Santo Domingo

From Mr. Enternational, instructions on using the internet with Claro on a smart phone, [url]http://www.internationalsexguide.info/forum/showthread.php?611-General-Info&p=1251195&viewfull=1#post1251195[/url]

"When I stopped in at a Claro store in Santiago to recharge my minutes the guy there taught me to add internet from my phone. And I shall pass this very valuable information along (remember it will subtract the amount of pesos you want for your internet plan from the credit you already have on your phone) :

1. Dial *111# Send.

2. On the menu that comes up select "2 Servicios Opcionales" and Send.

3. Select "2 Blackberry Prepago" and Send. (It does not matter what type of phone you have."Blackberry" is pretty much the generic term for a smartphone in DR.

4. Select "1 Comprar paquete" and Send.

5. Select "1 Full" and Send.

6. Chose how many days you want. (As I said it is best to do 1.) And Send.

7. It will ask if you are sure that you want to buy your package. Select "1 Si" and Send.

8. You will now get a message saying that you have purchased "xyz" and you are ready to use the internet on your phone.

Plans:

200MB 1 day 50 pesos.

350MB 3 days 150 pesos.

700MB 7 days 325 pesos.

1. 5GB 15 days 675 pesos.

3GB 30 days 1375 pesos.

5GB 60 days 2250 pesos "

Good info Jaosousa, one thing: you always need to watch for with out for these plans is that your phone doesn't stop downloading data when your plan runs out. So either take a plan that suits your total stay, top up on time or turn off data use before your plane expires, because if you don't, your plan runs out (you get an sms when you buy the plan with an exact expiration time) and it depletes all your credit very fast. Had this a couple of times in the Phillipines. Once your without a plan, data cost go through the roof and your credit is gone. Even with the plan activated you get messages saying how much you consumed. 3000 pesos here 4000 pesos there, however you don't get charged because your in the prepaid plan. Price of 1meg is higher then one chica if you are without a plan.

I think these prices quoted are excluding tax, I paid 192 for the 3 day, so it looks like 26+% is added somewhere.

With and android or iphone you can even use MSN on the road and stay in contact with the chicas, the all seem to have a data plan. In Europe we also use app's like Whatsapp or Viber, but they don't seem to have cought on here quite yet.

DB.

[QUOTE=Jaosousa; 1251205]From Mr. Enternational, instructions on using the internet with Claro on a smart phone,

[url]http://www.internationalsexguide.info/forum/showthread.php?611-General-Info&p=1251195&viewfull=1#post1251195[/url]

"When I stopped in at a Claro store in Santiago to recharge my minutes the guy there taught me to add internet from my phone. And I shall pass this very valuable information along (remember it will subtract the amount of pesos you want for your internet plan from the credit you already have on your phone) :

1. Dial *111# Send.

2. On the menu that comes up select "2 Servicios Opcionales" and Send.

3. Select "2 Blackberry Prepago" and Send. (It does not matter what type of phone you have."Blackberry" is pretty much the generic term for a smartphone in DR.

4. Select "1 Comprar paquete" and Send.

5. Select "1 Full" and Send.

6. Chose how many days you want. (As I said it is best to do 1.) And Send.

7. It will ask if you are sure that you want to buy your package. Select "1 Si" and Send.

8. You will now get a message saying that you have purchased "xyz" and you are ready to use the internet on your phone.

Plans:

200MB 1 day 50 pesos.

350MB 3 days 150 pesos.

700MB 7 days 325 pesos.

1. 5GB 15 days 675 pesos.

3GB 30 days 1375 pesos.

5GB 60 days 2250 pesos "[/QUOTE]

well i don't intend to download any movies using my phone, but for your average sending pics to friends, facebook, msn, and most important: google maps it works excellent. you can just instruct your taxi driver where he needs to take a turn, because they seem to be pretty clueless most of the time.

coverage in st domingo has been excellent sofar, i see an h+ (sdpa) most of the time and sometimes a 3g. with thetering enabled i can use my laptop to go online through the phone, and don't depend on the hotel wifi, you never know what kind of keyloggers they have installed in the hotel network. will let you know about my experience in the rest of the country later.

[quote=jaosousa; 1250969]thanks for the info.

good speed? good coverage? easy to use with a smart phone? you can add more days online at claro's website with a bank or debit card?[/quote]

Today deciced to get some breakfast at the Manolos place around 2pm, the place tries to look upscale, for the area it is in, mainly tourist eating there and some 'look at me I'm eating at manolos' Dominicas.

