Toby,

"unspoiled by pollution"??? You must not have wandered at all out of the resort areas. Take a hard look at the Ozama River in Santo Domingo, or the rivers surrounding Santiago or the rivers near any of the mining firms. Sit in afternoon rush hour traffic in Santo Domingo with your windows down and then tell me that there's no threat of air pollution. Check the "beaches" along SD's Malecon covered with litter, or for that matter, the trash-lined streets of the major cities. The DR is developing some serious pollution issues it must address soon.

"unspoiled by...overdevelopment"??? I'm not so sure. There are no real zoning laws in the DR, and the few on the books are not enforced. Anyone living in SD can attest that some parts of town are growing out of control. But it's not just limited to SD. As someone who first visited Puerto Plata-Sosua and Bayahibe in the mid-1980s, I think those two areas have been overbuilt. They've lost much of their beauty and charm and development has outstripped the local environment's ability to deal with the human concentrations there. Respectfully, Keith