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SEMANA SANTA IN LAS TERRENAS

Last activity 19 April 2022 by planner

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goinforit

I have heard to expect a crazy week in LT over the week of Easter.
Would be interested in hearing from longer term expats on what
things will be like around town that week.

Guest2022

When  I lived there, the plan was to be out of town for Semana Santa, thursday through monday.

RockyM

We always plan to stock up on groceries and such so we do not have to leave our villa for that entire week. Yes, it's that bad. Look at some of the Youtube videos available for some examples.

ddmcghee

This year, the first Semana Santa since 2019 without COVID restrictions, will be off the chains...and not in a good way!

The ATMs run out of cash, traffic is absolute gridlock, people start partying in the streets, Komida shuts down because they can't get through the streets, the grocery stores run out of everything! The beaches are full of loud, drunk people, including those who insist on driving their dune buggies on the beach and wreaking havoc. If you are near any rental properties, be prepared for loud music, conversations, and arguments late into the night!

We're going to Santo Domingo from Wednesday to Sunday to totally get away from it because our rental kitchen's fridge is not big enough to stock up for that many days of being shut in!

Guest2022

And Santo Domingo could be empty this year and quiet.

I knew many resident expats, like me, who left LT for those days for calmer surroundings.

planner

Semana Santa is a week of celebration for locals!  It's loud and it's the custom and culture here.

The best places to be are the big cities.  Many locals go to the beaches and the countryside for several days to the entire week.  Driving is more hazardous this week than any other time! 

Santo Domingo is where I stay this entire week!   Good Friday is the only day of the year it's supposed to be quiet.  Most businesses are shut and there is not supposed to be any loud music this one day of the year!

goinforit

Thanks to everyone for their input. It sounds like we really need to
prepare ahead and hunker down for the duration.
Just to be clear Good Friday this year is April 15 so what days should we
be expecting the celebrations to take place in Las Terrenas ?

ddmcghee

Expect crowds the weekend of April 8 to be more than normal, with many not leaving on Sunday like they normally do. By Wednesday, April 13, more people will start coming in for a long weekend. You will see big groups of people on quads or rented pasolas who don't know how to drive them or don't know where they are going. In addition to more traffic, there will also be more accidents.

I do not recommend trying to go to the grocery store after about 11:00 on Wednesday morning - and go then only if necessary!

From Good Friday through Easter, the streets will be packed! Komida will likely not be working those days either. The traffic makes it too difficult for them to get around and deliver hot meals.

If you are on Ballenas, you will have a very hard time getting to town unless you walk! They might open up the gate down by The Green to ease congestion for those that live there, but I don't know for sure that they do that. When we had the fire last year, it took them a while to get the gate open and many people missed flights.

Guest2022
Looks like Las Terrenas got trashed.....see video in article

Easter 2022 vacationers leave a sea of ​​garbage in Las Terrenas


Many of the people who came to  Las Terrenas , municipality of Samaná, as a tourist destination during this Holy Week 2022 , apparently not only dedicated themselves to having fun, but also spent part of their time throwing a lot of  garbage and other objects into their spaces. public.

Videos circulating on social networks show how parks, beaches, streets and avenues were flooded with  plastic cups, empty bottles of alcohol, large and small broken boxes, as well as various crates of alcoholic beverages thrown away after they were used as seats.

The streets and containers look full of debris, plastic bags, food remains and even cones that the authorities put to manage traffic thrown on the roads. The area seems to have been invaded by a sea of ​​debris.

Another of the disorders that some made was  to travel in their jeeps, cars and motors along the beaches  to avoid blockages. There are videos of drivers doing the action at night.

Las Terreras was one of the most demanded tourist destinations by people during the Easter 2022 holiday due to its beauty and charming places to rest.
modaisky1971
I hate the way the word it as "tourist" destination because it makes it sounds like people from other countries.  This was probably 95% people from the Dominican and the big cities.  So sad and disrespectful that they do these things.  This is NOT a cultural thing and I am sick of hearing we shouldn't "as expats" judge the people whose country this is.  Authorities need to get on the ball and make some changes with this poor planning.
RockyM
I hate the way the word it as "tourist" destination because it makes it sounds like people from other countries.  This was probably 95% people from the Dominican and the big cities.  So sad and disrespectful that they do these things.  This is NOT a cultural thing and I am sick of hearing we shouldn't "as expats" judge the people whose country this is.  Authorities need to get on the ball and make some changes with this poor planning.
- [at]modaisky1971
Yes, "it's our culture" is sticking ones head in the sand, so to speak. This isn't culture this is just bad behavior....anywhere.
I think a lot of the problem is the authorities are simply overwhelmed by the numbers and the behavior in LT during Samana Santa. Not sure what the solutions are.
Guest2022
Bad behaviour just like Spring break and Brits on holiday in Benidorm? Or perhaps Dominicans partying hard with family and friends at vacation time without regard for others? They do party big when on vacation!

Unfortunately it comes with living in a resort area as more and more Dominicans can afford a vacation in the better resort areas. So choose wisely where you stay.

Education is the only hope. They and Samana Santa are not going away anytime soon. The advice given in this thread was to leave town. Santo Domingo was quiet apparently. Elsewhere in DR we read some hotels had limited Dominican occupancy because of expected rowdiness.

In the campo we had a rowdy weekend dampened by rain but who was I to complain?
planner
Santo Domingo was amazing!!!! No traffic!  No noise in many many areas.  Remember this for next year!
LT American
I will definitely leave Las Terrenas next year. I stayed...mistake! Power grid was overloaded so power on and off for 4 fays
Guest2022
Unfortunately Las Terrenas has it's limits and it is hard to improve the infrastructure much, so the first big opportunity to have a Samana Santa vacation after two years of  covid 19, was taken up in abundance it appears and neither utilities, authorities or the city council could handle it.

