Unofficial Dominican Republic Page

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Made By
Gregorio Garcia

INDEX
I-Brief Introduction
II-Brief History of Domincan Republic
III-Geography of the place
IV-People of the Dominican Republic
V-Education in Dominican Republic
VI-Health
VII-Goverment
VIII-Crime
IX-Economy
X-Agriculture
XI-Communications
XII-Travel
XIII-Fun!(sorry not yet constructed, come back in a day,week, who knows)
P.S. I am using a similar format as World Fact Book, but I've changed the values that are not correct, so don't even think I just copied the values unto this page.

I-Welcome to the unofficial Dominican Republic HomePage, it is under massive construction, it is not close to completion, so keep coming some humongous changes will come about the next few weeks. In the mean time please bear with me, I know there are mispellings, etc, etc, etc. Why choose this place to get info on the Dominican Republic?. Simple most of the information here is revised constantly by me, these is the real stuff, the real numbers, its raw!, not some false document you find around the net. It's simple I live here which means I have access to information others can not obtain.
The information here can be basically divided in two parts : history and economy, the history research for this page came from a book called "MANUAL DE HISTORIA DOMINICANA", by Frank Moya Pons, who is probably the best and most renowned historian in the Dominican Republic, plus this here book just happens to be used in the best universities in the country to teach dominican history. The economic part comes from data from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic, and from the CIA World Fact Book. So all the information here is fact, valid, 100% truth. If anyone says diferently they are lying(unless they can prove otherwise and I'll gladly change the info on my page, this is of course is very doubtful).
You can find more information about the Dominican Republic at the following site:
Greg's Page.

The dominican Republic is a state of the antilles archipielago, it occupies about two thirds of the Hispaniola Island. Its shores are bathed by the Atlantic Ocean from the north, and the Caribbean sea from the south. It's territorial surface is 48,442km², with a population of 8,100,000 dominicans, its capital is Santo Domingo.

