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Below is a TRIP REPORT from Jim Hinsch, Sept. 1994.
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The flight to the Dominican Republic originated on Continental out of Newark. The experience really started at the airport. My friend and I were the only Americans on the flight. Even the flight attendants were Hispanic. The usual boarding announcements were only in Spanish. I was glad we were flying first class. One time during the flight, the pilot came out. When he saw us, he told us that if he had known that there were any Americans on the flight, he would have made a couple of announcements. He was American.
Landing in Santo Domingo was nothing at all like I had expected. I had been repeatedly told of 3rd world stories and particularly, about guarding my luggage from the mobs of Dominicans that would grab it the first second I set it down. Instead, I found the airport to be clean, modern, and the people were exceptionally orderly. It was at least as easy as flying into Montego Bay, Jamaica, and the lines went faster. In fact, when I announced to the immigration and customs officials that I was American, I was immediately waved through with an "Oh! Americano!".
I did not find any mob of Dominicans until I stepped outside the Airport doors, where dozens (not hundreds) seemed to be impatiently awaiting friends and relatives. While it was true, that the moment I set down my suitcase, a boy tried to help me with it. I was so prepared that I quickly and rudely yanked it away, startling the young boy, who was only trying to help for a tip. I could not find any sort of information area so I asked at the money changing counter, where I could find my tour bus. The counter person knew nothing. Since my flight had been delayed a couple of hours and it was now 1:00am, we grabbed a taxi. As I had been warned, we agreed on the price for the destination ahead of time. It was $14 to the Hamaca Hotel on Boca Chica - big deal. I should have planned on a taxi to begin with since it was only a 10 minute ride.
The Hamaca Hotel is well known in the area and is the nicest place in Boca Chica. Upon entering the place, it resembled a big Sheraton. The hotel lacked much of the organization that I had become accustomed to during my many stays as Swept Away in Negril Jamaica. The first thing that was different, was that we were forced to put on these wrist bands and keep them on during our entire stay. The bands were to identify us as all-inclusive patrons, since parts of the hotel were open to the public, such as the disco. No problem though. I found that with some warm soapy water, I was able to slide it off at night and slide it back on in the morning. Another difference was that the interior of the this otherwise modern building was not air conditioned. In fact, to even get electricity in my room, I had to insert and turn the room key in a special key hole in the room. That gave the room power and electricity, but I could not take the key out without powering down! I was still cautious and I noticed the room had a safe. But it did not have a key or lock. Back to the lobby I went, annoyed that the desk person had not asked me if I needed a key when I checked in. I was especially annoyed because I was tired and my room was quite a distance and several floors from the lobby. When I returned to my room, I figured I would just keep all my valuables in the safe, and use the sliding glass door that took me right out onto the beach, as my entry and exit method. That way, I could leave the air conditioning on. The front desk would not give me an extra key. I looked around the room, and there was no information about what was included in this place or how to get it. So, it was back to the lobby. I asked what the "deal" was and I was handed a piece of paper that had all of the information briefly written. Now I was really annoyed and asked if there was anything else they forgot to give me before I went all the way back to my room.
At that time of night, there was no food available, so my friend and I want back to our rooms and got a little cleaned up. We were anxious to see Boca Chica, so we met in the lobby to go out. By know, it was past 2:00am. We asked directions at the front desk. We wanted to get some drinks. We were told that it was just a short walk, so we went. Outside the hotel, everything was pitch dark. You see, there is no electricity at night anywhere except at businesses that have their own generator. So, the streets are pitch dark, with some light every block or so where a business has a generator going. We could clearly see the first bar. It was only about 3 blocks away, but the young male Dominicans saw us coming and began buzzing around us on these little motorcycles (more like mopeds), asking if we wanted a ride. We indicated that we preferred to walk. They smiled and left us alone. Outside the bar, there was a small group of locals hanging out. We went inside, but we were not prepared for what was to happen next. We were almost mobbed by Dominican women. They were everywhere and surrounded us. Most were young (maybe 22 or 23) and attractive, wearing suggestive clothing that would be typical of a southern Florida night club. Each was desperately trying to make eye contact and smiling at us. Some were saying "Hi!", and lightly touching us on the shoulder in an attempt to get our attention. We were not ready for this and felt overwhelmed. We started to walk real fast and made our way out of the crowd and over to the back of the bar. We ordered a couple of beers. After a few sips, I turned around, and could see many female eyes upon me. I smiled. There were maybe 10 guys and about 50 women in this bar. The dance floor was full, mostly with women dancing with each other.
After I relaxed a little, I made eye contact with the best looking girl in the bar. Right away, she came over to me. I offered to buy her a beer and she accepted. Her friend took hold of my buddies arm, and they never left our sides. Once, when I turned my back, another women came up and tried to show me that her butt was better than the butt of the girl that was latching on to me. We all laughed, but my female friend turned around and gave her a nasty look. For about 2 hours, we had a blast, dancing and such, and these girls that were with us were acting as though they were our slaves! Soon, they were literally begging to got to a hotel with us. I explained that we were married (I wasn’t, but said I was), so it wouldn’t be right. By the way, I must mention that outside of the hotel Hamaca, nobody spoke a lick of English. I think I approached every white male in the bar, asking "American?". None were. The few other white guys that were in the bar were all European. In fact, throughout our entire trip, we never met another American, except for the last day, when we met 2 girls from Jersey with bad attitudes, at the resort. So, I spoke to everybody outside of the resort in Spanish. I had had about 6 years Spanish, plus a semester in college, but it was real rusty. The drunker I got, the better I was able to communicate! I remember declaring to my female friend, "My Spanish teacher told me that one day my Spanish would come in handy, and today is the day! Dos mas cervesas, por favor!"
