Truth II

We had been coming down to the Dominican Republic for several years. The first few times using a time share program. We soon found a nice little house on the Ocean that we rented over and over. We also looked at other rentals and everything that was for sale. We later bought land down the street and started to build. We hope to be finished soon. Oh please let us be finished soon!



While renting and house/condo hunting we made several observations that most people don't see but take for granted in most of their home countries. I posted about the electrical situation before. How about:



Can I Drink The Water? NO... don't do it. Don't brush your teeth or open you mouth in the shower. When washing vegys, fruits, wiping counters or doing the dishes make sure that you dry them. Unless you KNOW that the water is from a bottle or has been purified into potable drinkable safe treated water. Most places will have bottled water and some will charge extra for it. If renting a house/condo you will have to buy and haul it. Use it to make ice too.



Most places will have a water cistern that stores city water and then is pumped for domestic use. City water is not always reliable and can be off for days at a time. It is not uncommon for an average home to run out of water due to small water storage. Something to check on, along with does the pump have another power source to pump it?



Most bars/restaurants have store ice and bottled water so that should not be a problem.



We installed a purification system for all the indoor taps on the property and our tests come back better then what the EPA standards are. At Villa Samia... go ahead and drink the water. Its free and we have lots.



INSECT SCREENS? I'm amazed how many places do not have insect screens. Nuff said.



GYM. Since we started to promote that we have our own gym (very good equipment I might add) on property... in a room with AC, cable TV and stereo... many others say they have one too. NOT so. They run you down the the local gym in town. Same with tennis and golf that we all have the same access to; we don't have a private golf course and they don't either.



HEATED POOL! In the Caribbean? Yep. We found that when we wintered here, we could not use the pool. Wasn't that part of why we came? Yep. We heat ours and it gets used!