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…

Security Block
I got to the airport early the next morning, walked down to the baggage x-ray machine, and stuck my bags on the conveyor belt, where the nice gentlemen started them on their journey through the machine with a smile. We passed the time it took for them to examine my bags with some small talk and then I was on my way.

Walking past the long line of passengers waiting to check-in bags and get their boarding passes, I continued toward the gate, giving myself a mental pat on the back for having the forethought to carry-on my luggage and print my own get-out-of-the-line-free pass. At the gate I handed the boarding pass to Rafael the security guard, he took it, and looked at it like it was some sort of foreign object he had never contemplated before. Which, I guess he hadn’t since he directed me to go and get a real one from the American Airlines (AA) desk.

I looked at the expanded line and quickly decided I’d rather not. Just as I started trying to think of what other options there were to consider, an AA attendant passed nearby, and I flagged her down. I explained my situation and smiled smugly (I’m sorry to admit) as she attended me back to the security guard and reprimanded him for not reading the memo that was sent out last month about printed boarding passes. He let me through, and I continued without incident through immigration and on to security.

Everything was fine at security until they opened up my bags and took away my curling iron, flat iron, and my deceased grandmother’s crochet hooks of tremendous sentimental value. I stood my ground, and insisted that they weren’t on the list. They said they had another list and showed it to me. The items were on theirs. Apparently, from what they explained to me, each country’s airport security has a different list than the airlines, and there are discrepancies between them. After some more discussion the head of security came and told me that he would let me have them if I could get a member of AA personnel to accompany me. I did, and they let me take it all on the plane.

If you are flying to (or through) the states, buy your duty free items after you get there because anything bought on foreign soil will get confiscated at the security gates if it’s not checked.

Lastly, you can print out your boarding pass without fear of Rafael – he got the memo.

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.

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.

Once you get into the more tourist oriented areas you will find plenty of people that speak multiple languages English and French (often more of a Creole) being the first on the list after Spanish.

Entry Fee: Once you get off the plane you will need to find the place where you buy your entry fee card. This is usually one of the first things people do, so you can follow the rest to the line. have your passport out and pay $10 per person. They usually take US dollars but I’m not sure about other currencies. When you go through customs you will give this card to someone to show that you have paid.

Luggage Safety: Sorry to say but there is a strong chance of someone going through your luggage and taking small items. Anything of value should be well hidden in the suitcase or better still put in your carry one luggage.

Tips for service: Tips are usually smaller here. 1-2 Dollars for the person that helps you with your luggage should be fine. This may go up some in the larger Hotels. All inclusive hotels usually do not expect you to tip, that is included in with the fee.

Cell Phones: I’ve found that the cell phone plans in the United States are extremely expensive to use here. If you plan on being here for a couple weeks, I would recommend finding a Claro or Orange office and getting a new chip. Expect to spend a little time everything is slow here. You may also have to go somewhere to get your phone unlocked. The new chip costs about $5 and unlocking your phone $10 – $15. You will then buy minutes. You will find place to do this everywhere, this is not a problem. You can make phone calls to any whee in the Dominican Republic and to the US for the same price now.

If you want to use your old phone service you just put your old chip back in and it will work like before. Of course, be sure to save your old chip when you have them put a new one in, you will need this when you return home.

Attitude Towards Foreigners: In general people like foreigners here, if your friendly they will be friendly. however, ALL Foreigners are considered rich (really by their standards most of us are). They will try to over charge, pay back the wrong change etc. Usually the amount won’t turn into very much, but if you don’t want to overpay all the time, pay close attention to this and question when it doesn’t seem right.

International Airports: There are quite a few international airports you can choose from when you fly into the Dominican Republic so yo can choose the one that will be closest to where you plan on staying.

• Barahona – BRX
• La Romana – LRM
• Puerto Plata – POP
• Punta Cana / Higüey – PUJ
• Samaná – EPS
• Sánchez – AZS
• Santiago – STI
• Santo Domingo – JBQ
• Santo Domingo – SDQ

The DR is a great place to relax and have a good time. As with travel to any foreign country you do need to be a little more careful. We’ve included tips on a number of things you will encounter while you are here through out this website so be sure to browse through the other pages.

Common Greetings
Greetings very somewhat. The standard of course being “Hola” or hello. As you walk passed, it is also common to use “Adios” or goodbye as a greeting. Some will continue with “Como Esta Usted” or “how are you”. Often though you will get another greeting, it’s not uncommon for people to know just a little English and they love to practice it. So don’t be surprised to many of the standard English greetings.

While they see foreigners fairly often, we are still a bit novel to them. You will very often hear people mutter (or even shout) Americano as you walk passed, often you will hear it repeatedly from the group. Don’t take offence, for the most part people here like Americans and other foreigners, this seems to be more of a form of entertainment not in any way an insult.

O Yah, there are a couple more greetings you should expect to hear. First if you are white you will hear Rubio (male) or Rubia (Female). This is really a term meaning a person with blond hair. However, it’s applied to most people with light skin, you will hear them even call their lighter skinned Dominican friends that. The other you will hear gives the impression you just stepped on a snake. A hiss or “ssss” is very common to get your attention. More often then not this will happen with males trying to get a females attention or a female trying to get a males attention at least in this context. Women are at least as outgoing here as men are so yes guys, expect to hear some cat calls while walking down the street!

Staying Safe
Walking down the street in pretty much all of the DR including the Campos it’s important to remember that unlike the US and many of other countries, pedestrians do not have the “right of way” at least not in practice. While those in cars, motorcycles, and even large construction vehicles do not try to openly hit you, they also don’t really seem to try not to, at least not until the last second. You are expected to get out of the way and it is really in your best interest to keep that in mind at all times. Cars often use both side of the road, or just drive down the middle when there is no opposing traffic and often even when there is. When walking, always pay attention to what is happening all around you even behind you. YOU are responsible for your own safety.

It’s also good to remember when you are anywhere in the DR, foreigners are considered easy target. Usually this just means they are going to try to get you to pay a little more than something is worth, it’s good to have an idea of the prices of things before you buy, and be ready to dicker the price down if you are in the mood. If not, well, by foreign standards the amount they are going to “gouge” you for really isn’t going to be that much. On small items they may ask another 10- 20 pesos (36 pesos to the US dollar) and that extra 30-60 cents can mean having meat with their dinner that night. Not that everyone is poor here but in the smaller compos the vast majority are.

In addition to the minor ways, in which by far most of the people will try to get a little money from you, there is always the chance of more serious problems. People here DO NOT LIKE thieves. No they don’t count a little price gouging or miss counting in change in with this and minor thievery is rather common so they watch closely for this. However they take major stuff like being mugged very seriously. With this in mind you can feel pretty safe walking down the heavier traffic streets, if you call out thief! You will get attention.

Safety means using common sense! Don’t walk down deserted streets, don’t walk alone, and don’t openly flaunt your money or expensive possessions. When walking down the street, you’re likely to look like obvious tourists however, don’t wander around looking lost. Be aware of your surroundings, have a good idea where you are going or at least look like you do. Don’t walk down the street with your map open, a dumb look on your face and asking for help, put the map away, walk into one of the larger shops and ask. Even this can be risky, they may direct you to an unsafe situation, if at all possible get your directions from the hotel you are staying at.