Puerto Plata

[Charles Pooter]

... recommendations from Lifestyles work also.

Lifestyles offer tremendous bargains from time to time, only to foreigners, that is, you cannot book them from the DR. Try and get on their mailing list. The downside is you have to attend a presentation on time-shares but that is a small price to pay for saving hundreds of dollars. (I don't know how they force residents to attend the presentations, but obviously they do have a method).

[Henley100]

Hey, on my next trip I'm probably do an all-inclusive with just one chica. Trying something different. Most likely at Playa Dorada, but recommendations from Lifestyles work also. I'm looking for a nice place, well maintained or recently remodeled. More luxurious, quiet and intimate, rather than a huge place with loud shows and tons of activities. I'd rather it cater to couples rather than families.

I was really liking Casa Colonial. Seemed perfect until I saw it wasn't all-inclusive. It was then too pricey.

Thanks, any help would be appreciated.

[Nordico]

And ready to charge you high price.

So worried about other people's wallets. Living on a tight budget?

[Manizales911]

And ready to charge you high price.

Not charging ME a high price amigo because I haven't stepped foot in the place in 5 plus years, they cater to tourists, I'm not a tourist I live here. The owner Lino also owns a restaurant and I will patronize it as it is one of the best on the north coast.

[Grub1]

Cristal's never closed, it is still open.

And ready to charge you high price.

[Tempoecorto]

Those were the days!

I enjoyed the stories recounted here between the three of you and yours in particular, even though I do not know anything of the characters or of the locales, mostly. Somehow, it appeals to me more than the "so-called" boots on the ground posts. I also enjoyed the tale told in the Boca Chica segment. Keep it up and thanks.

[Boriman]

Charles,

It was great reading your report. I most likely misspelled some of the places.

Principe was up a side road. Once you walked in there was a center stage and the bar was located to your left. I got a kick out of the place eventhough some of the chicas were trying to shake me down. The salida was about DOP 700. The place reminded me of some big barn that they converted over.

Galacticos was quite dark and unlike the Canadians I went with I never allowed the chicas to surround me and my back was always to the wall. I have to laugh at myself. I was so bold that as soon as I entered the place I saw three very attractive chicas. I ordered all of them to stand up and as soon as they did so I picked the middle one, Jennifer, and told her that she was going to spend the night with me. I was surprised that she was not offended. I had a great several days with her. I regret having lost touch with her.

The place was called Mangu. When I went there with Jennifer all the AI guys were checking her out.

The problem with El Boheme is that the chica always looked good from afar but once you get close enough you see what the makeup was trying to conceal from afar. This explains why the place was always dark. I would never pick up a chica from there and my friend did actually pick one up who looked good in the light.

The chicas were definitely bored in the place.

Mountainview always had good looking talent, when I used to go there.

I thought Bombas was just inside the gate of Costambar but I could be wrong, since it was so long ago. When I went there I thought that Its' biggest problem was that it was trying to attract tourist, or gringo, business yet was too Latino. It was crowded, with loud music, and I got the setup but the group I was with didn't get it. They did not like it at all.

La Choza and Babilon! Now you really make me laugh. I also went to La Cubanita, Longbeach, Escape, and Crescent Moon.

Frannie, I first met Frank at Blackbeards, before he opened Ana Miriams. Even then he looked frail. If I am correct he was a heavy drinker and smoker at the time. I always got the impression that Ana was still playing the field, even after hooking up with Frank. He appeared and sounded like a very good businessman yet I think he depended too much on Ana for the cultural aspects. He needed to have more street smarts. He was great with mongers and a good host but to do business he needed more of a grasp of the Dominican way of doing things. Ana was always good with the chicas and a good snake oil salesman. I could never really trust her and something tells me that Frank shouldn't have either.

I would be shocked if Frank is still alive.

[Frannie]

It was, and still is, called "Ana Mirian" after Frank's beautiful young wife. The paperwork was in her name (safer because she was a RD citizen). It was not apparent to me but she was a drug addict and died of an associated illness. The reason Frank closed is that the landlords forced him out. They saw how well it was doing, and in typical dumbass Dominican fashion thought they could do the same. They lost all his gringo clientele (who were the big spenders) within two / three months by overcharging, bait-and-switch of chicas, etc. It remained open but is deserted these days.

Those were the days! I knew Frank and Ana Mirian quite well a while back, I guess it must be more than ten years ago now, including the time when they were running the club, but I eventually lost touch. In fact Frank was the second non Dominican person I met in the DR on my maiden voyage to the DR, and Ana Mirian was a Blackbeard's girl, and I went to their wedding on a later visit, and gave them a picture frame from the old Messons store as a wedding gift. My understanding, from what Frank told me, was that she was eventually diagnosed with a resistant form of TB, but that might not have been the whole story, and TB can be a factor in other disorders of immunity. I know he spent a fortune on medical treatment for her.

