First trip report so be gentle guys.
For the last 5 years I have being getting all my traveling and mongering advise from CH, so I guess is time I put my 5 cents into the pot.
I just got back from a 4 days trip to Sozua in Dominican Republic. About 15 minutes from the Puerto Plata airport (POP). I live in Miami so is an easy access for me. Miami to POP in AA takes about 90 minutes, and between 300 to 400 dollars. (too much if you ask me) CR is about 3 hours for less and Rio is 8hrs for 800 to 1200.
Trip and First Day:
The entry thru customs was a breeze, 10 dollars traveling card and out the other door. (Sweet)
The taxi ride to the hotel $25.00, by the way I stayed at the Hotel Plaza Europa, made my reservation the night before. They only take reservations thru email, so I had to call that morning to confirm, before leaving Miami.
On the way to the hotel the taxi was nice enough to stop and get me a 12 ounce Presidente beer, and a pint for himself. Guess drinking and driving not really a concern there.
About the hotel, girl friendly but only one at a time, two or three at the same time will get you an extra charge. Do not know how much, did not tried. Girls leave ID at reception, no questions asked. (nice)
The hotel is simple and clean, my room had a safe, cable TV, alarm radio clock, refrigerator, AC and fan, and a king size bed. There is no phone in the room, they have a pc at reception area for guests. At registration you can get an AC remote controller for a deposit of $20 refundable at check out. The hotel will change currency at 35 pesos per dollar until 11pm. (Best rate I could find) The rooms prices range from 35 to 65 dollars depending on the luxuries you want. Hotel reservations are paid at registration on arrival.
I got the website from here but am including it for easy access. www.hotelplazaeuropa.com

So after settling in, out to check the area. Well I did not walk that far just across the street to the Flamingo bar in front, I spent 3 days drinking there. Cute and friendly bartenders, good enough for me. Had a few beers, (Presidente 70 pesos and Corona 150 pesos), there were a few working girls but nothing to write home about, 3 to 4 in my scale. Bartenders were 6-7 in comparison. So as expected from a CH members I worked my way into my beer goggles and the bartenders. Spent the evening there, finally taking one of the bartenders with me at closing for a 1500 pesos donation ($42.)
The ugly dogs around were 1500 pesos too. They all ask for 2500 to 2000 pesos, but will go down without much of a fight. The next day she left early, BBBJ and average service, nothing to write home about but very sweet at least.
Second Day
At about noon I found my way to the Flamingo bar again, nothing happening at this time so I had a few beers to get me going and flirted with the bartenders. At about 3 to 4pm I decided to explore town so I walked down the only or main road, there is a lot of little bars, restaurants and tourist shops along the way. After a 10 minute walk I found the 3 big places I had heard about, where the good stuff hangs around. These 3 places are basically next to each other. The D'Latino nightclub, Classic Bar and X bar which is across the street from the other two. Unfortunately I was there too early for any action, so ended back at my bar to kill some time and refresh my thirst.
I made my way back around 10pm, the 3 bars area was packed with goodies, but in my humble opinion 5 and 6 were the ruling numbers. One or two doable under the circumstances but far from my Rio standards. I spent most of the time at the Classic Bar, which has a 2nd floor disco (100 pesos entrance fee) The best looking girls I found were at this place. I took a cute face morena, with a gorgeous body and nice smile. Donation was 1500 pesos, performance was average at best, and she gave me a cover BJ (what kind of BS is that). She was about a 7 in looks and worthless in performance. (what a waist)

Third day
I did my bar routine again for the late morning and early afternoon and on the 30 or 40 steps to get to my hotel and get ready for the evening I bumped into this really sexy looking morena, (rare specimen) so I wasted no time in getting an afternoon delight. Price as usual, she had a skinny body with lot of curves and an angel face. (Finally my type) She did perform well with BBBJ but was kind of lacking in the endurance department, so I kept encouraging her. She again did an average service, so far the best overall, not to say so much about it. But by that time I was getting the hint that none of this women really know how to perform to satisfactory standards and encourage repeat donations. That evening I headed back to Classic Bar, this time I could not find anything that will inspire my spirit so I left empty handed after closing. So I crossed the street to X bar which stays open later, but again nothing good enough to inspire me, basically the same crowd from one bar move into the other one, so I called it a night.

Last day
Now faced with the last day of my trip and no donations last night, am really open for anything so I get my gear ready for traveling and head out to my favorite bar, had a few beers and before I knew it I had a girl sitting next to me. Arrangement were made and 1500 pesos donation to another worldly cause. This time I just settle for the longest BBBJ, rather than getting the whole service. I figure with my bad service experience I am going to go for the sure thing, that way am not going to be bitter about poor performance while in the plane. Besides she was not exactly a model.

