Las Terrenas warning

[mountainfrog]

Originally Posted by lemunch

My girlfriend and I were held up at gunpoint two days ago in a house we had rented in Las Terrenas. ... down Abre Grande Road...

I am very sorry to hear that.
We've had a spell of a relatively quiet situation in LT and I haven't heard of robberies at gun point for some time.
However, whenever I drive by the local police station more often than not I see 'gringos' or tourists there obviously reporting some kind of mishaps.

I am not quite sure where this happened (connecting road between the new dirt road to El Limón and Punta Popy?), but everything is totally comprehensible.

Originally Posted by lemunch

.... the guard and maintenance men were unconcerned for some reason. We were screaming and they went about their business.

As already mentioned one should not expect watchmen to be much protection or help.
Noone here will risk much for little money...
Often the people around a house or 'urbanicación' somehow someway have a crystal ball...
On the other hand it seems that LT with its relative high proportion of foreigners makes it worthwhile for criminals from as far as SD to 'work' here.

m'frog

[mountainfrog]

Originally Posted by cocoleka

...If a watchman is not the answer in the DR, then how can we secure our homes and property? I need to know this since I am about to move near las Terrenas. Please give me your thoughts.

1. Dogs
Yes, dogs can be poisened or killed; but normally this would give you time enough to be warned.

2. Do as the Dominicans do.
Never leave your house alone or have somebody there whom you can fully trust.

m'frog

[adrianb]

Originally Posted by lemunch

Riiiight. I'm the girlfriend who speaks Spanish, and yelling 'los hombres tienen pistolas.' the neighbors were being somewhere between scared and corrupt and morons in the face of audible gunfire.

I'm sorry you had this experience. It is curious that you both seem to blame us for it.

Clearly you're not doing something right since this happened only a short time after you arrived here. Its never happened to me and I've been here for a long time.

Maybe you need to consider returning home. If you don't fix whatever you're doing wrong it could happen again with a worse outcome.

There are plenty of people in your area who have been in the DR for a long time. If you're able to withhold your anger long enough it might make sense to ask for their help and guidance since they will know how things work better locally.

[Chip]

Originally Posted by cocoleka

Dear Lemunch,

Thank you profusely for reporting this horrible event. I sincerely hope you and your girlfriend recover from this trauma and can put it behind you.

A question to you and everyone reading this:

If a watchman is not the answer in the DR, then how can we secure our homes and property? I need to know this since I am about to move near las Terrenas. Please give me your thoughts.

There is a sticky thread that has a lot of useful information, but I will summarize it for you.

1. Closed in yard, if possible.
2. Bars on windows and doors.
3. Have a dog and/or an alarm system, such as infrared that will sound and alarm and cut on bright lights in the yard.
4. Have a bat handy.
5. Get to know and be very open and friendly with your closest neighbors and get their phone numbers, especially the ones who have a pistol - have these entered into speed dial on your phone - they will be the first responders.
6. Get to know a policeman or military person of at least captain's rank in the area. Visit them give them a bottle of Johnny Walker Black every once in a while(not at the police station of course!) Also, get their card and cell number.

best of luck

[John Evans]

excuse me but why are these people being beaten up for making people aware of a crime - no wonder they have got angry with the response on here

[Lambada]

Originally Posted by adrianb

I'm sorry you had this experience. It is curious that you both seem to blame us for it.

Clearly you're not doing something right since this happened only a short time after you arrived here. Its never happened to me and I've been here for a long time.

Maybe you need to consider returning home. If you don't fix whatever you're doing wrong it could happen again with a worse outcome.