II-BRIEF HISTORY OF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
It's original name was Haiti or Quisqueya, this name was given by its first inhabitants. These inhabitants were indians divided into various tribes. Chrisopher Columbus reached the island in 1492 and named it La Española. He left leaving behind a constructed fort called La Navidad, with 40 men. He returned in 1493 found the fort in ruins and no trace of the 40 men. Columbus then founded the city La Isabela and from there expanded to eventually control the entire island. After that the island became the launching pad to the new world, hundred of expeditions were launched to conquer the new world, during the process all the indians in the island and elsewhere were wiped out.
In 1795 the treaty of Basilea was signed which divided the island in two, one part french the other spanish. In 1804 the french slaves revolted and got control of the french side of the island, and in 1809 a similar revolt took place in the spanish side making the island independent from outside rule. The peace did not last long in 1822 the haitians attacked the dominicans and the haitian president Boyer implanted his domain in the entire island. During this period a secret society, known as La Trinitaria, was formed, its objective was independence. On the 27 of february of 1844, the movemnet of independence was triumphant and the Dominican Republic was born.
The next years were precarious, there was constant conflict with Haiti, this led eventually to the anexation to Spain 1861. Most everyone agreed on this decision and in that decade civil wars broke out ending in the war known as guerra de la Restuaracion. The spanish army was defeated and in 1865 the Dominican Republic regained its independence.
The country remained in miltary and political turmoil for the next few decades, a goverment would take power and in afew years a coupe would take place, and another goverment would take power and then the coupe and on and on. This situation got to a point that the United States finally intervined in 1916.
1916-1924 U.S. OCCUPATION
In the days that followed the proclamation of ccupation of Cpt.W.Knapp, the US goverment made sure to keep total control by making it illegal to carry weapons, or posses ammo or explosives. Also that anything published in the news was to be reviewed before publishing. Then Knapp subsituted the key goverment chargges with oficials from the US marines. The U.S. payed salaries, finished and started public contructions. The U.S. managed to pacifiy most of the country but met resistance from unhappy farmers, called gavilleros. They managed to pose a threat to the marines but since this hostility came only from the eastern part of the country the U.S. could continue organizing the rest of the country. In 1917 the U.S. declared war on Germany and commerce with Germany and its allies was banned by the U.S. this made most comercial transactions turn from the traditional european market to the northamerican. World War I raged on, the battle field- France, Germany and Russia all of these countrys sugar crops were destroyed, this made the international price of sugar rise dramatically, sugar being the principal export product since colonial times benefited inmensly and its economy boomed from the start of the war to 1920. Eventhough the country was doing well, economically speaking, in the backround there was a growing hate towards the american occupation, the Dominican Republic did not accept being governed by a French or Spanish goverment and was not going to accept a foreign goverment now. This national pressure and the pressure form other nations attacking the U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic forced the americans to try and reach an agreement that would satisfy both parties. In 1922 the plan Hughes-Peynado deviced by Francisco Peynado and the secretary of state at that time Charles E. Hughes. This plan basically stated that a provisional goverment would be elected and this goverment would validate the agreements the U.S. had come to with other nations during the occupation. The 12 of july 1924 the american occupation ended peacefully as the Dominican Republic prepared itself for a new constitutional goverment.
1924-1960 FROM DEMOCRACY TO TOTALITARISM
After the end of the U.S. occupation a new constitutional goverment was elected, this goverment continued and finished the tasks initiated by the american forces. By 1927, with the prices of export products on the rise and with high goverment spending on critical sectors, the country prospered like never before the capital of Santo Domingo changed from a rural town to an urban center were commerce and industries flourished- the modernization of Santo Domingo had begun. The new goverment was still haundted by the caudillista mentality and tried to maintain power first by a clever scheme to extend the presidential period fro 4 to 6 years, and in 1930 tried to get reelected. President Vasquez before the elections fell ill and had to leave the country, while he was away a new political movement was formed headed by a general called Rafael Trujillo and Rafael Estrella Ureña. When the president returned a civil movement headed by Ureña revolted and forced the president to negotiate, the result was the placement of some of the rebels key figures in the goverment After this the president resigned from office, and the reelection plan was finished. After this the electoral campaign started only one party would be present on election day, the party lead by general Trujillo any other party that would try to form would be quickly crushed by followers of Trujillo. In 1930 Trujillo was sworn in as president of the Dominican Republic-the dictatorship had begun. General Trujillo quickly used his military forces to take complete control of the country, he wanted to control every aspect, even the very life of the people. His sole purpose was to make himself richer, so he quickly bought many industries and the ones he couldn't buy he took by force. Trujillo spent heavily on agriculture, and even started stimulating the families to have many children, expanding the economy was the only was he could become even richer. Eventhough the economy grew things were not good in other aspects; like any other dicatorship the people had no liberties and there was constant represion, and harsh punishment to anyone who opposed the regime, and acts of violence and despotism, for example Trujillo started a plan to rid the country of illegal haitians living in the country, to achive this he ordered in 1937 the killing of all haitians in the country, this left a toll of 18,000 dead. Trujillo set up mock elections every four years to keep the nations like the U.S. happy, during the first decade everyone was content with the situation, eventhough there was constant opression the social and economic conditions were better that ever, to the point that in 1947 Trujillo paid the external debt completely a task many thought impossible. The people were growing restless at the end of of the 1940s the murders, tortures and terrorism by the "goverment". In the late in 1950s several expeditoins were launched from outside the country to destroy Trujillo and the inconstitutional goverment, all of these failed. What brought the end to trujillo were two events:the murder of three sisters, wives of men that were against Trujillo, and the failed assaination attempt of Romulo Betancourt, the Venezuelan president. By this time most of the nation was against him, in 1961 Trujillo was shot to death in his car.
