Reality of living in Dominican Republic

What is it you want to know? And welcome to the forums.

I, personally, love my life here. I don't love every part of living here but the good far outweighs the bad. 

I live in Santo Domingo and love the vibrancy and energy, the way I can find almost anything here.  There is always something to do,  fun to be had.....

I detest the damn traffic, the garbage everywhere and the electricity issues.

I read in your profile that you have a Dominican father and plenty of family in Santo Domingo.

For sure you will be getting diverse opinions from your family and some will want a life abroad.

Santo Domingo where I live can be an expensive place to live if you want many of the better things you find abroad and take for granted. And some of those things may not be availably locally where you relocate in the capital if that is your plan. It is a big city from east to west and north to south and the type of barrio/sector can vary significantly.

Myself, an expat with Dominican wife, I live in  a modest centrally located sector close enough to all the amenties I could want and with quick or relatively quick ways out of the city to the country beyond. And I do like to travel around the country a lot.

The capital suits me and my wife currently for what we do, but can drain you at times as does city life elsewhere. There are some negative aspects as mentioned by planner. But I would not be living in DR if I thought my life enjoyment was less than my home country. I am one expat who thinks that out of 50 or so countries to which I have travelled or lived that DR offers the best overall for me.

But your circumstances are sure to be different to other expats without Dominican connections so I do hope some of them with local connections add their opinions.

We've found that opinions of Dominicans on living in DR has shifted pretty dramatically over the past 5 years - and is still shifting by both those in DR and in the US.

We just moved permanently to Samana on the Northeast Coast from Maryland with 3 kids. Depending on where we go in DR, we are generally treated by Dominicans as both Dominicans and also expats because we just found my wife's unknown family in DR a few years ago. So we can see it from both sides.

Economically, things are still tough for the average Dominican in DR but if you are coming from the US with US generated income or savings then the day to day experience is usually significantly different.

Alot of our US based Dominican friends are our age (late 30s/early 40s) and moved to the US when young. The overall mentality of many of them and their family members was until recently that DR was a place to leave and never return to live.

In the last 3 years alot of them have been coming back - buying land near their family and building houses for under US$80,000 or buying condos in Santo Domingo. And that includes those in their 30s with families.

Alot of younger Dominicans in DR who even 7 yrs ago wanted to move to the US now have no desire to move largely because they realize through family how hard it is to live a decent life.

You can live a life in DR that for many would be impossible to live in the US.  Many are saying why work like a dog like most do in the US when DR now has much of the modern infrastructure at a fraction of the cost, plus you can also get literally almost any product around the world in Santo Domingo and there's alot of affordable culture and entertainment.

Overall, you will hear about alot of the problems about Santo Domingo especially (power outages, traffic, crime, pollution, trash, etc.) but when you really think about it outside of power outages, the reality is people in every city around the world complain about the same problems. And like any place, some neighborhoods are worse than others, some more expensive than others, and that can shape anyone's opinion about quality of life.

I prefer city living and will be first to admit that the traffic issues in Santo Domingo especially are definitely not exaggerated. S.D. is growing and pretty fast.

But overall I think a growing number are realizing it's less stressful, more healthy, and just overall better quality of life now living in DR at a fraction of the cost of the US. Food is healthier here, most things are generally cheaper, beaches and fun culture everywhere.

It's certainly a better and safer environment for kids in general. Kids are generally happier and healthier here and can actually be kids. Our kids are already trying new things that they never would do back in the US because it was either too expensive, too far, too this or too that..

You can obviously find plenty of places to spend money if you want but all I know is our household expenses immediately decreased by at least 60% and at the same time significantly upgraded our lifestyle to a beach house overlooking the beach and ocean.

There are significant adjustments around our expectations for amenities and conveniences. If you need something fixed in your home or a vehicle it just takes time. It's not an Amazon 1-day delivery culture although even in Samana you can order food delivery from your phone. But to get our ATV fixed they had to order the part from Santo Domingo - they sent the wrong part - our mechanic said it may take until next week so he'll just drive there to get it.

It's embarrassing for us to say but if you are Dominican and also have a US passport you are typically treated differently by law enforcement. If my wife speaks with an American accent and shows her US drivers license we are politely waved on and told to have a great day. Let's just say that doesn't happen to our relatives here (unless they are with us).

On the other hand, we have found that Dominicans who grew up in America are widely assumed to have money and in certain areas that can make you a target in a variety of ways.

Hope this helps. We're actually encouraging all our true friends in the US to give up the craziness and move here. It just makes too much sense. Wish we had of done it earlier.

Pretty good insights!  Well said.  And if you ever need anything in SD let me.know!

Great post. Thanks for sharing your view.

Well let me add for LT....it is a smaller beach town but has alot of amenities....The electric is pretty consistent here with planned outages that are usually announced ahead. They are to date not outrageously long ones either. We have two large super markets and lots of shops selling about anything an expat might want. There are plenty of activitis from surfing to dance classes and pretty much everything inbetween.  Here we have the "mountains " and the beautiful beaches minutes apart! I say come check it out!