We stumbled back to our rooms at the Hamaca. What a night! In the morning, we woke to a beach that was every bit as beautiful as that in Negril, Jamaica, only bigger (deeper, not longer). I had read that the area was protected from big fish by a reef, but they weren’t kidding. You see, this reef sticks out of the water! You can see it from the shore. Not only does it protect from the bigger fish, outside the reef, these huge waves were crashing in. But, inside the reef, the water was almost like glass. You could walk all the way out to the reef, maybe 3/4 of a mile, and the water only became chest deep, at the deepest point, which was about half way there. As you approached the reef, the water became shallow again, until it was only ankle deep. The reef was probably 2 miles long. Inside it was like a giant calm and shallow swimming pool. I went water skiing in the after noon, something I could not do in Jamaica because it was always windy in the afternoon. The beach was completely free of debris, rocks, sticks, etc., and under water, it was smooth and without rocks. After about 100 yards moving out towards the reef, there were some rocks underfoot. This place was gorgeous.
The hotel did a poor job of letting us know what was available. Even the last day, we discovered amenities, such as the pizza stand, that we didn’t even know was there. We wanted to stay an extra day, but the hotel front desk told us that the hotel was completely booked. At 100% capacity. I could not believe that they did not have even 1 room available the my buddy and I could share. After some argument, the guy at the front desk suggested I go back to my room and call their main reservation number. I did not understand how the main information number could have more accurate information than the front desk,, but I went back and called anyway. The women on the end of the reservation line did not even question it. She told me "No Problem!" I was asked though, to go back to the front desk and give a credit card to secure the extra days. We each were able to keep our rooms an extra day. And, I believe the main reservation number rings into a room that is BEHIND the front desk, because I had some more questions about the extended stay, and they went back there to get the women that I had spoken to on the reservation line, to come to the desk to speak with me! That said, service at the hotel was generally prompt and good.
While at other all inclusive resorts, I found the food to be slightly better at the restaurants that take reservations, and where you order from the menu, when compared to the buffet, so for our first dinner, I booked a reservation at their fine dining restaurant. The bill came to about $100 for two, including a bottle of wine, and the place only allowed us $10 credit per person as part of the all inclusive package. The meal was wonderful, however. I must say that eating there was a little embarrassing. It was only my buddy and I, and at 7:00pm, we were their first guests of the evening. Service was over a white table cloth, dim lights, candles, and soft piano music. All this was a little too romantic for us. But, the service was impeccable, with two servers always standing at attention to the side, waiting for us to signal the slightest need. The food (I had rack of lamb) was fabulous.
The resort was about 95% couples in the age range of 25 to 45. The majority were German, but we met lots of Italians, French, English, and some people from Belgium also. The resort guests loved to play these games. All day and night too, the resort everyone eagerly participating in various games - many that were "physically social".
The buffet style dinners were good, but not great. Water service at the tables was excellent. Dinners were followed by resort entertainment. There were shows and the performers were quite good.
On our other nights out, we made it by 11:00pm and found the reactions in the bars much more laid back then the first time, when had we arrived at 2:00am. The late night arrival from the previous evening reminded me of typical night clubs at last call, with men everywhere scouring the bar - only it was the women doing the scouring here. 11:00pm was early for these bars, with people just starting to arrive. The places did not really start to get crowded until around midnight.
The next day was kind of rainy. While my friend and I were enjoying beer in the light rain at this bar on then of a pier, the wind really started picking up. We were getting drunk though, and had made friends with some locals from nearby Santo Domingo, that were at the resort for a little weekend getaway. As the weather started getting worse, we continued, along with everybody else, to party on the pier. The weather became violent though, so I took some pictures. I could see these walls of water crashing into the reef, and it was getting kind of rough inside the reef also. This was one heck of a storm. In fact, we were in the middle of a hurricane! It was Tropical Storm Debbie. We had been given no warning, and drank beer outside on the pier through most of it!
After the storm let up a little, the beach was kind of destroyed, with all the sand washed away and debris everywhere. Our new friends drove us into town to give us a tour of Santo Domingo. While Santo Domingo was no sprawling metropolis, it was far from what I had imagined of 3rd world cities. The roads were find, except that we had to drive around lots of fallen palm trees, and the drive reminded me of some drives along the beach in California, with a nice park like setting between the road and the beach. The town did not have a lot of sky scrapers, but it wasn’t filthy or too dumpy either. We asked to be taken to the nicest hotel in town so we could gamble and visit the disco. We were dropped off at the Renaissance Hotel. It was large and modern, just like a Westin Hotel anywhere in America. It was Sunday, and the casino was not crowded. We at dinner at a restaurant in the hotel called "Figaro", and I had the best rib steak I’ve ever encountered in a restaurant. Coming from me, that is something, because I’m disappointed with just about ANY steak that is not cooked by me personally on a charcoal grill. I frown at what I’ve been served at the "best" steak houses in New York, and elsewhere.
We couldn’t get in the disco because we had shorts on, even though I offered the guy at the door $100 to let us in. So, we grabbed a cab back to Boca Chica. When we arrived, I saw that the resort had hundreds of Dominicans working on the beach under great lights that had been put up. They were bringing in sand by the dump truck load, one after another and the workers were spreading it around. They worked all through the night, and by morning (we had a night similar to the previous nights in Boca Chica), you could not even tell that a storm had hit (with the exception of an overturned raft capsized onto the beach and some damaged boats). The beach had been completely rebuilt over night.
The last day, I was suprised to see that "normal" checkout time was 1:00pm, and 4:00pm checkout could be arranged for an extra half days room rate, which of course would include the day at the beach, food, drinks, etc. Unfortunately, my flight was first thing in the morning. Next time, I’m choosing a carrier that arrives early and leaves late. I’ll definitely be back.
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