1961-1966 DEMOCRACY AND CIVIL WAR
After Trujillo's death the country fell into a process of democratization and liberation, the people and the military with the approbacion of the U.S. goverment made all of the Trujillos, and closest colaborators leave the country forever, only Joaquin Balaguer remained, the last puppet president before Trujillo's death. Balaguer tried to stay in power but in 1962 eventually left. Then that year elections were held and Juan Bosch, a dominican who had spent most of his life fighting for democracy in the Dominican Republic. But his popularity soon ceased, his ideas were to radical and advanced for the people and his unwillingness to destroy the communists in the country alarmed everyone especially the U.S. goverment. Then in 1963 Bosch was destituated in a military coupe and a triunvirate took over, this divided the country in two political movements, one with J.Bosch and the other with the triunvirate. The differences betwen the two was not resolved and in 1965 civil war errupted. The constitutionalists moved quickly and was about to anhilate the regular forces but the U.S. intervined once again, their excuse was to stop the formation of a second Cuba to protect the world from socialism. Eventhough the military superiority of the american forces the constitutionalists held them back and the problem was finally resolved in the negotiating table. New elections were going to be held the principal parties were two one headed by Balaguer(PRSC) the other by Bosch(PLD). The followers of the PRSC soon started a terrorist campaign against the PLD hundreds of activists were murdered and the PRSC won the elections without opposition.
1966-1978
The electoral campaign did nothing but extend the civil war. Hundreds of people were killed by the military forces of the goverment. Balaguer waged a war against communism, and took the opportunity to murder any one who opposed him. This street war devastated the country, it was not easy defeating the left wing parties these were well equiped.
In 1970 the leader of the revolutionary party(PRD) returned to the country and tried to cleanse his party of any trace of communism . The state of panic in the country and the political terrorism from the goverment made it clear to Bosch that it was unsafe to post as a presidential candidate and the leaders of the revolutionary party were literaly hunted down like dogs by the goverment. And again Balaguer won again without opposition.
President Balaguer in order to desgise the role of the military the political represion he ordered the creation of a paramilitary gang, called "la banda". This group was composed of mercenaries paid by the goverment and the president in order to desintail publicly stated that the band was a force that could not be controled.
Consequently hundreds of dominicans died, young or old were sistematically murdered by la banda between 1966 and 1974. This situation came to a halt only after the leaders of leftwing parties had been murdered and also because of the inmense international pressure from the U.S. and other countries demanded the respect of human rights. This pressure was the result of an international campaign of one of the leaders of the revolutionary party-Francisco Peña Gomez.
Then in 1974 Balaguer was obligated to dismantle la banda and had to stop the violation of human rights. Peace slowly returned to the country and Balaguer used this for his electoral campaign, he said that the tranquility in the country was all because of him. The revolutionary party encountered internal problems and his leader Bosch decided to leave and Peña Gomez took hold of the PRD party. All this would soon end, the parties of opposition soon formed a coalition that would obviously defeat Balaguer and his party- the president could not allow this and promptly ordered the police and the military to terrorize his oponents. The campaign based on terror succeded and Balaguer won again without opposition.
In his third period Balaguer could definetly feel safe he had ordered and witnessed the wiping out of most of the leaders of the opposition and the ones that were left were quickly bought by offering them good jobs, even the communist party was given participation in reforms.
The goverment headed by Balaguer was a goverment of represion, where liberties did not exist. But eventhough Balaguer did not respect human rights he did boost the economy. more to come..........................
1978-1982
In 1978 Balaguer had been a despot ruler for 12 years and the U.S. and other countries would not allow him to continue violating democracy, with this pressure and by a formidable campaign by the revolutionary party, headed by Antonio Guzman Balaguer lost by a wide margin the elections of 1978. Of course Balaguer could not accept defeat and tried to stop the vote count and arresting opposers, but this time the national and internation repugnance to his actions forced him to give up the presidency. But Balaguer had an ace up his sleeve he negotiated and illegaly four seats in the senate thus obtaining a mayority, this way he could still control the senate and the elections of the judges so no legal action against him. President Guzman took advantage of his overwhelming popularity and dismanteled the miltary and political oligarqy that remained from Trujillo's rule. This goverment like all goverments before and after was corrupt. This goverment encountered many economic problems that had begun in the previous goverment, the basic filosofy of president Guzman was to increase demand via an increase in public spending and salary. This filosofy did not work the increase in spending power simply increased imported products, and the increase in public spending soon sucked the goverments resources dry, the goverment started printing money that simply put more pressure on the national currency to loose value. Soon the public and balance of payments rose, and so did inflation, this almost caused the economy to colapse. This goverment did try to bring the agriculture back to its feet that had been desimated by Balaguer's goverment, and also tried to deliver subsidized basic products to the poor, which socialy is good but made the public deficit increase even more. This govement problem was that it inherited the problems form the previous goverment, and tried to boost the economy at the cost of indebting the goverment, and faced serious international problems-like the world increase of the 80s of petroleum prices.
1982-1986
In these elections the PRD won again this time with Salvador Jorge Blanco as president. The country was in crisis: Agriculture paralized due to a lack of incentives, Ineficient Industries the result of a protectionist policy combined with too many subsides, fiscal systen had lost its efefer, public businesses almost broke, and deficits in balance of payments & Reservas Netas. 1986-1996 Joaquin Balaguer