In summary; girls are not Rio caliber by no stretch of the imagination, not even Costa Rica close, at least in my view. You may find some 7 or 8’s but after looking everywhere. Now the service was average at best and with very poor enthusiasm. Not the Rio troopers. The only positive aspect was the price but with the low rating and poor service I really doubt I will call it a bargain, but a favor. If you are going for the mongering experience this is not the place to go. Now I did get some advise about the neighboring town of Cabarette, 15 minutes away in the opposite direction instead of going to the airport. But I guess I will have to take another trip for a few days to see what is all the fuzz about. I don’t expect much but I won’t write it off until I see it myself.
This could be just like the San Jose vs. Jaco beach scenario, I love San Jose, and I hate the beach.
I hope this brings some light if you are considering a trip to this area.

First thanks for the report ! Always funny for me to hear about the first mongering destination i did, and it was Sosua DR. Well your experience sounds like a genuine DR. This is why i moved on to Cuba and Colombia before hitting Thailand and the Phils. Are there still a good number of mongerers in these bars ? The DR is just a beach destination now.

Most of the tourist are from Holland, Germany or Canada. Very few americans, and I got the feeling most of them are just newbies with little traveling and mongering experience. I am looking forward to do Medellin, I did Cuba when I was just starting, not good, I am looking forward to try again now that I am more fluent into the mongering scene.
But I really don't want to do Cuba without a wingman or someone that knows the lay out.
Thanks.

I started mongering in Costa Rica and always had a great time there. As I had been with two Dominicans in CR who treated me like a real boyfriend, I decided to give Sosua a try. I'm glad I did. I had a great time there too. I like CR but feel safer in Sosua. Anyway, pussy is pussy anywhere, and the quality of the session depends on me. I treat the ladies like if they were real dates, and it has worked fine for me so far.
Also, I travel to get what I can't get in my home country (quality, young, affordable pussy). To get drunk, I can do that here (safer and cheaper). While traveling, the most I drink would be like 4 beers or Cuba Libres a day. IMHO, being drunk in a foreign country is not a wise thing to do. I'd go further to say that getting drunk is not wise at all. The few times I've been drunk (many years ago when I was young) felt like a self-induced sickness.
Thanks for the report but next time, please, hook-up with an experienced monger there and you'll notice the difference.

That is by far the best advice for anyone travelling overseas, I have to agree 100%. In my case I rather drink out of the country, don't drink at home. Last time it cost me 10,000 dollars to clean up the mess. (that is a lot of mongering money in my opinion) Now if you do drink like me, bar owner, and experienced in a million troubles make sure you know the people around. I was drinking with the 2 cops in town, in the Flamingo bar, owned by Miranda, a new friend of mine. Who was letting me take charge of the bar everytime he left.(overlooking everything more than anything) and had the semisecurity guy of the place making sure nobody even got close to me. Not to mention about 4 bartenders asking every 5 minutes if I needed anything or if anyone was bothering me. If you do the DON'T do things make sure you got people. Am still getting phone calls from the bartenders asking me when am coming back to visit. Thanks for your advice, I do have to agree with your well made point.

My friend ! Do yourself a favor and move yourself to Colombia.
I feel this is your destiny...

I am in Medellin presently for a 4 day exploration trip. So far new grounds for me. I will try to make a trip report.

Awesome !Say Hi to Karem at Energy.

Given all the folks in agreement, I'll have to disagree with some points...

First the specifics:

1. Travel stuff-- Right on. One point I'll add is that from the east/NY the ease and cost of getting to the DR differs by several orders of magnitude when compared to Rio, and a good deal better than Columbia. At times, one has constraints when picking the destination and needs to factor in this into the overall analysis.

2. "The ugly dogs around were 1500 pesos too. They all ask for 2500 to 2000 pesos, but will go down without much of a fight."

Comment: The going price for anyone that knows the scene is 1000-1500. You stroll into town and one cannot blame them for trying to extract more from ya... As you said, once they know that you know, they drop quick enough.

3. "and she gave me a cover BJ (what kind of BS is that)"

Comment: Why the heck would you pull a girl without being very explicit about your expectations?

4. "girls are not Rio caliber by no stretch of the imagination"

Comment-- IMHO this is at the crux of your conclusion. You went there and kept drawing comparisons to your experiences in Rio. If your MO is to assume your going to get something because you did in Rio, you'll sorely be disappointed.


