[Ken]

Vendors can be a problem, but you can avoid the problem by not making your "tourist" status so obvious. If you walk down the street in your bathing suit, shirt off or unbuttoned, barefeet or flipflops of some sort, there is no hope. But if you dress like I hope you do at home in the summer, then you can avoid much of the hassle.

When walking down the street, just keep walking. If some vendor tries to accost you, just smile, wag your index finger from side to side, and keep moving. Same when at the Sosua beach or anywhere else where there is a concentration of vendors.

I realize that everyone has a different tolerance threashold when it comes to things like vendors. But if you keep your cool and keep moving when you don't want to be pestered, and wag that index finger (which is understood by every vendor in the DR), you can reduce the bother considerably.

Even so, everyone is not suited to vacation in the DR, or anywhere else. I can think of a lot of posh (vendorless) places in the world where I would feel uncomfortably out of place.