To Beach or Not to Beach

Every time I return from the Dominican Republic - twice a month since 2021 - I receive an email from the DR Ministry of Tourism asking me to fill out a survey on what I enjoyed the most and what could make my experience better. I always ignore those emails; not because I don’t believe in their good intent, but because I know that my opinion won’t lead to any improvements. The reasons are simple: most Dominicans, at least those who1 live in beach towns and depend on tourism, lack two fundamental qualities: accountability and foresight.

Let me explain. I love the DR and its people. I truly do: I’ve been coming to Cabarete (Puerto Plata), a world kite-surfing capital, since 2007. It was love at first sight. The beauty of the terrain, the goodheartedness of the people, the simplicity of life - it invigorates you and gives you a second lease on life.

In the fall of 2020, I made a clever move: I took the family to Cabarete for six weeks, to be on the ocean and save the kids from the misery of Zoom-only schooling in cold, Covid-struck New York City. In the last three days of that stay, I discovered surfing. I’ve also resumed writing; I made new friends, and eventually found new love.

In early 2021, newly separated and with recently made money from the global tech company I’d helped built, I bought some real estate in the DR and started living the “dream life”: two weeks in Cabarete, two weeks in New York City (joint custody of my two teenaged kids allowed for, and demanded, that schedule). However, each paradise has its dark caverns and underwater currents. I want to shine some light on them, so that in case you’re contemplating a love affair with Republica Dominicana you don’t step on sea urchins, actual and figurative, like many of us have.

On the Appeal and Promise of the DR

The promise of the DR is hard to beat: a three-hour direct flight from JFK or Newark gets you to Puerto Plata, and ten minutes later you’re on the beach, one of best in the world. The more often you take the trip, the more the concept of owning a beach-front property starts to make sense.

After three months of AirBnB stays, I found my dream place, nestled in Laguna Beach, between Sosua and Cabarete: a ground floor, three-bedroom condo apartment, 100 feet from the beach. The view was breathtaking. I took the paradise bait, convinced my ex-husband that the place was perfect - though he hasn’t seen it - and that it was exactly what we needed. We bought “with our eyes”: the building had no financials, no recent inspections, and no functioning Home Owners Association (HOA). None of it was revealed or mattered at the time: the view and the vibe was everything. Plus an infinity pool, the sunrise and the sunset over our beach, and a proximate location to all things fun in Cabarete. We closed with a cash buyout (and a quarter of what a similar deal would cost in Miami).

I also bought a small house with a lovely garden in the heart of Callejon de la Loma, a thriving village within Cabarete proper, where most of the locals live, a ten-minute drive from the apartment, a five-minute walk from the beach. I believed, and still do, that a woman should have a house of her own, in line with Virginia Wolf’s famous “room of her own”. Bonus: in the garden, a heavily pregnant mango tree reigned supreme, providing shade and privacy. 

But back to the apartment: Encuentro, a top surfing beach, was within a five-minute drive; Cabarete, a top kiting beach, a ten-minute drive. And Cabarete beach had another key ingredient: a long row of lively open-air restaurants nestled right on the beach, under palm trees. The sunsets were stunning; the food was cheap and tasty, the vibe chill, people friendly, the promise of beautiful life fulfilled. 

If you’ve been to the DR, you know that after the first three days there you become a new person: smiling for no reason, waking up happy, feeling young and creative. The ocean, the freedom, the sunsets. You start feeling alive, as the claws of the “real life” eventually release you from their grip. The idea that this could be your actual reality is beyond thrilling. But as the saying goes, tourism and immigration are two separate things. Inevitably, you must learn to live by local rules (or lack thereof) if you want to succeed in the expat quest. I didn’t have to learn though; I already knew them.