With the specifics out of the way, I agree the town is loaded with 5-6s. If someone doesn't enjoy being social, strolling around, striking up conversation in unlikely places (not tourist bars), then I would expect their experience to suffer as a result. I can say that about every locale where there is not heavy competition for the mongers $. It isn't a main destination and girls aren't of that mindset unfort. Point is that unless there's some chemistry, service will suffer. It isn't Columbio, Rio, Thailand, Montreal... it has it's own character and pace.

I would recommend forgetting about volume and focusing of quality. I personally enjoyed hunting down the 8s in nooks and crannies, and then lounging around with them flirting, shooting the shit, trying some local food, groping, etc BEFORE getting to my bed. Rent a scooter and just cruising around and people watching yields diamonds in the rough. As a result, I had no complaints in the fluid exchange dept and a FT job breaking away from them in order to search out new conquests.

Thanks for sharing and congrats on the first report!~

-DM



(Message edited by donmarco on February 22, 2009)

DM is right on. Before you travel to a new location it is critical that you absorb as much as you can from other club members who have been there and know how it is. Not that Angel did anything that I would classify as being wrong...he rolled-up his sleeves and went. Kudos to him. That is half the battle...getting to where you can actually monger is a step in the right direction.

But, sometimes "just going" can be frustratingly inefficient. Yes, you will learn by trial and error and next trip you will try to not repeat your previous mistakes. After a hand-full of trips you will notice an improvement on your efficiencies as you become "experienced", but wouldn't it be nice to go somewhere one-time and achieve success?

I always take the time to plan an outline of my trip before I go, actually using an office or business schedule planner and capturing specific things I want to do and where I want to go on specific dates, really helps-out.

Trust me, I've made the mistake of arriving at my hotel, suitcase busted wide-open on my bed with a list of 20 places I wanted to visit with no idea if one of the places I wanted to visit was across the street or 20 miles away.

Therefore, getting your hands on a map is important. Then marking all of the locations you want to visit is the next step. The third step is to plan a logical route to visit each place so that you are not wasting hours every day inefficiently and aimlessly travelling back and forth.

Also, DM commented about getting out there and socialize with the regular locals to find the real gems. If you hit just the whore bars, you may get lucky once or twice or you may find a bunch of burned-out whores with poor attitudes. If you strike-up a conversation with a local at a regular restaurant, hotel lobby or local cantina, you can eventually steer the conversation to, "I sure would like to meet some good looking local women. Hey, where do all the good looking women hang-out?" You'd be surprised how locals love helping the gringo to get laid. I've actually had a bar tender hook me up with his cousin's friend (he knew she was a semi-pro) so he steered my business her way. It turned-out to be a pretty good business transaction. She got paid to curl my toes.

Other recommendations: Grocery stores are great. Good looking women go there all the time. Also, malls and shopping areas. Bus stops are interesting too. Although I never ride the bus, one-time I was waiting near a bus stop while my novia was in a nearby camera shop. A bus stopped and fifty people stepped-off in front of me. One good looking chica sized me up and saw a map in my hand and asked me if I needed any help finding directions. Just then my novia showed up and pulled me away. But that got me to thinking. Hmmm.

Anyway, do your homework before you go and try to stick to a plan. Realize you will make adjustments as the trip progresses, but having that initial plan to review, as need, helps immensely.

AJ

Renting beach house in Sosua area in June. 3-4 adult males. Looking for reliable driver pretty much for the stay. Decent vehicle, passable Ingles and knowledgeable. Knows the "spots". Any recommendations? TYVM.

Totally unecessary in a small place like SOSUA... Best yet to rent scooters or USE motorconchos or you can get the cell phone number of your cab driver in POP airport... last case scenario rent a car in POP airport but only from large USA company.. NO mom and pop places for the will try to rob you in some way.

Hello Gents,

I went to the DR this past December and had an excellent time!! Stayed at a resort (mistake), this time will be at a Villa (no house fees). Does anyone have a cheap/fair cab driver? I've heard of some being $50.00 per day, but don't know of any. Any help? Thanks.

I rented a car when I was there, since I also wanted to explore other places other then Sosua. The daily rental rate through Budget.com was $22.00...ended up paying around $85 or so for a three days rental with taxes (I got the smallest car they offer, which is enough). It was worth every penny....super easy to drive there (if you have experience driving in a Latin country! Much easier then places like Rio) I certainly used the car quite a bit to go to the beach, go to nearby towns, etc...

I agree...renting a car can be very key. Is cheap at the airport, make sure u have the coverage as it would be easy to get damaged with the driving there as well as the shitty roads.

As a bonus when in a car is super easy to pick up chicks looking for a ride while waiting for buses, etc. I drove from Sosua to Dajabon and collected tons of numbers! Only engaged two but it was worth it!