THE DR-GRINGA'S LIFE BLOG
Real Life and Times in the Dominican Republic

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IN COLONIAL ZONE
THINGS DOMINICAN
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IMPORTANT STUFF
To call Dominican Republic from United States is the same as calling any US number. There is no International code. The area code for Dominican Republic is  809 and 829. So when You call dial 1 + 809 (or 829) + the 7 digit number.
It is the same when calling to USA from Dominican Republic. Just dial as you would if you were in USA. 1 + Area Code + the 7 digit number.
For Police, Fire, Civil Defence, All Emergencies 911 can be used throughout the country.
Nobel Calling Cards
I have found to be one of the best and easiest to use calling cards to call Dominican Republic. They have many different options to chose from, including a card that charges by the second (this is the one I use personally). This way you get charged for exactly what you talk. There are no connection fees or monthly charger either. I have been very happy with their service and prices. Just order on line. Sometimes you have to call and verify that it was you that ordered the card for your security. They send all the information to your email. Within minutes you can be making a call using your new calling card. The prices and service are great. The card can be used to call anywhere, not only Dominican Republic. You can buy a card where you need to dial a pin number or you can get a pin free card. I highly recommend Nobel cards.

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Telephone Companies
The telephone/ Communications in Dominican Republic are fairly reliable. There is basic home telephone service, internet and cell phone services. Many of the out laying areas do not have land lines and cell phone service is sporadic. In the cities there is usually no problem with service. Home telephone service can be expensive. There are different services from paying for each call to having unlimited local calling. This is why most people have cell phones and most of these are the pre paid kind. One thing to remember when calling a cell phone there is a charge on the home phone to make the call. Many pay phones will not let you call a cell phone.
The phone companies in Dominican Republic:   Codetel, Tricom, Orange and Viva

Send a text message to a Dominican cell phone from your computer for free!
Claro.com  (was Verizon and also CODETEL) |
Tricom Text message free | Viva Text message free

Use the telephone on the left and send a text massage to any Claro / Codetel (used to be Verizon) cellphone / celular  directly. Type in the number (no dashes), type your message(max. 150 characters). Click enviar (send). A little window will pop up so you can enter a security number they provide. then hit the button "enviar mensaje". That's it. Your message is on its way.
Try it now!

ZONA COLONIAL - 10210    .
The Postal Service is not very reliable in Dominican Republic. We suggest, if you do want to receive mail from other countries to get a Post Box. There are companies ( PO Box International, CPS-Continental, Jet Pac...etc.) where you can rent a box and they are independent from the government mail service. In the USA they give you a mail box address in Miami or some other area. Then your mail is sent there. Then they bring it to Dominican Republic. For links to these services go to our links page here. These private services are faster, more reliable and much more secure. More about these services soon.....
For Zip Codes in Santo Domingo / Código Postal Dominicano Santo Domingo
Zip codes in all the other regions of Dominican Republic / Código Postal Dominicano Regiones
El Instituto Postal Dominicano (INPOSDOM) / Dominican Republican Post website
Loteria Nacional / The Dominican Republic National Lottery.
Check your lottery numbers. 
For locations of places where you can purchase your lottery ticket in the Colonial Zone go to our gambling page here. Also see this lottery box with the daily numbers a little larger for your viewing pleasure.


What Will It Cost Me?
We will put some of the average costs of items. We will change them periodically as we get new information. This will give you an idea of the price of goods, supplies and services in Dominican Republic. The prices listed are in Dominican Pesos (DOP). Use the Exchange rate below find the price in your money.
Prices (average) as of March 2008 (in pesos)
Pinto beans per pound- $36, rice per pound- $18, cooking oil - $45, chicken, 1 pound- $32, eggs, 30 count- $90, can tuna- $25, Gouda cheese- $160, corn flakes, 18oz.- $125, Powdered milk, large can- $650, a liter of milk - $50, pack of Marlboro Cigarettes - $100

Taxi from SDQ (Santo Domingo Airport to Santo Domingo (the Capital) $30 to $40 USD more or less. Taxi within Santo Domingo - $120 to $150 pesos before 11PM after 11 all depends. Public car locally in Santo Domingo - $14 pesos

Exchange Rate
This is a great tool for finding the exchange rate in Dominican Republic and almost any other country you might want to travel to. All you need to do is enter the amount of money and what type of money it is. Here is Dominican Republic is is the DOP (Dominican Republic Peso).

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Learn Spanish
The time in Dominican Republic is Eastern Standard Time (EST). The same as New York and Miami in the Eastern United States. The country did try using the Daylight Savings Time change but it did not work out well so they decided not to change the clocks like the North Americans. This means that when the states in North America change their clocks Dominican Republic does not. Thus making for an hour time difference during this time change.

Dominican Republic is located between latitude 17°  40' and 19°  56' North and longitude 68°  20' and 72°01' West of the Greenwich Meridian (GMT -4). So this means if you are using Greenwich time Dominican Republic time would be minus 4 hours (UTC/GMT -4 hours)

 

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Descriptions of the Dominican Republic peso (DOP) / Peso de Oro (pictures of the money - opens in a new window).

Paper Money- All the peso notes in Dominican Republic have a thin plastic strip holding identification numbers inside to help prevent forgery. They also have the hidden image that can be seen when held at a 45-degree angle with the letters BCRD (Banco Central República Dominicana). All the notes, except for the $20 peso note, have a special watermark of Juan Pablo Duarte, the countries founding father. They also have the notes denomination on the bottom right corner raised for the blind.

$20 pesos: Picture of Gregorio Luperón on the front. The Panteón Nacional on the back.

$50 pesos: Picture of The Catedral Metropolitana Santa María de la Encarnación, the first church in the Americas, on the front. The Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia on the back.

$100 pesos: Pictures of the founding fathers / Padres de la Patria, Juan Pablo Duarte, Francisco del Rosario Sánchez and Matías Ramón Mella on the front. A picture of the Puerta del Conde on the back.

$200 pesos: Picture of the Hermanas Mirabal; Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa, on the front. The monument dedicated to them on the back. This, the newest bill, was created in 2007.

$500 pesos: Pictures of Salomé Ureña de Henríquez and Pedro Henríquez Ureña on the front. A picture of Banco Central de la República Dominicana on the back.

$1000 pesos: Picture of the Palacio Nacional and the back has the Alcázar de Don Diego Colón.

$2000 pesos: Pictures of José Reyes and Emilio Prud'Homme, the writers of the Himno Nacional. The back a picture of the Teatro Nacional.

Coins - All coins have the Coat of Arms/ Escudo Nacional on the back
$1 peso: Picture of the Padre de la Patria, Juan Pablo Duarte.

$5 pesos: The face of Francisco del Rosario Sánchez.

$10 pesos: The face of Matías Ramón Mella.

$25 pesos: The face of the hero of the restoration, Gregorio Luperón.

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for more detailed information in Spanish go to the Banco Central web site.
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Be safe when you travel. I highly recommend getting a pre paid Credit Card when traveling. This way if your card is lost or stolen no one can get into your real accounts and wipe you out. You can place into the card whatever amount or money you want and use it as you would any credit or debit card..
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