On the Inner Workings of the DR North Coast

I quickly realized that Cabarete of the 2020s was a replica of Russia (where I grew up) of the “crazy ‘90s” - foreign tourists are a privileged class, at once revered and taken advantage of; one must “know people” to get things done; laws are mostly a concept on paper; the police is useless except for collecting random traffic fines; the concept of being on time doesn’t exist; the locals have no money but are happy none-the-less; flirt is flourishing: men are macho and women are beautiful; home-made food is delicious; family is everything; kids are adored collectively; having children at a young age is an inevitability; the elderly are revered; music and dancing is a huge part of culture; stray dogs are a sad reality; making a quick buck is everything; screwing over a foreigner is a national sport. All of it is mostly an enigma to the Americans, but not to someone (me) who grew up as most of my Dominican friends did: we had everything, yet we had nothing.

Things that differ vastly, and pleasantly, from the U.S.: women are treasured; age, weight, height, skin color are of no importance. If you have breasts and other curves, the men will acknowledge you with a hopeful smile and a nod. If you’re not interested, just dismiss them politely, and they will retreat. But being appreciated for your womanhood is a concept utterly foreign to the U.S. today, decimated by the #MeToo movement. It’s refreshing to know that you still turn heads regardless of how old or tired you feel. However, never trust a Dominican man. That subject needs a separate article. 

Asking for and receiving help from a stranger or a neighbor is perhaps the main rule of the land, and how most get by: whether you are hungry, or need to change a tire, or fix something in the house, or just pour your heart out. And if you pay a little for the favor, you got a “friend”, for as long as you keep doling out tokens of appreciation in future endeavors. It’s a time-tested approach, and a pleasantly “primitive” reality, in a good way. Some call it barter.

On Big Projects

Life is simple here as long as you don’t have to rely on someone for serious stuff. Then it gets harder. Promises are made but not kept, construction projects started then abandoned, law suits filed but not pursued (My lawyer #2 - I’m on #5 now - didn’t show up to the closing hearing of my defamation law suit, which I won (!) against my HOA administrator and their lawyer, but since she was a no show, there was no impact and no damages collected. A new lawsuit is filed. But more on that below). In general, accountability is a rather foreign concept in the North Coast of the DR, but if you’re aware of it and are prepared, you will manage to avoid disappointment. I happen to be a person of big ideas and grand projects, and have tasted my share of bitterness over things gone south.

The reason for this lack of accountability or foresight is not the fault of the local folks, not really. It’s almost like they don’t believe that a bright future might come, so they try to hustle for everything today, right this moment - ahoramismo - as tomorrow might never come. It might also have to do with the fact that ancient African religions did not have a concept of “future time”; everything was either in the past, or in the now. And even though most of the Dominicans are Christian, perhaps genetic memory plays a role. It’s why they drive like crazy; it’s why they use everyone, including those who’ve come with good intentions and already helped plenty; it’s why they often don’t finish high school and go into menial jobs,  or prostitution, instead. A few bucks today is worth more than a hundred in some distant future (i.e. hence no appreciation for education, long-term relationships, etc.). It’s as if they live by the Russian saying:  “Better a tomtit in your hand than a crane in the sky”.

The Real Estate Boom

The best example of big projects gone south could be found amidst the real estate boom on the North Coast, and not only in the number of unfinished projects but in the destroyed natural terrain. New development is happening at such an extraordinary pace that each time I return, after two weeks in NYC, another piece of virgin land is leveled, trees cut, the foundation for a new condo, villa or hotel is marked, and the grazing horses and cows are pushed into small remaining enclaves.

Several decades ago, the locals could enter and walk the entire length of the Cabarete beach freely, from any point on the road winding from Puerto Plata to Cabarete. There used to be a few simple houses along that road. Fast-forward 30 years to today: all-inclusive and other hotels grabbed most of the ocean-front land, with no beach access for the locals. Most have been moved across the main (and only) road that goes along the beach, and reside in Callejon de la Loma (where I live) or in La Cienega, the two self-contained villages that house hundreds of local families. They hardly go to the beach though, unless they work as surfing/kiting instructors or waiters: the few entry points are rather far, and many don’t have the means to get there, be it their own motorcycle or hiring a moto concho (cab). Otherwise, no locals may enter even through hotels’ parking lots. Same as it was with us back in the USSR.