Prices are pretty inflated at Manolos but for the most important meal of the day, my eggs, I don't really mind paying US diner prices. However.

Got some coke and egg's total damage 330 pesos, they also give a price in USD. 8 something if I remember. I putt a 1000 bill in the black thingy, I like to break those 1000 bills up as much as I can.

I'm waiting and waiting, then the waiter comes back with 160 pesos. They shorted me 500 pesos, so I call my waiter amigo back."olvidas algo' I told him, and 3 seconds later my missing 500 shows up. His excuse that the register lady fucked up. Yeah right.

I heared the night time staff doesn't pull this shit, however, I will never find out.

DB

[QUOTE=Donbernardo; 1251253]Today deciced to get some breakfast at the Manolos place around 2pm, the place tries to look upscale, for the area it is in, mainly tourist eating there and some 'look at me I'm eating at manolos' Dominicas.

Prices are pretty inflated at Manolos but for the most important meal of the day, my eggs, I don't really mind paying US diner prices. However.

Got some coke and egg's total damage 330 pesos, they also give a price in USD. 8 something if I remember. I putt a 1000 bill in the black thingy, I like to break those 1000 bills up as much as I can.

I'm waiting and waiting, then the waiter comes back with 160 pesos. They shorted me 500 pesos, so I call my waiter amigo back."olvidas algo' I told him, and 3 seconds later my missing 500 shows up. His excuse that the register lady fucked up. Yeah right.

I heared the night time staff doesn't pull this shit, however, I will never find out.

DB[/QUOTE]One block up Pasteur from Independencia, make a left and about 20 feet from the corner is a recommended restaurant, with meals around 200-300 pesos, I believe a french guy married to a dominicana operates the place. I have never eaten there, but have been told it is very good for the money. Going further up pasteur there will be a sushi ya restaurant on the left side of pasteur (supposedly good sushi) and around the corner from that sushi place is a pizza hut that does deliveries, as well as take out.

Villar Hernanos on the corner of pasteur and independencia is a very busy place (villar hernanos also own the water filtration bottling building next door to hotel mystik) , they sell sandwiches, hot food (to eat there or take out) , bakery, fried pastry type things with meat or vegetables inside, ground coffee) , prices are reasonable at villar hernanos.

Adrian Tropical on the water (malecon) about a block west from the Marriott Renaissance Jaragua Hotel and Casino, is open 24/7. Nice restaurant in a nice setting, not cheap.

26% in taxes on most restaurant and hotel bills increases the price considerably.

Manolos is convenient late at night, has parking for cars at the hotel riazor, well lit, safe location late at night.

The new park on the Malecon (sand volleyball and small sand soccer pitch) , gets busy with people hanging out.

Bocanegra bar (20 feet from hotel conde de penalbe) gets a higher end crowd some nights, there appears to be another new bar about 20 feet north of bocanegra bar. Onno bar can be fun, about 70 feet south of hotel mercure.

The bars in plaza uris gets some attractive normal women. A chica told me she likes a bar on Tiradentes called something "Drinks". Docks bar in Plaza Acropolis gets some normal chicas. Blue Mall is the newest high end mall, has eye candy from what I have been told.

There are a few attractive streetwalkers on the malecon past lincoln (some walk around with their tits out or will show you or let you feel their body while standing in the street). Seems some of the streetwalkers on the malecon only want to use cabana Queen, which is about 8 minutes away from where the streetwalkers are hanging out. Cabana Queen is not very close. Some streetwalkers at that location on the malecon will not go to your hotel, some may say they don't have a cedula, so be careful. Quoted prices started at 1000 pesos (negotiable).

[QUOTE=Donbernardo;1251243]you never know what kind of keyloggers they have installed in the hotel network.[/QUOTE]I'm always paranoid about keyloggers, but I think it will be difficult to get it by connecting to hotel WiFi, perhaps easier if you connect via cable. Still if your antivirus is up-to-date, firewall activated and you are not sharing any drives it is not easy to get infected.

But please let me know if you have any info on this. Perhaps PM me as this is not the right forum to talk about keyloggers.

