Once again Cholera is spreading on the island of Hispaniola. This time we are seeing more in the Dominican Republic. Depending on the report you read there have been either 15 or 23 deaths due to the disease. While this probably still isn’t a sufficient reason to avoid coming to the DR it’s good to review the precautions you should take.

There are several main areas that you should be cautious about; the water, fresh fruit and vegetables food from street venders, food from other restaurants, food from resort restaurants. While you can never be guaranteed to never have a problem, being careful will greatly reduce the chances of you having problems. If though you find you are having heavy diarrhea or vomiting when you are visiting any country it is good to get yourself checked out quickly, waiting can make it take longer to clear up.

If you do think you got something (stomach pains, diarrhea, vomiting) try finding a private clinic or hospital. (more…)

If you going learn how to cook Dominican style, arepitas are a recipe you can’t go without. They are usually not eaten as commonly as rice and beans, but they are definitely essential to the Dominican diet.

You will be hard pressed to find someone that doesn’t like these little deep fried yucca balls. And as long as you are pay attention they are pretty hard to mess up.

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Buying food in the Dominican Republic. If you have come from the US or Europe, buying food in the Dominican Republic can be quite different from what you are used to. Some even classify buying food here as a skill. Something that takes learning and there are plenty of theories to how it is best done.

If you have never visited the Dominican Republic, you are probably thinking, “How do you figure? What’s so hard about going to the supermarket, finding what you want and buying it?”

If you are in a larger town, it may be that simple, but if you are in a smaller town; there might not even be any supermarkets. In which case you will be buying things at a lot of colmados or in the market place. (a colmado is a little corner market that many times is no bigger that 10’ by 10’)

What You Are Dealing With

Colmados and venders in the marketplace are normally owned by and single person or family and the vast majority of their products are highly negotiable. This means two things. The first one is good news; you can pretty much always get the price down a little lower. And Two, not so good; they are going to try and the most they can out of you. (more…)