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Dominican Republic

Great holiday spot.

Weather is a toss up. Hot days, sunny, cloudy or rain. Sometimes it can rain for days straight and sometimes seem to fall like torrential downpours.

Tropical Play Dorada on Dorada Beach, north side of the country in Puerto Plata is a great hotel to stay in. beautiful rooms, nice and clean, hot water all the time and most units have large verandas with patio furniture so you could sit out and enjoy. If you travel with all inclusive, which we recommend, the food is abundant. You name it, they make it. Fresh tropical fruits, salads, fresh meats, cold cuts and a theme night each evening. Alacarte restaurants allotted to 3 per week, all with themed menus ,Mexican, Caribbean, BBQ, etc.All delicious and plentiful.

The bars serv the BEST beer around, Presidente, COLD and delicious. You will find the rum and other straight shots to be WATERED down in a major

fashion. There is a Rum factory in Puerto Plata where you can buy you own bottles of Rum that are very powerful and will knock you out. The rum served at the bars, you would have to have a TRIPLE in order to get a mild buzz.

In Puerto Plata there is a Canadian hangout alled Sam's Bar. Food is great, beer was almost frozen and you can meet some Canadians, that live in Dominican Republic for a couple of months in the winter. They would tell you that you could live in a safe KEYED neighbourhood in the price range of $550 monthly. Anything lower, you risked break ins and assaults.

You can stay in a gated community that does not allow people in the complex other than the ones that were supposed to be there. Everything is quoted in American dollars. They accept Canadian, but seem to be at least 10 pesos less then the American norm of 35 pesos to their dollar. Make sure to take small bills, no one wants to give you change in American. The change is given in pesos.

At the departure ariport in Toronto there is a departure tax of $20 US which you better pay it prior to your boarding the plane or else you will be directed to pay it upon boarding. There is also a $10 US tourist card which you will have to pay for. Make sure you pay that upon arival into the airport. Although the airline may tell you that there is only one immigration form, but there is two form to fill out.

All in all the country is beautiful. You can travel to Sosua as well, a town that has the only synagogue in Dominican Republic and a small Jewish population. The country has 8.9 million population and ž of their income is derived from tourism. Their major exports are sugar, coffee, tobacco and RUM. You can travel through the rich neighbourhoods of Puerto Plata and in some way, either the homes belong to a rum manufacturer or a politician.

Unlike North America, Smoking is free everywhere including buses and restaurants. Local buses do not have window that is due to the fact that it is a poor country and also is tropical. However tourist buses are fully windowed and airconditioned stand in contrast with simple local buses.

We highly recommend Dominican Republic for a Caribbean vacation and hope you have lots of fun.