I stopped in the Hostal Marina Real about two weeks ago to visit another ISG member. Price per night is around $60US, chica friendly, free wifi. For monthly stays the per night room rate is around $30US per night. This Hotel / Apartment rental building is across the river from zona colonial. The home of Christopher Columbus' son, Diego Colon can be seen from the terrace (building with the arches, Alcazar de Colon). A small cruise ship, with what appeared to be mostly European passengers was docked in the small harbor across from the the Hostal Marina Real. Avenida Espana is up the hill from this hotel. Parking lot is tight, secured. There are pros on avenida espana.

I saw hotel aquarium for the first time this trip. I arrived on a Sunday and took las americas highway to the exit for charles de gaul and avenida espana. Because it was Sunday afternoon in February, avenida espana was closed to vehicular traffic and I saw people in carnaval costumes. I had to circle back towards las americas highway and I drove by hotel aquarium, seemed like a nice hotel from the outside (one block off avenida espana and close to the exits / entance for las americas and avenida charles de gaul).

The one good thing about taking taxis is that I learn new routes to get to places. One taxi driver took me from the hotel barcelo santo domingo to zona colonial using avenida 27 de febrero. He stayed on 27 de febrero until that avenue split three ways, the left and right lanes went over the bridge, the middle lane is an exit that puts you somewhat close to zona colonial and also close to the pontoon (floating bridge) that you would take to get to Hostal Marina Real.

One young taxi driver from apolo taxi company, with an old Volvo car was pleasant. If you take taxis off the street ask the price before using the taxi. Workers at the Barcelo Santo Domingo Hotel would call Apolo taxi for me and ask them the price and they would be in front of the building within 5 minutes. Popular is another taxi company. When the taxi arrives at your location for a pickup, he will hold up a sign with the name of the taxi company. Some workers at the hotel barcelo santo domingo also asked what color the taxi would be, when they called for me.

[url]http://www.hostalmarinareal.com/[/url]

Arrived SDQ on time. It's been three years since I've been to SD and it felt good to be back. But first I had to go through the typical Dominican introduction bullshit. A big Russian jet pulled into the slot next to our plane so everything was a rush. I saw the Cambio booth next to the10 dollar tourist booth but it was about 60 people in that line. I saw the visitors exit line and it had five people in it. I figured I could slide through unnoticed."Wait Sir, do you have your tourist card reciept? ' Ah Damn! Back at the tourist card booth the line is even longer and moving slow. I get to the front and I see why. One girl is collecting the ten dollars and two girls in the booth are watching her. Plus why in the hell does she ask to see my passport? Do the Dominican authorities think someone would sneak into the airport just to buy a tourist card? Welcome to the Dominican Republic. The best thing about SDQ is after you exit baggage claim there is the long runway with people on both sides. This is my red carpet and two minutes of fame as I strut like I'm Denzel.

I ask how much to Jaragua Casino and they say" 40 dollars" I pull my phone out as a prop and say the hotel will send a cab for 35. I don't mind paying the extra 5usd, but I want that option. The guy say 35 reluctantly. His name is Felix and he speaks English. He takes me by Espana where there is a Carnival on 26 feb. He tells me about two hotels where guys that work there can have girls shipped in for 1500). Anyway I give felix 40 USD and take his number to contact his connections as a option.

Checked into the hotel and went to Lapus and it was 50 fine as girls sitting outside (more on this later) , hit Napolitano terrace for live music (more on this later) , and got a call from Mr E saying meet him at Barra Payan at 10:30. Mr E calls and says the police have taken his drivers permit and they were escorting him to.

Continued in the Gogo forum.

I ate at Manolos today on Gogo's recommendation. I got the chicken and rice and passion fruit juice. It came to a little over 300 pesos with the tax and service charge. I must say it was the best meal that I have had in the past 9 days in the entire country aside from the completas that I have been eating from Barra Payan. I didn't expect it to be as much food as it was. I couldn't even finish it. What you wrote made me laugh because I noticed the clientele was exactly how you described.

[QUOTE=Donbernardo; 1251253]Today deciced to get some breakfast at the Manolos place around 2pm, the place tries to look upscale, for the area it is in, mainly tourist eating there and some 'look at me I'm eating at manolos' Dominicas.

Prices are pretty inflated at Manolos but for the most important meal of the day, my eggs, I don't really mind paying US diner prices. However.

