Not to say I didn’t enjoy my time in the Dominican Republic, but it is certainly not my favorite trip. I spent a little over two weeks here in the summer of 2014 and I traveled to two different cities on the island shared with Haiti. I started in the capital city of Santo Domingo and then halfway through, I traveled to the other side of the island to stay at a hostel in the resort area of Punta Cana. Out of all the Latin American countries I have traveled to, this is the one that I was constantly cat-called and harassed walking on the street. It was like nothing I had ever seen; guys on motorcycles were stopping and turning around in the street just to cat-call me just to give you an example. I never got to have a quiet stroll on the beach or a pleasant walk-about to find a place for lunch. It got to the point where I didn’t like leaving the hostel alone, no matter the time of day.
Other than that huge, horrible issue I did have a great time and got to do some pretty amazing things. I enjoyed stays at both of my hostels and made some great friends. Would I go back? Probably not, but I certainly don’t regret having traveled there. The capital city, once you got over the rundown buildings and littered streets, was beautiful and full of history. Punta Cana, of course as a resort area, had the beautiful beaches synonymous with the Caribbean. But one of the curses of resorts areas is an abundance of people who are always trying to sell you something and the Dominican Republic had the highest concentration of these that I had ever witness. And Lord, were they persistent. If you want a quiet, peaceful time at the beach I would not recommend this country.
Santo Domingo
Punta Cana
