Sosua Reports

[Frannie]

Tip, tax, it's the same in my book. I paid an airport use tax on my ticket so I consider this redundant. Unless this tax pays for the dudes playing Merengue on arrival. Then I guess it's ok.

No it is a tax that goes to central government, not to the guys who play the tunes. Most people would regard $10 per passenger as excessive for a tip for those guys who play the same few bars as each tourist approaches and shake a hat for pennies. The tourist tax is only payed on arrival, but the bachata band guys play on both arrivals and departures. Mostly they collect on departures because people give them the small change pesos they got stuck with in the duty free shop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWdUTTOiFD0

The reason the tax is not included in your ticket price is that natural born or naturalized Dominicans do not have to pay it and the airlines can't make that determination.

Here in Florida if we buy a computer online from Tiger Direct which is based in Florida, we have to pay an extra 7% sales tax plus variable county taxes, but people who order from out of state don't have to pay it unless they live in a handful of other states that charge various rates of sales tax. See how this works? Not everyone pays the same price. It is a bit similar to that business with the tourist tax in the DR. Some people are exempt from paying it. Of course some people cheat by various manoeuvers, for example mailing something to a friend who lives just over the border in Georgia. Such is life.

The rest of your report was excellent, by the way.

[Phuquer]

It is not a tip. It is a tax.

Tip, tax, it's the same in my book. I paid an airport use tax on my ticket so I consider this redundant. Unless this tax pays for the dudes playing Merengue on arrival. Then I guess it's ok.

[Frannie]

Of course you arent sure. But one doesn't have to be sure, just aware that enough individuals in the DR own and carry expensive phones. So there is no reason to be all paranoid over bringing ones phone or other gadgets with them on vacation as if nobody else in the DR has the same stuff.

Thats just an asinine statement not worth addressing.

I think it's quite apparent people can chose either option. However for those individuals who arent easily swayed by vets with an agenda, they don't have to fear carrying and using their equipment while on vacation. Especially when enough chicas are walking around owning and carrying phones they don't want to lose either. The key issue here is, if you choose to bring your equipment on vacation, do so but don't do obvious stupid shit.

Any item left out in the open will garner the wrong type of attention. It doesn't have to be an expensive item. The key is to secure anything you value. If you don't need your phone or any other item while out of your spot / hotel, then leave it in your spot and / or lock it up.

The mere fact a person on vacation is there spending money, living in a hotel, can attract the interest of the wrong kind. You don't need an expensive item for that to happen. Whatever it is you are trying to deflect from, the bottom line is, it is not asinine to spend money on an expensive phone, nor is it to carry and use one while on vacation in the DR. If one chooses to leave their phone home, so be it. No shame in that. I still have a iphone 3gs that I used when I 1st came to Sosua. That was the expensive phone at that time. And yet I still have it. Same with my 1st gen ipad. Now with all that wrong kind of interest all around me, I should have had the shit stolen by now. But I don't live by individuals that say the sky is falling because they want to be an authority for the masses. I simply use basic common sense when it comes to anything, especially stuff in my possession. Most people losing stuff to theft is through not being aware of the company they keep or not securing their stuff. Issues I have not have had problems with since 2008 when I 1st started going to the DR.

Well, I would not bring a $700 laptop, wristwatch, phone, camera, piece of jewelry, or a $700 anything else if I was planning to spend a few days screwing chicas in Sosua. Maybe that makes me eccentric.

The valuables that you can't avoid bringing are your passport, driver's license, cash, and a debit or credit card, and managing these items and not losing them is all the stress I want.

The percentage of people carrying the latest model $700 phones in the DR is much, much lower than in the US. Of course chicas value their phones, but hardly any have the latest $700 models, and even so they often have their phones stolen or lose them. Phones are particularly vulnerable because people carry them with them, place them on restaurant tables, lay them down to wash their hands, have sex, etc. They can fall out of pants pockets when sitting down in taxis.

