Part 2. How to stay alive in the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴

So let me tell you about my resort. It was AMAZING!! Dreams Resort La Romana is where I stayed and at $200 a night for a room it was unbelievable. Hotel rates have gotten completely out of hand. A room at the Tweaker Inn in your nearest Meth Town is gonna run you $80 minimum which is just crazy cause I shared my room in the DR so I was paying only $20 more for a place in the Caribbean that was all inclusive! No limit on drinks. Everything is “free” since it's included in your cost of the room! Well drinks or top shelf liquor drinks cost the exact same… NOTHING! There was 4 pools and free kayaking, the whole thing was just WOW! I highly recommend it.

I had a rental car so I wanted to get out of the resort and see the REAL Dominican Republic. To me it felt like if I went and only met other Americans and Europeans, did I really even go to the DR?? So I went off into the town. I went into La Romana and I went into Bayahibe. La Romana was definitely the more sketchy of the two and there was an incident where some dudes in a bar were trying to corner my friend and I as we tried to leave. They went out the back door of the bar and cut us off on the sidewalk. We went back inside the spot and so did they. So we left out one more time and ran past where they would be coming out to get back to my car and they were behind us yelling something but we did not stop! We got to the car and booked it out of there!

There was a problem with Apple Maps at the time. It wouldn't give turn by turn directions. I would later find out that Google Maps did but at this time I was using Apple. It would only show the blue dot to indicate where you were so you would have to navigate yourself looking at the map and the roads. My friend and I were trying to get back to the highway and the map indicated we would run right into it. However, as we were going we went off the main road onto an unpaved road. It didn't feel right but my navigator said it was the right way. Yeah… it was NOT. This road looped around a corner where we passed a group of people who just stared at us. We got to the end of the road and there was a single house with around 6 loud barking dogs out front. This didn't feel right at all when out of nowhere a guy popped out the front door with a shotgun pointed at us!! He had a big cigar in his mouth and did not look like he was playing around!! I never been more scared in my life as I attempted to turn the car around as fast as I could!! I just kept picturing our car windows getting blasted out and us getting shot. We were sitting ducks as I had to make a three point turn and all the dogs were barking and jumping up at the windows. I don't advocate violence against animals in any way shape or form but I swear to get up out of there I would've ran over anything in my way! 😬😬 We sped away as bullets rang out. Boom! 💥 Boom! 💥 It was CRAZY!! 😳

So THAT'S how I ended up downloading Google Maps! 💡 I always had an iPhone so I never considered anything else other than Apple Maps. For whatever reason Google Maps did have turn by turn directions and we managed to get back to the resort. 😅 Whew!

While that was crazy and super dangerous I can't blame the location for that incident. That same thing could happen to you in Oregon driving down someone's drive way on private property. The main lesson to learn is to always be aware of your surroundings and your location. Anywhere can be safe and anywhere can be dangerous depending on your exact location and intentions. Things like your GPS and navigation should be figured out beforehand. Nothing like this has ever happened to me since. This was my first travel off of North America and I learned from my mistake.

The rest of my time was AWESOME and involved no more craziness. There was kayaking and it was free, included with the resort, and there was volleyball courts. I went snorkeling for my first time and that was an experience alright. It was sort of weird looking and being able to see the ocean floor and all the things you walk on. I went to Saona Island and that was even more beautiful than the resort. It was a short 35 minute boat ride away.

I met some really cool people in the DR. Some locals and some travelers. People I'm still friends with to this day. The Dominican Republic is a beautiful place and worth your time to experience it. There were Americans being killed there at the time I was there but it was mostly media hype as there are Americans dying in America everyday. Besides a couple unique incidents I had a safe and wonderful time and never felt in danger. I would absolutely go back! I actually would love to go back and see how different my experience would be now that I have been to so many more places and have grown as a person and a traveler.

That there is “How To Stay Alive In The Dominican Republic! 🇩🇴

Next up! Dublin, What Ireland Doesn't Want You To Know” 🇮🇪