III-GEOGRAPHY- The land offers a mountainous apsect with four main ranges; Cordillera Septentrional; Cordillera Central; Cordillera Sierra de Neiba y Sierra de Baoruco. Within these are valleys bathed my the main rivers Yaque del Norte and Yuna.
COASTLINE: 1,288km(695mi)
NATURAL RESOURCES: nickel, bauxite, gold, silver
LAND USE: arable land 23%; permannent crops 7%; meadows and pastures 43%; forest and woodland 13%; other 14%; includes irrigated 4%
ENVIROMENT: subject to occasional hurricanes (July to October); deforestation
CLIMATE- In general the climate is calido and the average anual tempurature is 26ºC, with a slight variations thruoughout the island.

IV-PEOPLE OF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:- The population is composed of Mulattos(72%), Black, White and Yellow.
POPULATION DENSITY: 168 p/km².
TOTAL URBAN POPULATION: 4,341,000(58.1%)
POPULATION GROWTH: 2.33%
POPULATION, YEAR 2010(PROJECTED): 9,903,000
POPULATION, YEAR 2025(PROJECTED: 11,447,000
POPULATION DOUBLING TIME: 29.75 yrs.
BIRTH RATE: 29.8 births per 1000 persons
DEATH RATE: 6.5 deaths per 1000 persons
POPULATION UNDER AGE 15: 2,899,000(38.8%)
POPULATION OVER AGE 65: 247,000(3.3%)
LIFE EXPECTANCY: females-70yrs, males 65yrs.
LANGUAGES: Spanish
RELIGION: Roman Catholic.

V-EDUCATION OF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
LITERACY: 83%(male 85%, female 82%)
AGES OF COMPULSORY EDUCATION: 7 to 14
EDUCATION EXPENDITURE: 1.5% of GNP; 10% of goverment expenditure
DAILY NEWSPAPERS: 12(267,000 daily circulation; 42 per 1000 persons)

VI-HEALTH IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
MEDICAL CARE EXPENDITURES: 6.6% of GNP
ACCES TO SAFE WATER: 67.4%(URBAN-45%, RURAL-82%)
CALORIE CONSUMPTION,TOTAL: 2,310 per person per day(animal-289 cal., vegetable-2021 cal.)
PHYSICIANS: 3555 (6.2 per 10,000 persons)
NURSES: 5,184 (9.1 per 10,000 persons)
PHARMACISTS: 54 (0.1 per 10,000 persons)
DENTISTS: 232 (0.4 per 10,000 persons)
CONTRACEPTIVE: 50% of married women
MATERNAL MORTALITY RATE: 61.4 deaths per 100,000 live births
INFANT MORTALITY RATE: 61 deaths per 1000 births
MEASLES INMUNIZATION: 96% of immunized under 12 months
DPT: 69% inmunized under 12 months
AIDS: 1,742 cases reported

VII-GOVERMENT OF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
LONG-TERM NAME: Dominican Republic (no short-form name)
TYPE: republic
CAPITAL: Santo Domingo
ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS: 29 provinces and 1 district
INDEPENDENCE: 27 February 1844 (from Haiti)
CONSTITUTION: 28 November 1966
LEGAL SYSTEM: based on french civil codes
NATIONAL HOLIDAY: Independence Day, 27 February
EXECUTIVE BRANCH: president, vice-president, Cabinet
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH: bicameral National Congress(Congreso National) consists of an upper chamber or Senate (Senado) and lower chamber or Chamber of Deputies (Camara de Diputados)
JUDICIAL BRANCH: Supreme Court (Corte Suprema)
LEADERS: Chief of State and Head of Goverment: President Joaquin BALAGUER Ricardo; Vice-president Jacinto Bienvenido PEYNADO
MAYOR POLITICAL PARTIES AND LEADERS: Social Christian Reformist Party(PRSC), Joaquin Ricardo Balaguer; Dominican Revolutionary Party(PRD), Francisco Peña Gomez; Dominican Liberation Party(PLD), Leonel Fernandez
SUFFRAGE: universal and compulsory at age 18 or if married, members of armed forces and police cannot vote.
MEMBER OF: ACP, CARICOM(observer), ECLAC, FAO, G-11, G-77, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA. IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ITU, LAES, LORCS, NAM(guest), OAS, OPANAL, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTO.
FLAG: a centered white cross that extends to the edges, divides the flag into four rectangles - the top ones are blue(hoist side) and red, the bottom ones are red(hoist side) and blue; a small coat of arms is at the center of the cross.
Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, National Police
MANPOWER AVAILABILITY: males 15-49, 2,013,294;1,271,772 fit for military service; 80,117 reach military age(18) anually
DEFENSE EXPENDITURES: 1% of GDP(1990)