Got some coke and egg's total damage 330 pesos, they also give a price in USD. 8 something if I remember. I putt a 1000 bill in the black thingy, I like to break those 1000 bills up as much as I can.

I'm waiting and waiting, then the waiter comes back with 160 pesos. They shorted me 500 pesos, so I call my waiter amigo back."olvidas algo' I told him, and 3 seconds later my missing 500 shows up. His excuse that the register lady fucked up. Yeah right.

I heared the night time staff doesn't pull this shit, however, I will never find out.

DB[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Uzinuzin; 1251493]I'm always paranoid about keyloggers, but I think it will be difficult to get it by connecting to hotel WiFi, perhaps easier if you connect via cable. Still if your antivirus is up-to-date, firewall activated and you are not sharing any drives it is not easy to get infected.

But please let me know if you have any info on this. Perhaps PM me as this is not the right forum to talk about keyloggers.[/QUOTE]Actually, my radars went up when I read about keylogging and I think many others might be interested in this.

Personally, the small hotels do not have the tech resources to get into this unless it is also a criminal enterprise and big hotels.hopefully they have too much to lose. Nevertheless, the smart thing for a traveler is not to allow things to chance so more information on this subject for me, is most welcome. Thanks in advance.

I was taught not to say nothing if I got nothing good to say. So here what I say about Manolo:

- easy to find.

- some workers can talk to you in English.

- hookers pass by.

- big sized meals.

- close walk from cheap hotels.

I won't say nothing about the food or food handling. Buen provecho!

[QUOTE=Mr Enternational;1251585]I ate at Manolos today on Gogo's recommendation. I got the chicken and rice and passion fruit juice. It came to a little over 300 pesos with the tax and service charge. I must say it was the best meal that I have had in the past 9 days in the entire country aside from the completas that I have been eating from Barra Payan. I didn't expect it to be as much food as it was. I couldn't even finish it. What you wrote made me laugh because I noticed the clientele was exactly how you described.[/QUOTE]

I was on the way to meet Gogo at Barra Payan on night about 9:30. But first I had to make sure my Cupid girl was able to get a ride home. From my understanding I would be dropping her were there were taxis or guaguas or something. Well this girl had me driving all across town. You know if there were only a couple of turns then I could have made it back. But once we passed Av Venezuela I was like wait. Maybe you don't understand that I am not from here and I don't know where the hell I am. She kept saying we are really close but we were nowhere near close. More turns and what not. Meanwhile I'm complaining to her about the shitty streets and there being no lane markings. I finally told her look, you will just have to come to Barra Payan with me and I will give you money for a taxi from there.

So we are on the way to Barra Payan and she really doesn't know where it is. I told her to just get me to the president's house and I know from there. We passed Av. Mexico and I remembered 30 Marzo being off Av. Mexico. But maybe she knew something I didn't. The area looked familiar though because Jao had taken me around and I knew that I was close to the US Embassy. I told the girl that I thought it was the embassy but she said no that is a university.

Just then two Fed police came up beside us on a motorcycle. He was telling me to pull over. I was playing stupid just saying yeah okay but kept driving. They came up beside us again and did the same thing. So I finally pulled over. They were saying that I ran a light and asked for my driver's license. I handed it over and he went back to the motorcycle. That is when I separated my money putting it in my underwear, only keeping 500 pesos accessible in case I needed to hand it over to them.

He came back to the car and I was acting as if I did not speak Spanish. So he was trying to go through my girl saying something like the fine is 1000 pesos because of running a light. He told her that I could understand her. So I was talking in broken Spanish saying yeah this is my amante. She told him that we were looking for the sandwich shop because I had to meet a friend. He kept saying ticket ticket. So I said yeah just give me the ticket and I will go to the embajada manana. This happened a couple of times. I guess he was trying to stall out for me to offer him money. So they finally decided to give us a police escort us to Barra Payan. We followed them. It was about 10 minutes away. I called to let Gogo know what the deal was.

When we arrived he came back to the car still talking about a ticket and hoping to get some money. I told him the same thing. Yeah, just give me the ticket and I go to embajada manana. He finally got frustrated and just gave my license back. Then he said they brought us all the way to Barra Payan, still hoping for money. I shrugged my shoulders and they finally left. I got out of the car laughing my ass off and saw Gogo.

Jao has since informed me that the Federal Police can not issue tickets. Only Amvet can do that. You will see them out and about with neon green vests, a hat, and a ticket book.

