Leaving for the Dominican Republic in a few days...

Hello folks, I am leaving for the Dominican Republic in a few days

and my schedule (ten days total) is still pretty much wide open,

though I expect I will be spending at least half that time exploring

the barrios of Santo Domingo. For those of you who have been there or

live there (have lived there), any suggestions? (both within Santo

Domingo and the DR at large). <p>

I have absolutely zero interest in resort towns and beaches, so no

Puerto Plata, no Punta Cana. What I am interested in is the DR-

Haitian border (extensive as it is, any checkpoints that i should be

aware of?), older towns-decaying or deserted, anything off the beaten

track (towns as well as beaches), cow towns (cowboys, rancheros, etc;

Higuey might be one, but my general understanding is that they don't

exist in the DR?); towns that may have cultural or religious

festivals within these next couple of weeks. <p>

Thanks very much, look forward to hearing your responses-

I don't want to sound rude, but don't you live in NYC, a city w/the

largest Dominican community outside of Santo Domingo? I

would think that you would be more likely to get good info on the

DR from actual Dominicans than from random strangers on the

internet. Just a thought.

Grant, who posts here, lived in the DR for a few years. You can see some of his DR photos <a href="http://members.tripod.com/g4lamos/">here</a>. You can probably track him down through the photo.net directory.

Chris, it's an excellent point, and I've been doing that as well. What I'm trying to do is gather ideas from more than one source (talking to people around here, for example, I am invariably steered toward resortier towns, the more affluent towns, perhaps understandably), though ostensibly what you suggest is the most obvious. <p>

Jeff, thanks...

Drew:

 

You're right, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Natives

often recommend touristy type stuff to outsiders, probably

because they figure that's all you're interested in or can handle

(similar to why Chinese restaurants usually don't bother to

translate the Chinese menu into English). Also, many of the

Dominicans in NYC may have left the DR to escape from the very

places you want to visit!