My big news

Flying out at 9 a.m. in the morning. See you upon return!

Arrived home at about 2 a.m. this morning. Had a blast!

Let's see, here is a checklist of things that happened while we were there. Great things so that I know how business is handled.

-Power Outages are frequent throughout the entire country. All systems need battery backup.
-Speeding Ticket - my boss got a speeding ticket and since I was the only Spanish speaker in our group of 3, I was able to talk to the cops and work our way through that situation. It went very smooth.
-Helped my boss open 2 bank accounts, one for checking, one for savings
-Talked to many expats from multiple countries like the United States, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy
-Drove around town by ourselves and with a realtor looking at real estate
-Went to the beach and swam for a few. It was an amazing experience!
-Went shopping in the grocery stores and the little street vendors.
-Walked the town early in the morning and late at night.
-Talked to cell phone vendors and learned about their plans.
-Talked to American and Dominican business owners
-Went to the hospital in town (it's still relatively new) and interviewed doctors and took a tour. They have the insulin my daughter needs!

Had an amazing time and can't wait to return.

Here are some photos of the trip, more to be added over time.
https://goo.gl/photos/v7mHS5PJ4euUzsGU6

New Creation wrote:-Went to the beach and swam for a few. It was an amazing experience!

I spent over twenty years in South Florida and have been to the Bahamas and Cayman islands a bunch of times. I must have got too used to it, because I never thought of going to the beach as amazing. Too spoiled I guess.

-Went shopping in the grocery stores and the little street vendors.

Everything can be bargained for. At least when they came here to America that is how they do it!

-Walked the town early in the morning and late at night.

Make sure you don't end up like Kerrick.

-Went to the hospital in town (it's still relatively new) and interviewed doctors and took a tour. They have the insulin my daughter needs!

What kind of insulin does she need?

Seems pretty cool, thanks for sharing
There is only forest and beach were you was?
Did you see local taxis?

deathisgain wrote:

New Creation wrote:-Went to the beach and swam for a few. It was an amazing experience!

I spent over twenty years in South Florida and have been to the Bahamas and Cayman islands a bunch of times. I must have got too used to it, because I never thought of going to the beach as amazing. Too spoiled I guess.

-Went shopping in the grocery stores and the little street vendors.

Everything can be bargained for. At least when they came here to America that is how they do it!

-Walked the town early in the morning and late at night.

Make sure you don't end up like Kerrick.

-Went to the hospital in town (it's still relatively new) and interviewed doctors and took a tour. They have the insulin my daughter needs!

What kind of insulin does she need?

You are spoiled indeed. I'd never set foot in warm salt water before. All the many beaches I've been to in California, Florida and Lake Michigan have cold waters for the most part.

True, most things can be bargained for. But in the newer grocery stores, the ones that look just like ours in the states, there are set prices and the cashiers have no power to bargain. The street vendors and small shop owners do bargain all day long.

Like Kerrick? You mean having something stolen? Well, let's see. Here in America, in my life...
-I had my $30 bus pass stolen from my hands by a pushy man on the bus back in 1988.
-My dad had all the tools stolen from the back of his locked van in front of our house.
-My brand new bike that I was given when I was 7 was stolen from my front porch.
-My car was stolen.

So, no, I have no fear of theft in the Dominican Republic because it happens all the time here in America and it's not a valid reason to re-think my desire to move.

She uses a fast acting insulin called Apidra and a 24 hour, slow acting insulin called Lantus. They didn't have those two brands there but they do have those same types of insulin available under a different brand in the hospital pharmacy.

Pastèque wrote:Seems pretty cool, thanks for sharing
There is only forest and beach were you was?
Did you see local taxis?

Forest, hills/mountains, beach and lots of town, shops and neighborhoods.

Yes, there were lots of taxis. The motoconchos are everywhere and a ride costs 25 pesos in town.

New Creation wrote:Forest, hills/mountains, beach and lots of town, shops and neighborhoods.

Yes, there were lots of taxis. The motoconchos are everywhere and a ride costs 25 pesos in town.

I'm glad you are back safe and that all went well, but please don't tell me you rode the motoconchos....
You know the other name for them there, right? Muerto-ahorita.

d@v!d wrote:

New Creation wrote:Forest, hills/mountains, beach and lots of town, shops and neighborhoods.

Yes, there were lots of taxis. The motoconchos are everywhere and a ride costs 25 pesos in town.

I'm glad you are back safe and that all went well, but please don't tell me you rode the motoconchos....
You know the other name for them there, right? Muerto-ahorita.