[QUOTE=Knowledge; 1251797]I was taught not to say nothing if I got nothing good to say. So here what I say about Manolo:

- easy to find.

- some workers can talk to you in English.

- hookers pass by.

- big sized meals.

- close walk from cheap hotels.

I won't say nothing about the food or food handling. Buen provecho![/QUOTE]I've had the stewed chicken and it is really good, there shakes / fruit juices are fresh as they have a large selection of fruit right in plain view and their cuban sandwiches are great.

Breakfast is way overpriced. Best breakfast for my peso is the all you can eat buffet in the mercure only 250 pesos. I drink that in coffee alone. FYI, you can order an omelet (or any style) if you don't want the steamer tray eggs.

[QUOTE=BoricuaOnline;1249150]I committed the mistake of calling my former favorite chica. She was pissed off because she wanted me to spend my entire trip with me. It is because she liked me a lot. Nah. She was pissed because for sure she wanted the exclusive rights of the money I spend, she went really mad at me when she saw the messages I have in my DR cell phone. We spend a couple of hours in Jaragua casino which looks nicer now and it is cheaper. I remember paying 260 pesos for a 10 oz. Draft beer in old Jaragua Merengue Bar. Now they served bottled beer for 120 pesos more than a 50% discount from old prices. I spent time chatting and listening to live music and then we went to Gabia or some similar name new park almost in front of malecon cinemas. It is a nice seafront park, family oriented. There were pretty chicas there. Later we moved to the hotel, my girl was watching tv while I was using the computer like a normal marriage. We slept together and do not have sex. Like a normal marriage. We ate a good breakfast at Villar and told her she has to leave because I was also leaving. She asked me to stay an additional day. I told her I have to leave and that I had a great time in Sosua. She was really mad. I gave her $20 for the taxi. A fellow monger took me to the airport, he was flying almost at the same time. Thanks to him for saving me 1, 000 pesos. Next trip, I will invite him to a ham and cheese sandwich.[/QUOTE]Funny: "Later we moved to the hotel, my girl was watching tv while I was using the computer, like a normal marriage. We slept together and do not have sex. Like a normal marriage", (never married but I know that experience).

Vesuvio Restaurant on the Malecon has pizza on the menu, one pizza is enough for two people. The cafe vesuvio seemed to be closed. Good service at Vesuvio, guys outside watch the cars in the lot. When I exited Vesuvio, the waiters and maitre the' lined up to say goodbye. The chica I was with wanted pizza, I wanted meat. I wanted to go to D Luis Parrillada on the malecon for a meat dish. The chica said there was another parrillada type place on the malecon near the Hilton Hotel. A guy at the Hotel Barcelo Santo Domingo told me there was a good parrillada further west on the malecon, past churchill (malecon 12 or something was the name). I drove by La Parada Restaurant near the Jaragua Hotel and Casino, place was busy, seemed it was karaoke night. I also wanted to visit an Argentine Steak Restaurant that ISG member Knowledge recommended on Calle César Nicolás Penson, Restaurante Asador de Antonio, [url]http://www.asadordeantonio.com/index.html[/url], but I didn't find it that night.

Good to see Jaragua has lowered their beer price. 250 pesos for a small bottle of beer in the Jaragua Hotel and Casino was a ripoff. Small bar called "Blue", near the pool at the Jaragua.

I will fly into Santo Domingo and maybe rent a car from Avis or Hertz, with the intention of driving west to Barahona and Pedernales in the Dominican Republic. Southwest of the DR reminded me of some places in the American West (mountains, drier with cactus growing, etc). At Pedernales in the DR, seems there is a border crossing with Haiti. Avis and Hertz rent cars in Haiti, so they might allow their rentals from the DR to be driven into Haiti. National / Alamo states their rentals can only be driven in the DR.

An ISG member I know from Santo Domingo recommended to me the town of Jacmel in Haiti to visit, which is located on the southern coast of Haiti, maybe not too long of a drive from Pedernales, Dom Rep.

Hotel Florita ([url]www.hotelflorita.com/[/url]) in Jacmel, Haiti, is rated high on tripadvisor, in an 1888 building, one block from the Sea, room rates start around $80US per night. Some photos from the internet showing Jacmel, Haiti.

Casa Bonita in Barahona is a high end lodging; [url]http://www.casabonitadr.com/[/url]