The second wave of real estate craze is happening now. The Ocean Club Group is one of the main land grabbers: they bought all of La Boca ($20 ml USD), the almost sacred spot where the river enters the ocean (hence the name, “mouth”), with a dreamy beach full of driftwood. The locals come here for splashing in the shallow river waters, the kiters enjoy down-wind kiting, and Wilson’s outdoor restaurant on the other side of the river (free boat-ride to cross) has the best grilled fish on the North Coast (they catch it that morning, and you pick which one you want prepared for you).

15 years ago, friends of mine from Boston quit their corporate jobs and moved to the DR, trying on the real estate path. They were all set to sell La Boca terrain for $10 ml, but the local environmental agencies wouldn’t allow anyone to touch it. In 2021, different agents found whom to bribe, and sold La Boca for double the price. Now this investment is labeled a “conservation effort” and entails blocking public access entirely, bathers and kiters alike. A new Ritz-Carlton will be erected amidst the sand dunes, and only its guests (and timeshare owners) will have exclusive access to the beach and the river. Conservation indeed. The same story for most of the former colonies in the Caribbean. 

Thankfully, nothing has been done in La Boca in two years. And Wilson, the restaurant owner, assured me that he wouldn’t sell the land on his side of the river, which has been in his family for 30+ years. He also said that if they do close La Boca from the main land, he would pave a new road to La Boca on his side, and keep his restaurant running.

In 2022, the same Ocean Club Group (OCG) bought a huge slice of prime beach-front real estate in the very heart of Cabarete, and proclaimed with giant posters that they “have arrived” and we should “get in line” because they were “bringing the bold to Cabarete”: the W hotel was coming in 2024. Only it never did. The giant swath of land is for sale again, for $40 ml USD. And yet...

Recently OCG grabbed yet another giant chunk of land, adjacent to my favorite wild beach between Cabarete and Encuentro, known as Beach Point. It used to have a couple of cute beach cafes, shacks really, free open-air movie nights on Sundays, and open mic on Thursdays; the best place to mingle for locals and expats alike. A month ago, all the cafes were demolished or moved closer to the road, a barbed wire (!) fence installed along the side road, blocking access to the beach for half a mile. The latter is illegal as all beaches in the DR are public. I mentioned it to my lawyer (#5), who for three years had fought for the re-opening of the public road in El Encuentro beach, along with the activists, and they won last year. Miraculously, upon my return this time mid-August, 2024, the barbed wire along Beach Point fence has fallen too! However, rumor has it that OCG is planning to build another all-inclusive hotel there (i.e. no access to the beach for regular mortals) in the next few years.

All other construction here is condos and villas. This over-development situation reminds me of London. On my visit there ten years ago, I was struck how overbuilt it has become compared to the 1990s. Then I visited this past summer (July 2024). Weirdly shaped glass- and-metal skyscrapers now tower over historical theaters and shops in the heart of the city, creating a scene of suffocation. I caught myself thinking that it’s no longer pleasant to walk in London, unless you’re near a park or the Thames river.

And so we have the same in Cabarete of today. Entire pastures, where horses and cows used to graze, are leveled, and concrete is poured over. Multi-condo cities are being built, a dozen buildings in each, totaling between 70 and 200 apartments per project. To name a few: Laguna City across from Laguna Beach - an extension of Sosua Ocean Village; Parallel, Connections and The Wave are right on Encuentro Beach; La Curadina Lodge, 222 Condos (half built and already abandoned), The Shore and Vit Tour condos are on the road that leads to Encuentro. Kite Beach Condos, Travieso, Marlea and Upwind Estates across from Kite Beach; the enormous complexes of high-end Eden Cabarete, Icon Cabarete and Atlantic View condos, between the all-inclusive Ultra Violeta and Sea Breeze condo, plus La Joya Atlantic Villas and The Crystal Oasis Condos in Cabarete proper, all selling at exorbitant prices (beachfront two-bedroom at Eden starts at $2.4 ml USD). NB: most construction work is done by Haitian migrants, legal and not, who work six days week, stifling heat or pouring rain, for about $1 an hour (500 pesos a day). The Haitians in the DR are treated the same way the Mexicans are in the U.S., yet they have no choice: desperation feeds capitalism.