VIII-CRIME IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
TOTAL OFFENSES: 946.18 per 100,000 persons
MURDER: 11.93 per 100,000 persons
SEX OFFENSES(including rape): 4.58 per 100,000 persons
RAPE: 3.02 per 100,000 persons
SERIOUS ASSAULT: 30.83 per 100,000 persons
THEFT(all kinds): 437.58 per 100,000 persons
AGGRAVATED THEFT: 217.12 per 100,000 perons
ROBBERY AND VIOLENT THEFT: 20.32 per 100,000 persons
FRAU: 4.77 per 100,000 persons
COUNTERFEIT CURRENCY OFFENSES: 1.1 per 100,000 persons
DRUG OFFENSES: 14.77 per 100,000 persons

IX-ECONOMY OF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
OVERVIEW: The economy is largely dependent on trade; imported components average 60% of the value of goods consumed in the domestic market. Rapid growth of free trade zones has established a significant expansion of manufacturing for export. Over the past decade, tourism has laso increased in importanceand is a major earner of foreign exchange and a source of new jobs. Agriculture remains a key element in the economy. The prinicipal commercial crop is sugarcane, followed by coffee, cotton, cocoa, and tabacco. Domestic industry is based on the processing of agricultural products, durable consumer goods, minerals and chemicals. Unemployment is officially reported at about 30%, but there is considerable underemployment.
GDP: US$11.5 billion, per capita US$1,450; real growth rate 4%(1995 est.)
GDP, AGRICULTURE: 12.7% of GDP from agriculture
REAL GDP PER CAPITA: 2,250(Laspayers index, 1985 intl. prices) REAL GDP PER CAPITA: 2,918(current intl. prices)
REAL GDP PER WORKER: 6,898(1990 est.)
EXCHANGE RATE: 12.62(oficial rate), 13.17(black market)
LABOR FORCE: 2,300,000-2,600,000; agriculture 49%, services 33%, industry 18%(1986)
LABOR FORCE, FEMALES: 14.5% AGES 15-64
CAPITAL STOCK PER WORKER: 6,223
ORGANIZED LABOR: 12% of labor force(1989 est.)
INFLATION: 8.26(1994)
UNEMPLOYMENT: 30%(1995)
BUDGET: revenues US$1,750,800,000; expenditures US$1,784,700,000
EXPORTS: US$644(1995)
IMPORTS: US$2,276.2(1995)
EXTERNAL DEBT: $4.7 billion(1995)
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION: accounts for 20% of GDP
INDUSTRIES: tourism, sugar processing, ferronickel and gold mining, coffee, textiles, tabacco
AGRICULTURE: accounts for 15% of GDP and employs 49% of labor force; sugarcane is the most important crop, followed by coffee; foof crops- rice, beans, potatoes, corn, bananas; animal output- cattle, hogs, dairy products, meat, eggs; not self-sufficient in food. ECONOMIC AID: US commitments, including Ex-Im(FY85-89), $575 million; Western countries, ODA and OOF bilateral agreements(1970-89), $655 million.
CURRENCY: Dominican peso(plural-pesos): 1 peso=100 centavos
FISCAL YEAR: calendar year
MINING(2.6% of GDP,1996):
Bauxite: 185,000 metric tns.
Silver: 547,224.1 troy.
Gold: 117,629.4 troy
MANUFACTURING(17.0% of GDP,1996):
Beer: 1,269,000 hectoliters
Cigarettes: 4,473,000,000
Paper and Paperboard: 10,000 metric tns.
Cement: 1,235,000 metric tns.
ENERGY:
Motor Gasoline: 544,000 metric tns. coal equivalent
Electricity: 651,000 metric tns. coal equivalent
Energy consumption: 373 kwh per capita

X-AGRICULTURE OF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
LAND IN AGRICULTURE: 72.6%
AGRICULTURAL POPULATION DENSITY: 196.38 persons/sq km
TOTAL AGRICULTURAL WORKERS: 820,000
AGRICULTURAL IMPORTS: $276,500,000
AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS: $362,100,000
FOOD AND ANIMALS IMPORTED: $223,500,000
FOOD AND ANIMALS EXPORTED: $282,500,000
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS:
TOTAL VALUE OF PRODUCTION: US$1,567,531,700 Cereal: US$140,648
Rice: 474,220 metric tns.
Corn: 28,188 metric tns.
Potatoes: 24,387 metric tns.
Cassavas: 134,000 metric tns.
Yams: 7,000 metric tns.
Fruits: 1,629,000 metric tns.
Sugar Cane: 6,075,900 metric tns.
Oranges: 365,601 metric tns.
Plantains: 1,580,432 thousand/clusters.
Coffee: 89,155 metric tns.
Tabacco: 29,074 metric tns.
Bananas: 16,878 thousands/clusters.
ANIMALS:
Horses: 320,000
Cattle: 2,250,000
Pigs: 435,000
Chickens: 28,000,000
ANIMAL PRODUCTS(1994):
Total Meat: 228,000 metric tns.
Beef: 80,726 metric tns.
Goat Meat: 2,000 metric tns.
Pig Meat: 5,561 metric tns.
Poultry: 138,000 metric tns.
DAIRY PRODUCTS:
Cow Milk: 420,000 metric tns.
Cheese: 2,500 metric tns.
Butter and Ghee: 1,500 metric tns.

