My name is Eliza and I am an American who lived in Santo Domingo for 8 years. I now travel frequently to Santo Domingo and write a blog called Amor y Sabor (amorysabor.com).
While I lived in Santo Domingo I ran my own creative services company, married a Dominican and had two children. My economic status ranged during my time there from upper middle class to much lower so I experienced life from both the perspective of a foreigner and one who 'aplatanada' (localized).
After my divorce from my Dominican husband, who had a second family the whole time, I continued to live and work in Santo Domingo and eventually met my current husband who is not Dominican at all, he is from India, but ironically we met in the same neighborhood of Santo Domingo: Gazcue.
I write my blog about my unusual family which combines the cultures of the United States, India and the Dominican Republic as well as the perspective these cultures have given me.
New to Expat Blog
Hi Eliza,
welcome to Expat.com! 
Thank you for this introduction.
Hi Eliza,
I too am American, and I currently live in La Romana. I have not lived here very long, about 1 month (this time around), hwever I have visited many times. So did you learn spanish from living here? or did you already speak it before moving here?
Hi Theresa,
I learned it while I was there. Best thing is to have friends that are Dominican and immerse yourself. I also did business there so I had to learn.
TheresaT wrote:Hi Eliza,
I too am American, and I currently live in La Romana. I have not lived here very long, about 1 month (this time around), hwever I have visited many times. So did you learn spanish from living here? or did you already speak it before moving here?
Hello, I am in the early planning stages of making my move to DR. Puerto Plata seems to be my first choice of where to live.
I'm glad to find a blog site like this for guidence and support.
I would not recommend Puerto Plata. It was nice for a while but it has gone down hill. La Romana is nice. Santiago is very nice but far from the beach and there are very nice parts of Santo Domingo.
kerryV wrote:Hello, I am in the early planning stages of making my move to DR. Puerto Plata seems to be my first choice of where to live.
I'm glad to find a blog site like this for guidence and support.
I would reccoemnd the north coast (puerto plata, sosua, cabarete) to live. It is a community of expats, locals, tourists. We relocated here 6+ years ago and have not looked back for a second.
Bob K
Go on dr1.com and talk to people. Visit different areas and make a decision. I've hear all different perspectives and can't say for sure since I haven't lived there.
Bob K wrote:I would reccoemnd the north coast (puerto plata, sosua, cabarete) to live. It is a community of expats, locals, tourists. We relocated here 6+ years ago and have not looked back for a second.
Bob K
Thanks for the imput BobK & creativeLiza. I will continue my quest to zero-in on the best area. One question, BobK...considering that I could afford to pay $600-700 per month for a 2-br apartment, could you tell me where the best nieghborhood is in that north coast Puerto Plata area?.,.,or another close one near the ocean?
AT that amount you will be able to find something in Sosua or Cabarete but not top notch. The north coast is some what expensive because of the tourist trade. But still some pretty nice places at the $700-800 range.
Bob K
Cool, thanks for helping me narrow things a bit.
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