I spent some time at the club with Frank, and the impression I had was that the business was not making much, or very little money, since he was loaning out funds to girls who were hard up and some of the girls hardly every got salidas, while a small number of girls were taken almost every day. Bell curve and all that. Frank kept a spreadsheet of the salidas and made graphs from it. There were, of course, problems with pilfering by employees and crates of beer could disappear out of the back door like nobody's business, liquor bottles get diluted, and so on. Although Dominican guys would come into the club and drink, they almost never salidad the girls. A salida was 500 pesos. Frank was kind enough to once give me two girls for a threesome on the house. The two girls had traveled together to Spain on a 6-month contract doing what Domincan chicas do in Spain, and they were planning to go back for another tour. About 20 girls lived and slept in the upstairs rooms in the club, sharing one shower and maybe two toilets, and it must have cost quite a bit to feed them.

Ana Mirian was quite good at recruiting girls from the La Vega area, as I recall. Frank had an apartment on the Malecon at Puerto Plata Beach Club that was just in the right place to catch the breeze. We once went swimming in the pool there with half a dozen girls from the club. The water was very tepid, so it must have been July or August. Frank would regularly invite a few girls from the club over to swim and have a home cooked meal during the day time. Later he build a home in a rather isolated spot just outside Charamicos and was subject to no less than 5 home invasions within a short period of time. I don't know what happened after that. Nice guy, but he was a very heavy smoker and his health seemed pretty shaky.

[Charles Pooter]

I am dating myself since it was many years ago ...

Indeed, no practical use to our current membership. I just wanted to wallow in nostalgia. Thanks for indulging me.

'The Principe,' 'Mountainview,' 'Crystals,' 'Galaxy', the bar 'Hemingways', the all inclusive disco near Hemingways, later 'Ana Marias,' (naming these places makes me feel like an old man and a relic), some local bar near 'Principe' that had a couple of chicas you could take upstairs but I do not recall the name.

Was Principe the one up a side-road not far from the Zona Franca?

Mountain View used to be crawling with putas, but I arrived here at the very end of its glory days.

Cristals has always stayed open and seems to me unchanged from ten years ago.

I do not know a "Galaxy". Was that what I knew as Galacticos? Pitch-black inside? Half-way down the road to the port? Later changed to another name in Spanish meaning something like "smallholder" but I cannot remember what. More important was that they let the daylight in so you could see the chicas and lowered the prices. I used to rotate three favorites from there. 7's but GFE all-night. CIM and (in one case) anal, all for 2500. So I never bothered with Cristal or El Bohen.

I never knew Hemingway's was a pick-up place. The disco near Hemingway was (I think) Mangu. I paid to take three Blackbeards girls there, but once inside they dropped me and pursued more affluent prey from the AIs.

My buddy picked up a chica at El Boheme. An 8 in the looks department yet a dud in bed.

There were many attractive, even beautiful, putas there but all looked bored and pallid. I suspected drugs, but perhaps it was just the lighting or that they used skin-lightening cream. My friends and I never felt a good vibe there. It was like a movie where the good guys stumble on a bar patronized by vampires.

One of the chicas at Blackbeards (Cathy, no longer there) used to work at Crystals.

I have been on the North Coast long enough to have seen the same girls pop up in numerous venues. They slap on a mass of make-up in Cristals, charge double the price but get a quarter as many customers. Then try their luck at FoD or in Sosua.

Ana Marias changed hands because Frank, the original owner (with his wife) was getting sick of running the place so he gave it up. The place was eventually closed.

It was, and still is, called "Ana Mirian" after Frank's beautiful young wife. The paperwork was in her name (safer because she was a RD citizen). It was not apparent to me but she was a drug addict and died of an associated illness. The reason Frank closed is that the landlords forced him out. They saw how well it was doing, and in typical dumbass Dominican fashion thought they could do the same. They lost all his gringo clientele (who were the big spenders) within two / three months by overcharging, bait-and-switch of chicas, etc. It remained open but is deserted these days.

Thinking about it there was also that place in or near Costambar called, I think, Bomba. The place also closed down.

Do you mean that huge place just outside the gates? On my first DR trip I got tangled with a chica there and had to ask Blackbeards to bail me out. Very humiliating. It had closed by my second trip.

I had a driver take me and two Canadians to some local, outdoor spots, but the names of these places I do not remember.

There was La Choza, a thatched-roof bar on the main road near the entrada to Costambar. Very friendly atmosphere there but I never took a chica once in a dozen visits. The place backed onto a cow pasture and usually stank of cow-shit. It had a shrine for santeria in back, which was interesting.

Then there was El Ferry, on the main road leading out of Pto Pta. Run by an English woman. Like so many places, the music was at ear-splitting volumes.