XI-COMMUNICATIONS IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RAILROADS: 1,655 km
HIGHWAYS: 12,000 km
PASSENGER CARS: 151,600
AIRPORTS: 36 total, 30 usable; 12 with permanent-surface runways
CIVIL AIR TRAFFIC: 1,375,000,000 passenger km flown
TELECOMMUNICATIONS: most advanced in Latin America, domestic system based on island wide
microwave relay network; 1 coaxial submarien cable; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSTAT earth station.

XII-TRAVEL IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS: Passport and tourist card of visa. Tourist card available from consulate or from airline serving the country. All persons required to pay a US$20 departure fee.
WEATHER AND CLOTHING: Lightweight clothing suitable for hot, humid weather is appropiate all year round.
TELEPHONE: when direct dialing from U.S.- 1-809- local number, from Europe:11-809-local number
TIME: Same as U.S. Eastern Standard Time
ELECTRIC CURRENT: 110v. 60-cycles, AC
TOURIST ARRIVALS: 1,581,000
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS: Faro a Colon, Zona Colonial
HOTELS: Look this country has many hotels, but I've decided to list only best, Casa de Campo and Bavaro.
Casa de Campo is the biggest and most complete resort in the carribbean, you can lodge in a room or a villa, it has its own private beach, golf courses, fitness center with raquetball and squash courts, plus a tennis center with 12 courts, among other goodies. Follow these links for more info. Link 1, Link 2
Bavaro is not really a hotel it is a place and all the hotels there start with Bavaro,e.g.Bavaro Fiesta, these hotels are also grade A. Bavaro is excellent because there are plenty of hotels to choose from, and thus plenty of prices to choose from. Follow these links why don't you,Link 1, Link 2.
XIII-FUN IN SANTO DOMINGO

Look here this part deals on all aspects from a nice walk to sex, I deal with all aspects of dominican life, I want this page to have it all!!. If you dont like me talking about sensitive subjects like sex on this country- I DONT CARE!, if you are not mature enough to handle if-I DONT CARE!!, if you want a page of only partial details on my country-I DONT CARE!!!, if you are a feminist fighting for female rights-I DONT CARE!!!!. There I covered most of it, please read on!!

The real advantage in visiting the Dominican Republic is that it is an incredibly peacful country, and the dominicans have to be the friendliest people on earth. Nearly anyone will lend a helping hand to anyone in need of help. Here you can party till dawn without any problems. Of course its not perfect there is always someone in the look out to take advantage of a tourist, of course this is the exception not the rule.
There are plenty of places to entertain yourself in this country. Here are a couple of places divided in groups:
BARS: Cafe Atlantico-great place, all kinds of people, plenty of alcohol, and chicks.
Steak House Cafe: Good place, more or less a formal sorta place, good place to hang out and drink, but not much else.
Parkeo Bar: Good place to drink-cheap!.
Zona Colonial: This is an excellent place to go to at night, there are many bars here in colonial atmosphere-a must for tourists.
DANCE CLUBS:
Guacara Taina: The club for tourists, strangest place-its inside a cave, cool huh?, good place to dance, drink and find company Euro Club: Nice club, men pay $RD100.00(US$8.00), women free entry-so there are usually plenty of 'em.
Neon: A club for locals, pretty formal, men and women must pay RD$50.00(US$4.00).
SEX'N'STUFF:not finished try later Sex in the Dominican Republic!, very interesting. Supposedly the Dominican Republic is the single persons paradise. Well then follow these links they might help in your quest for sex:
Dominican Delight Erotic Vacations
Single & Adult Travel
Prostitution in D.R.

Remember there are lots of changes coming up. You can email me Greg Hell
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