I have no particular agenda. I just want guys to have happy and safe trips and great sex.

[Frannie]

That's what the guy told me and that is what I will try the next time around. I love to tip. I tip the waiters and waitresses in the bars and restaurants, I tip the cab drivers. I tip the service staff in the hotel. But I hate being forced to pay a tip to enter just because I was not born there.

It is not a tip. It is a tax.

[Phuquer]

If you are born in the DR and have a US passport you do not pay for the 10 tourist Visa. I have a family member that was born in the DR has dual citizenship and no DR passport. He does not pay to enter only travels on his US passport.

That's what the guy told me and that is what I will try the next time around. I love to tip. I tip the waiters and waitresses in the bars and restaurants, I tip the cab drivers. I tip the service staff in the hotel. But I hate being forced to pay a tip to enter just because I was not born there.

[Cagep1967]

In 2009 a passport agent stamp my passport then pointed down to a note that said something like " Today is my birthday, can can you give me 100 pesos". She had the note out of site of everyone else. It was written in english. I just took my passport and kept it moving.

In 2008 I had a passport agent befriend me for nothing. Then occasionally she would give me money to buy somethings in the duty free. Never really asked me for anything. If she saw me in the line she would bring me to the head of the line.

Sadly she no longer works there.

[Cagep1967]

Phuquer, excellent informative report with one exception. Advising people to lie to the first "official" you meet in the DR just to save 10 bucks is just plain wrong. Besides, regardless of what the guy told you, in order to enter without paying for a tourist card you must be a citizen which means you must enter on a Dominican passport.

-

If you look Hispanic, can pass for Hispanic, or can speak decent Spanish, try telling him 'Yo naci en la Capital'. He asked me if I was born here and my instinctive response was to say I was not. I paid the $10 then asked him if I said I was would he let me pass. He said he would have taken me on my word. Next time I'll try not to pay.

If you are born in the DR and have a US passport you do not pay for the 10 tourist Visa. I have a family member that was born in the DR has dual citizenship and no DR passport. He does not pay to enter only travels on his US passport.

[Mr Enternational]

Reminds me of an older guy a while back who said he has never had a cell phone and can't understand why others own them. I'm sitting wih a chica in La Sirena in San Francisco and there is a table full of people playing with expensive devices.

[MrJamel]

Will be in Sosua April 4th. Flying into Santiago and taking the bus to Sosua. Is this considered low season now? I didn't book any hotels, I will do that when I get there. I'm hoping this is low season so there should be an abundance of rooms available. Any input would be appreciated concerning hotels during that time.

Thanks guys!

[Charles Pooter]

No secret, but 99% of mongers seem to manage it OK. Alcoholics, racists, loud-mouths, exhibitionists, drug-takers, bullies, and the terminally stupid will usually find trouble eventually.

My tips to improve the odds in Sosua (cannot speak for other locations) :

1) Avoid "the Strip" after 11. 30pm. Pretty harmless before then. That area attracts all the scum of the island, and a lot of scum from abroad.

2) Choose haitianas rather than dominicanas all other factors being equal.

3) If you have to drink, do it by daylight. By "drink", I mean in amounts which might affect your judgment. A couple of Cuba libres just to be sociable never hurt anyone.

4) Have as little contact with Dominicans as possible. I mean those who try to attach themselves to you or offer "help".

Except for perhaps No. 3 this is the worst advice I have ever seen. If you have to follow these rules why go to Sosua at all. I love Sosua but I couldn't if I followed these rules.

Fair comment, Bimmy. I am sure 99% of guys have a good time in Sosua without following all my advice, and 90% have a good time without following any of it.

But remember the context in which I posted it. I was replying to someone who was so nervous after reading all the horror stories online that he might not visit the DR at all. Which would be a shame and quite unnecessary. I went way over the top to try and ensure a 99. 9% safe environment for him.