Ten years ago it was a quieter town but now it is best enjoyed during the week and off season or on the outskirts in Coson or Portillo.
modaisky1971
Yes, we are planning already for next year to head to Santo Domingo and make a mini trip out of it. 
Again, I was prepared to be hearing loud music etc., but was just amazed at the disrespect for police, and road rules, trash, tearing up of the beach by vehicles, etc.  If it was more traditional music and more mature people, I would have loved to participate in the festivities, but I was afraid to leave the house :-(
DRVisitor
I was just asking about this in another thread. Is it same every year? Or worse this year?
Guest2022
8 years ago Semana Santa in Las Terrenas was far from pleasant. The town has narrow roads and they clog up quickly.

After two years of covid19 it appears the inflow was huge over the past few days. Add the rain and the garbage which got washed into the sea next to the burnt down Fishersmans Village as has happens regularly and with cars driving and getting stuck on the beach to get along the road to Playa Las Ballenas, it got reported as very bad.

But it was probaly a tad worse than normal.

Not a great venue for Easter unless you like stationary traffic, go for the concert, crowds, the Punta Popi canvas bars and eateries, drunken bedlam and a modicum of sleep.

I stayed a Thursday one year as the party began and that was wild, then hit the road Friday to Padre Las Casas and the mountains of Azua.
Guest2022
It was probably much better prior to the Atlantic Boulevard being opened which made access fron SD quicker and so avoiding the winding road from Sanchez. But my French colleague from 8 years ago still relocated to Rio San Juan every Semana Santa. I recall visiting Restaurant Luiz in 2008 in another location on Coson Beach to where it is now using the windy narrow road you can still see at Coson alongside the new road which was under construction then

I suspect the best days for Las Terrenas are in the past.
olgaglenn

[at]lennoxnev Do you live in Las Terrenas?

Guest2022
Lived there 24/7 for almost 2.5 years and in various parts of the town. Worked there for longer. Started visiting from 2008 and still do and I live just over an hour away.

Not so upto date as Rocky and ddmcghee but reckon their advice on LT is first rate.

I still believe Playa Coson still has massive potential but needs out of town facilities and it is time for development to begin at Playa El Moron to ease the over capacity problems. I am doubtful the golf course and alternate road in will ever happen and solve traffic issues.

I doubt if I would recommend anybody living on Playa Las Ballenas anymore (I did for over a year) because it was and now is a worse dead end traffic plug when locals are in town.

As for 27th, if the ocean doesn't wash it away, it at least has various ways in and out.

I guess if the local weekend and holiday visitors can tolerate the traffic jambs of Santo Domingo then the traffic blockages of Las Terrenas are small fry.
Guest2022
Mayor of Las Terrenas: "we cannot continue investing important resources to collect garbage"


After the Easter holiday Las Terrenas, Samaná, once again became a 'garbage dump', a fact that was captured on camera and quickly went viral on social networks, to which the mayor said The people responded: "We cannot continue investing economic and important resources to collect the garbage that a citizen must put in a place."

In the central interview of El Despertador , Mayor Eduardo Esteban Polanco explained that despite the fact that the authorities were prepared to face any eventuality in the Holy Week, "there are things that at that time of the morning get out of hand."

"When you have an overflow of visitors, as is the case, we prepare ourselves to face those things, during the day and at night we carried out operations that we maintained throughout Holy Week, but there are things that at that time of the morning escape you. hands, just like two unscrupulous people who used their vehicles on our beaches and we condemn the action," said Polanco.

He added that in the 25 km of beach that Las Terrenas has and with people under the influence of alcohol at that hour of the morning, "it is very difficult for one to have a concrete plan that can fully try to avoid these actions."

He stressed that the video circulating on the networks about the pile of garbage after a night of partying, was recorded "before the cleaning brigade arrived."

RockyM
Lived there 24/7 for almost 2.5 years and in various parts of the town. Worked there for longer. Started visiting from 2008 and still do and I live just over an hour away.

Not so upto date as Rocky and ddmcghee but reckon their advice on LT is first rate.

I still believe Playa Coson still has massive potential but needs out of town facilities and it is time for development to begin at Playa El Moron to ease the over capacity problems. I am doubtful the golf course and alternate road in will ever happen and solve traffic issues.

I doubt if I would recommend anybody living on Playa Las Ballenas anymore (I did for over a year) because it was and now is a worse dead end traffic plug when locals are in town.

As for 27th, if the ocean doesn't wash it away, it at least has various ways in and out.

I guess if the local weekend and holiday visitors can tolerate the traffic jambs of Santo Domingo then the traffic blockages of Las Terrenas are small fry.
- [at]lennoxnev
Agreed. Just outside the town lines in Coson or maybe Barbacoa is the only place I would consider living in LT. Judging by this board and the number of people we talk to in person LT is just getting more popular. It is a fairly desirable place now but I fear overcrowding and further traffic issues in the future.
Coson does need a bit of additional "local flavor" in the form of restaurants and such. We drive into town for everything.
ftmenard
I am a US citizen and I planning to apply for RD permanent resident due to the fact that I will purchase an apartment upon retirement. What is the procedure to apply for residency in DR?
Tripp789
[at]ftmenard

It is quite involved. Much work needs to be done in the USA, and then you have to visit a DR consulate in the US to begin the process.  You will also have to visit the DR within a certain time period after submittal and then again after approval

We just got ours, and I highly recommend using a DR lawyer for guidance   Lishali Báez has an account on Expat.com.  She helped us and made it pretty easy. 

Good luck!
planner
Its not as simple as.buying an apartment. That by itself does not qualify you. Reach out to Lishali for help.  Her phone and WhatsApp: +1 809-860-1231

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