Some of these projects will be completed, or revamped, as Connections is (it sat abandoned for a decade). Some will be never finished, as 222 Condos or a new house half-built next to my house in Callejon. They build differently here. No financing. While they have money (from pre- construction sales or own investment), the show goes on. As soon as the funds are depleted, the walls will sit there for years, until a miracle new infusion of funds comes in. It’s the same in Kenya, and Tanzania too. It hurts to see all these unfinished atrocities along the road, where cows and horses used to roam free. Another giant swath of land - 50 hectares between Encuentro Beach and Laguna Beach is for sale, by the President of the Dominican Republic. His family is from here, made its money on land sales for decades, and it’s why the President’s personal worth is estimated at $70 ml USD. He just got re-elected this summer; and these 50 hectares of land were marked and advertised two weeks after his re-election. The locals, however, look at the real estate boom as yet another reality TV show, in which they don’t get to participate.

Then there is the issue of property management. Even with fancy completed projects, like my condo, BlueGreen in Laguna Beach, the devil is in the management. If yours is like mine at BlueGreen, you’ll have no services while paying hefty monthly maintenance fees ($400 USD a month; a price of a decent rental in Cabarete). I took my condo’s administrator (who operates as Gordon’s Facilities Management) to court for mismanagement, gross negligence, aggravated harassment, invasion of privacy, health endangerment, money laundering and emotional damages. To name just a few items: 

* The pool water was over-chlorinated 14 times (!) over the norm (I had it tested by an independent lab), then the sea-wall broke down during a storm last February, and both pools, the infinity and the kids’, were closed. The pools have been closed since, for eight months and counting. Nothing is being done by the management.

* The tap water is salty - 10 times over the norm, as the new well “was dug a bit too close to the ocean, so there is some spillage”. Who asked them to build a new well remains a mystery. 

*Three floods and three burst pipes within the walls of just my apartment, and six more throughout the condo (the building had no inspection since it was erected in 2015), including the main pipe that left the entire six-building complex with no water for a week. 

* Filthy outdoor showers and dirty beach;

*A fire on the neighbors patio due to flawed wiring; 

*Trespassing into my apartment in the middle of the night by the security guard (!)

* Theft of cash by security guards from multiple apartments

* Sabotage of private events, and so on.

My advice: before you decide to buy your own piece of Dominican paradise, do your due diligence, which includes not only reviewing the building’s financials (if they exist) and the developer’s record, but also the management’s reputation. In other words, talk to other owners before closing and ask them to be candid. Frankly, Ocean Dream, Ocean One and Harmony are the only well-managed condos in Cabarete that I know of. Hence my other advice: buy a stand-alone house a short walk from the beach: don’t lock yourself in the “gated community” trap. You can snatch a beauty for around $100K USD, no maintenance fees, and the best part - no real estate taxes in the DR on properties under $165K USD.

Back to the Basics

As much as they wish to have a good impression on and attract more of North American tourists - to invest, to holiday, to spend money - nobody thinks long term. It’s not only about lack of preservation. Electricity and water are becoming scarce. It’s common for electricity to go out several times a week, everywhere. The problem: the existing supply of electricity is significantly below the heavily increased demand, due to over construction. 