A quicker way would have been to say "go to Blackbeards or Field of Dreams" but from the tone of your post I would imagine you would be the first to agree that he would be missing out on a lot by doing that,

However you have shamed me into modifying my rather smartass and over-casual comments as above in bold.

[Wrx2005]

I am not so sure that the average business person in the DR has an expensive phone. When I have seen them with smart phones, they are usually the cheaper models, and anyway if you have the really expensive ones insurance is available including for robbery.

Of course you arent sure. But one doesn't have to be sure, just aware that enough individuals in the DR own and carry expensive phones. So there is no reason to be all paranoid over bringing ones phone or other gadgets with them on vacation as if nobody else in the DR has the same stuff.

Anyway if you are willing to lay down your life for your cell phone, then good luck with that, and you won't be the first.

Thats just an asinine statement not worth addressing.

People are asking how to avoid these kind of catastrophes in the DR. Yes, one method of risk management is to lock up your valuable stuff carefully, but another is simply don't bring it down in the first place, thus sidestepping the whole issue.

I think it's quite apparent people can chose either option. However for those individuals who arent easily swayed by vets with an agenda, they don't have to fear carrying and using their equipment while on vacation. Especially when enough chicas are walking around owning and carrying phones they don't want to lose either. The key issue here is, if you choose to bring your equipment on vacation, do so but don't do obvious stupid shit.

Any item left out in the open will garner the wrong type of attention. It doesn't have to be an expensive item. The key is to secure anything you value. If you don't need your phone or any other item while out of your spot / hotel, then leave it in your spot and / or lock it up.

Yes, you can bring your $700 phone if it is essential for whatever you need, or if the amount of money sunk in the phone is not significant to you, but just be aware that it is likely to attract interest of the wrong kind.

The mere fact a person on vacation is there spending money, living in a hotel, can attract the interest of the wrong kind. You don't need an expensive item for that to happen. Whatever it is you are trying to deflect from, the bottom line is, it is not asinine to spend money on an expensive phone, nor is it to carry and use one while on vacation in the DR. If one chooses to leave their phone home, so be it. No shame in that. I still have a iphone 3gs that I used when I 1st came to Sosua. That was the expensive phone at that time. And yet I still have it. Same with my 1st gen ipad. Now with all that wrong kind of interest all around me, I should have had the shit stolen by now. But I don't live by individuals that say the sky is falling because they want to be an authority for the masses. I simply use basic common sense when it comes to anything, especially stuff in my possession. Most people losing stuff to theft is through not being aware of the company they keep or not securing their stuff. Issues I have not have had problems with since 2008 when I 1st started going to the DR.

[Phuquer]

Manizales911, you're probably right. But I did mention that I did have a US passport and he said it didn't matter. He was the one that told me that I should have said I was born there.

[Manizales911]

Phuquer, excellent informative report with one exception. Advising people to lie to the first "official" you meet in the DR just to save 10 bucks is just plain wrong. Besides, regardless of what the guy told you, in order to enter without paying for a tourist card you must be a citizen which means you must enter on a Dominican passport.

-

If you look Hispanic, can pass for Hispanic, or can speak decent Spanish, try telling him 'Yo naci en la Capital'. He asked me if I was born here and my instinctive response was to say I was not. I paid the $10 then asked him if I said I was would he let me pass. He said he would have taken me on my word. Next time I'll try not to pay.

[Riky Rapido]

Was she hot? LOL

To find an ally at the airport, that's like about 2 bucks, cheap, and you'll get a killer smile, don't forget to leave the name of the hotel where you are at, maybe a sister or cousin will show up, then another bit of advice: on the street make eye contact, bingo, a telephone # and name, my address book is unending, so many, so little time. And pesos

[Riky Rapido]

If you are a 50 plus guy who wants to have sex with attractive young girls look no further. For thirty dollars they will rock your world. If you really try you can not have a good time I think. There is a constant flow of new women.

I'm nearly 70 and the chicas here can't get enough of me!