on the streets frequently and it is pretty easy to steal these smaller bikes.

When parking my bike I always lock the front wheel (move the handle bars to the left and lock so that the bike can only go in circles if pushed), but that is only a deterrent. Two guys can easily grab the front handle bars and walk your bike down the street disappearing in a few seconds. For additional security if I am not in a area with a lot of people around I will run a bike lock through the back tire and over the seat to keep people from lifting the front tire and walking off.

Motorcycle Alarms

A motorcycle alarm adds additional security. (more…)

Both of these verbs are among the most important verbs you will need to understand in Spanish. As I mentioned in my Learn Dominican Spanish page, I will try to keep this page down to just the necessities. Because of the complexity of these two verbs as well as their usefulness this is likely to be one of the more confusing subjects I write on.

Both Ser and Estar both mean “To Be” however you use them for circumstances. Both of these verbs are “irregular” so you have to memorize the different tenses. You will use the present tense the most but in time you will need to memorize the future and preterit tenses also.

Use Estar when the condition is more temporary. For example use estar when describing:

• Location
• Health and Mood
• Impressions
• results of actions

Use Ser to describe the nature of persons of things, things that are not going to change.

Clear as mud right? Keep reading, I’ll be giving some examples that will help you get the idea. Expect to make some mistakes on this one but usually they will understand you even if you use the wrong verb. (more…)

When you are traveling in the DR, sometimes you hear stuff that is completely different than what you are used to. If you don’t speak Spanish, or at least not much of it, some of the following definitions will really come in handy.

“Dejame” Dejame is the word for leave me here. Especially useful if you don’t truly know where you are going and want to brave walking the rest of the way. Also heard “Me deja” and “Donde puede”

“Cuanto debe pagar” is as simple as could be, “How much should I pay?” It is better to ask someone else that is in the car with you then to ask the public car driver directly, usually if they see that you are white or from Spain, they will raise the prices to double, sometimes triple the usual cost.

“Al (city)” This is meant to be used when trying to find where to go after renting a taxi. For example if you are looking to go to Sosua, you can tell the driver “Al Sosua” or “To Sosua!” See below for more. (more…)

One of the fastest ways to Learn Dominican Spanish and build your Spanish Vocabulary easily is to get the hang of Cognates. Cognates are words that have the same or a very similar meaning in Spanish as in English and are spelled the same except for one or two small differences.

For this tip we are going to work with “tion” cognates. While this doesn’t work with all English words ending with “tion” it does with the vast majority of them. Simply change the English “tion” with “cion” and put an accent on the “on”. Unlike in English, this ending is broke into 2 syllables “ci” (pronounced like “sea” in English) and “on” (pronounced like “own” in English).

Now for your instant vocabulary boost. Remember, if you can’t figure out the English word, replace the “cion” with “tion” and you will figure it out. (more…)

After memorizing the most important Spanish verbs, you should next learn how to conjugate these verbs. The most important tense to learn is the “Present” tense. You will use this one far more than any of the other tenses, and if necessary you can use this tense and fake other tenses like “past” and “future”, but I will get to that a little later in this article.

While you can normally get your point across by using a personal pronoun (in English I, you, he/she/it, we, they) and following by the verb in the infinitive form (the form you memorize the verbs in), somewhere along the line you are going to get tired of people laughing at you and you are going to need to learn how to conjugate the verbs.
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