If you own a condo or are staying in a hotel, they will turn on generators, so you can have your A/C blasting without interruptions. If you’re a “regular” folk living in a house, chances are you’ll be sweating it out with the rest of the locals, for hours on end. So, solar panels is the way to go. There are plenty of providers already, and Sosua Ocean Village is entirely run on solar energy.

Water. Some streets in Callejon didn’t have water for months - because the infrastructure is outdated, and all complaints fall on deaf ears. The same goes for the roads - the main one, along the ocean, has only two lanes, and traffic jams have become a constant in the last year. They paved the entry road into Callejon - because the President once visited and got his shoes dirty; and built cobbled pavements everywhere but the key road itself can’t be widened, as that would mean tearing down most hotels and local shops along it. They’ve even installed street lights and speed bumps on the spots with most auto accidents. But driving in the DR deserves a closer look. 

On Driving

Driving in Cabarete is dangerous. Period. Having traveled to 60 countries, I’d say only Caracas is worse. Remember about the lack of foresight? It’s manifested in reckless driving as if it was another national sport. Here are the main culprits:

1. Signaling. Nobody waits or signals to enter a road. They get on the main road out of nowhere, right in front of you  - with no warning, signals, or common sense. For this reason, my main advice: always honk - before you approach a side street, a corner, a street light, a turn. They assume that it’s your job to notice them and to react accordingly, and for that reason they literally don’t look around when entering a road. Honk to save your life. I can’t tell you how many times it saved mine (and theirs).

2. Speed. The speed limit is 60-80 km/hr, but often the traffic slows to a crawl because there are lots of cement trucks and other construction vehicles, often ancient, that can’t go faster than 40 km/hr. In that case, you’ll be stuck in the turtle lane (the one and only, as explained above), and be affronted by the “impatient ones” fighting the incoming traffic by speeding up and around until they almost crush into you. This is another thing Dominicans share with the Russians - believe in fate: nothing bad will happen to them, God will protect them no matter what, so being reckless is a norm. But there is also Karma. I’ve witnessed two dozens accidents since 2021, and three of the casualties I knew personally (two locals, one tourist). 

3. Lights. Many dilapidated cars and motorcycles don’t use their lights at night. Some because the lights are missing or broken, and they have no money to repair them. Others save on gasoline that way: they believe that a light would eat too much electricity so it’s better to keep it off. We’re talking basic lights in the front and in the back. That means you might be driving into them at any point in the evening, as street lights don’t work everywhere. This is the main reason everybody drives with long lights. Yes, it blinds you from the incoming traffic, but it lets you see the road and vehicles without the lights ahead of you. Use the big lights at night. It’s a thing for a reason. 

On Preservation and Conservation

The reason I wrote this article is not to offer real estate advice or scare you off against the DR. Rather, I wish to encourage preservation and conservation of this beautiful land that you might wish to call your new home, despite its flaws. Unfortunately, nobody thinks of establishing public parks here the way Central Park was conceived in New York City over 150 years ago. Again, the personal wealth of the recently re-elected President is estimated at $70 ml USD; his family fortune made over the decades in real estate dealings in Cabarete and Sosua, the very places I wrote about. You’d think he’d want to preserve his homeland paradise. But no. The choicest swath of green pastures left untouched between Sosua and Cabarete, 50,000 sq. meters anchoring the ocean, is for sale.. by the President, so no park there. But at least a golf club is being planned further along the road towards Cabarete. The thing is, locals don’t play golf. Baseball, soccer and volleyball are their preferred sports. 

Until the DR government makes it a law to invest in public parks along with every real estate purchase, it’s up to us to do so. That’s why I hope to buy additional land: to save a small slice of the original paradise, to conserve the tranquility and natural beauty of this place, and - hopefully, in time - to build a sanctuary for stray, abused and abandoned dogs on one of those lots. There is an epidemic of dog abandonment here. So, if you do come to the island, besides your dream place, buy some land to conserve, and adopt a dog or two. Vamonos!

(c) Vica Miller 2024