And Babilon (now the'Esteban) on the main road near the Padre de Casas crossroads. What I did not like was the girls were not on show. You had to ask for them to get dressed and come out. I never like that because, being an English gentleman, I then feel obligated at least to tip them. I once went there with a gringo newbie. By that time I had gone over to the dark side and rarely messed with dominicanas, We were just leaving when a very young Haitian (as I thought) entered. When I immediately proposed to take her he started whingeing that he could never find a nice chica. Being an English gentleman (or have I already mentioned that?) I gave him first option on her, planning to return for her next day. He fell in love with her and paid a sizable amount to buy out her "contract" there. Of course he got swindled, but had the last laugh as they were still together (last I heard) after five years or more. She is a sweet-natured stunner and has learned English. She is of Cocolo descent and hates being called "Haitian".

Other places were Yellowbeards and a late-night place near the harbor where all the putas from Pto Pta who had not pulled that night ended up in a last desperate attempt. Obviously there were bargains to be had but I have never kept those sorts of hours. Dominican Billy liked it and kept their bar busy.
Another place was the carwash just off the main road at the turn-off for San Marco. I liked it because you could avoid the worst of the music by sitting outside in the little shelters beside the car park but still watch the chicas and the locals dancing bachata.

Not long before my first trip Puerto Plata was the main venue for mongers, but Sosua had already overtaken it 10/12 years ago and most of the places mentioned are long gone or are shadows of their former selves.

[Manizales911]

My understanding is that Crystals closed down.

Cristal's never closed, it is still open.

[Boriman]

Just out of interest, what were your favorite "next spots"?

I am dating myself since it was many years ago but 'The Principe,' 'Mountainview,' 'Crystals,' 'Galaxy,' the bar 'Hemmingways,' the all inclusive disco near Hemmingways, later 'Ana Marias,' (naming these places makes me feel like an old man and a relic), some local bar near 'Principe' that had a couple of chicas you could take upstairs but I do not recall the name.

My buddy picked up a chica at El Boheme. An 8 in the looks department yet a dud in bed.

I never did like Crystals but did pick up a chica there. A waste of time and I only paid her half after doing her for a short period. She was a real pain. One of the chicas at Blackbeards (Cathy, no longer there) used to work at Crystals after finishing work at Blackbeards. She knew the chica and we talked about her. Crystals was overpriced and, as usual, price is no indication of quality.

Galaxy was my favorite pick up spot but it no longer exists due to shoot outs over drugs. I met a Jennifer there. I was wifed up with her for three days. A real cutie. The salida was cheaper than at Crystals yet Jennifer was great company.

My understanding is that Crystals closed down. Ana Marias changed hands because Frank, the original owner (with his wife) was getting sick of running the place so he gave it up. The place was eventually closed. I do not know what happened to the other venues. I am guessing that many of them no longer exist.

Thinking about it there was also that place in or near Costambar called, I think, Bomba. The place also closed down.

I had a driver take me and two Canadians to some local, outdoor spots, but the names of these places I do not remember.

[Charles Pooter]

I am surprised that after so many years that the place is still open.

Not so much "still open" as "recently reopened" after several years closed, although they did briefly re-open as "The Coconut Lounge" (or some such name) a few years back. Previously very much aimed at affluent Dominicans. It was where local politicos and businessmen took visitors to the city, but now probably hoping to attract cruzeros as well.

Never stayed long and then moved on to the next spot.

Just out of interest, what were your favorite "next spots"?

[Boriman]

..."Boheime Night Club" and a drawing of a girl on stripper pole... inquired with the doorman...I asked how much and he wouldn't say...

I am surprised that after so many years that the place is still open. Years ago they were quoting USA $120 for a chulita (cutie). The action has always been overpriced and your mileage will indeed vary. I would only go there for some drinks. Best time to go was usually on Fridays and Saturdays, much later in the night. When we usually did the Puerto Plata rounds this would be one of the stops. Never stayed long and then moved on to the next spot.

[Parkinsons]

Did some sight-seeing in Puerto Plata. After leaving the Fort, driving Southwest on Avenida Colon, I passed a big ass blue metal gate with a sign that says "Boheime Night Club" and a drawing of a girl on stripper pole. So I stopped and inquired with the doorman. He said they were open (this was around 3 in the afternoon), and there were girls available. I asked how much and he wouldn't say, told me to go in and check out the girls. I moved on.

[RocheBrazi]

Maybe you were at ocean world Disco. Because ocean world is Close tu lhvc.

There seems to be a new Disco in pp https://www.facebook.com/marottediscoclub/.

I will check it out on my may vacacions. Don't know if there are many Gringos. But it does not look like a cheap barrio Disco. From the Fotos it does not look loke a typical drink where you meet cueros and the camareras are disponible for a salida. But I wasnt there personaly. So I am not 100% sure. Only saying from the Fotos it Looks a bit more exclusive in a nonmonger way LOL.

Can anyone help me with something? I remember awhile back staying at Lifestyle Holiday Vacation Club and visiting a pretty clean cut dance club pretty close to there. I can't remember if it was on the LHVC property or just off of it. It was a pretty decent place and had A / see and a bar and was full of hotties on vacation. Looking to take a civilian girl there and trying to keep her away from the hobbying crowd. Any suggestions? Am I off base here?