LOL at the name. No, didn't ride them. Since we had a rental car, we drove that everywhere.

Lol, it's true for a lot of "south" countries
Do you need internet to work at home? Will you use satellite connexion for that?

Pastèque wrote:Do you need internet to work at home? Will you use satellite connexion for that?

I will have two internet connections, or perhaps even three. One as a backup for the other because internet outages are frequent as well.

I will use Claro, Orange, and the cable company.

Which airport did you fly in to? I didn't look like SDO from your pics.

BTW, great pics! Thanks for sharing.

The meat selection in the market looked better than I expected. How was it?

You've kind of have me inspired. It seems like Las Terrenas is now up and coming. I was there 10 years ago and things were much more spartan.

Yes, the meat looked good. That was at Supermercado Pola in Las Terrenas. There is also a similar store called Supermercado Linda.

I did visit the supermarket in Hato Mayor (center of country) and they had far less selection.

We flew into Punta Cana. rented a car, and drove east and then headed north into Hato Mayor for hotel Don Olivo. From there, we went further north into the "mountains" and did work on that internet cafe in El Mango Limpio.

Once done there, we went back down to Hato Mayor, then back down to the bottom of the country, took highway 3 or 4, west to 7, and took 7 north all the way to 5. Took 5 back west to 133 into Las Terrenas.

I want to get my wife down there for a visit. I was checking flights and there are a number of dates later this year where we can get round trip to Santo Domingo (with a layover in Mexico City) for only $353. From Santo Domingo, we would just take the $6.00 bus ride up to Las Terrenas.

There is an international airport just minutes from Las Terrenas but it only accepts flights from Canada and Europe.

New Creation wrote:Yes, the meat looked good. That was at Supermercado Pola in Las Terrenas. There is also a similar store called Supermercado Linda.

I did visit the supermarket in Hato Mayor (center of country) and they had far less selection.

That may concur with my suspicion that the higher level of foreigners there may create the demand for higher quality and greater selection of meats.

We flew into Punta Cana. rented a car, and drove east and then headed north into Hato Mayor for hotel Don Olivo. From there, we went further north into the "mountains" and did work on that internet cafe in El Mango Limpio.

Once done there, we went back down to Hato Mayor, then back down to the bottom of the country, took highway 3 or 4, west to 7, and took 7 north all the way to 5. Took 5 back west to 133 into Las Terrenas.

OK. I was expecting you to go through SDO, which is a lot more rustic. That's the one in the Balbuena video I posted.

BTW, here is where I spent part of my honeymoon.

New Creation wrote:I want to get my wife down there for a visit. I was checking flights and there are a number of dates later this year where we can get round trip to Santo Domingo (with a layover in Mexico City) for only $353. From Santo Domingo, we would just take the $6.00 bus ride up to Las Terrenas.

There is an international airport just minutes from Las Terrenas but it only accepts flights from Canada and Europe.

How long would your layover be? Mexico city has a lot of cool things to see.

As our potential move gets closer, I had a realization. No more metal shows! I guess I'll have to become a promoter and introduce the islanders to Christian metal and start bringing in bands LOL

New Creation wrote:As our potential move gets closer, I had a realization. No more metal shows! I guess I'll have to become a promoter and introduce the islanders to Christian metal and start bringing in bands LOL

So, it's finally starting to sink in?...

We are heading back to the Dominican Republic in mid-December for the second exploratory trip. So exciting!

New Creation wrote:We are heading back to the Dominican Republic in mid-December for the second exploratory trip. So exciting!

¿De veras? Estaremos en Santo Domingo a fines de diciembre, si Dios quiere.

¡Sí! Estaremos en Punta Cana, Hato Mayor del Rey, El Mango Limpio, y Las Terrenas de 12-16 de diciembre.

New Creation wrote:¡Sí! Estaremos en Punta Cana, Hato Mayor del Rey, El Mango Limpio, y Las Terrenas de 12-16 de diciembre.

;(
Llegarémos el 21...

d@v!d wrote:

New Creation wrote:¡Sí! Estaremos en Punta Cana, Hato Mayor del Rey, El Mango Limpio, y Las Terrenas de 12-16 de diciembre.

;(
Llegarémos el 21...

¡Cuando movemos, visítenos!

New Creation wrote:

d@v!d wrote:

New Creation wrote:¡Sí! Estaremos en Punta Cana, Hato Mayor del Rey, El Mango Limpio, y Las Terrenas de 12-16 de diciembre.

;(
Llegarémos el 21...

¡Cuando movemos, visítenos!

Claro.

A uniquely Dominican shaving commercial.