Adrianb, I took the liberty of emboldening part of your post because it is precisely when people are new here that they are most at risk. They might not be doing anything 'wrong' at all other than 'being new' & leading the ladrones to deduce that they are wet behind the ears. Clearly they handled themselves sensibly by getting away. But the 'newness' would also explain why no neighbours were motivated to assist - lemunch is too new to have formed the sort of relationships with neighbours which you have & I have. From the description it doesn't sound like the attackers were spaced out on drugs - they sound too laidback for that - although the proceeds could well have been destined for that.

lemunch, I don't think that it's true that people say there is no crime here. I know I've posted quite a few incidents on the north coast over the years. The problem we have is how well we're heard - I recently commented on a house purchase someone had made in Las Terrenas precisely because I could see security concerns from the photos provided. But I could tell from the reaction that the person didn't like my questions. So............under those circumstances many of us give up & let people learn the hard way. Had you contacted mountainfrog or Squat before you moved here you would have been given a realistic, truthful assessment. But I don't see from your previous posts any questions asking for advice on this issue. Why didn't you ask before you moved here?

Thank you for your report of this event which will doubtless help others & yes I, too, find it totally believeable. I hope you both recover.

[KateP]

Lemunch, first off I'm very sorry you had to go through that kind of experience. I can't start to imagine how defensless you must have felt. Thank god you came out of it unharmed.

Unfortunately, although the DR might look a lot like many people's idea of paradise, the reality is that there is crime. But at the same time, there's crime in the US, in Canada, in Europe and in pretty much the whole wide world and unfortunately, there isn't all that much we can individually do about it. Other than taking precautions like Chip mentioned below, odds are that at some point (no matter where you live in the world), either you or a family member or a close friend will be affected by some sort of crime. It sucks like heck when it happens to you and it's tough to pick up the pieces and go on but do you have any other choice?

Thank you for sharing your story with us. I'm sure many people will be reconsidering their safety precautions after reading it.

[lemunch]

Hi, thanks to everyone for the kind and helpful advice. We did, in fact, research DR1 and several other resources for months before coming. We've also lived and traveled to most continents and dealt with areas far more risky than this. (You're right that crime exists in the whole world and in no way are we implicating that Dominicans or Haitians or anyone for that matter is more violent, poor or likely to commit a crime than anyone else.) We were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and wanted to alert others to avoid this.

Lessons learned so far are -

- 24-hour guard is not a safety solution in and of itself
- be careful on property abutting the mountains or undeveloped areas. (the thieves apparently came from and disappeared into the jungle behind the house...which is ironically quite beautiful.)
- check your cell phone in outlying areas to be sure it works. this was one of our more ignorant mistakes.
- the "new" tourist thing is very true and the smaller profile you have your first few days, the better. i.e. DON'T use laptops in cafes, at first. Keep them hidden.

One last note from 'the girlfriend,' me, I just wanted to clarify my post which I see now could be read as accusatory toward the neighbors or community in general. I was annoyed by the former poster adrian's comments toward me and truthfully, the neighbors' behavior was confusing. I think it's likely that they were scared by the situation and trying not to make any sudden moves.

I should know better than to let that sort of comment get to me, it's just that sort of 'blaming-the-victim' thing that's exceptionally hard to hear when you've just had the scare of your life (getting thrown on a bed with a gun to your mouth is terrifying). Anyway I responded in anger when I ought to have ignored. Thanks so much to everyone on this board and in this thread for your kind and insightful comments.

[ridiela]

Hello Lemunch,

Crime exists everywhere and specially in touristic places, I am so sorry for what happened to you. I live in Las Terrenas since more than one year and I also direct a small apartments complex and I never had any problem but I am not going to hide crime here, there is crime and we need to inform and fight it.

I would like to know the name of the complex and the name of the security company, because that is a very important information.

I would recommend to everybody traveling to Las Terrenas to be careful in Abragrande, especially at nights (I have heard about some crimes there) and if possible always try to stay closer to a Hotel or closer to Downtown, those places are more safe.

[CFA123]

lemunch,
sorry to hear of your problem and i don't doubt the reality of it and similar events.

your 'lessons learned' is a good starter list for overall safety.

in general, problems like you encountered are few & far between... but in circumstances as you mention - the odds rise, and at times significantly, of encountering problems

i hope you encounter things of redeeming value during the remainder of your stay that help offset the horrible experience.