Alright, well..I just spent the past four months at Tropical House and figured I might as well spill what the place is all about, considering I could barely find any decent information before I went there and I figure others are wondering as well.
Tropical House consists of about 20 different apartments spread throughout like 5 different buildings, all different prices and different sizes. It is located in Munoz, which isnt too far from Puerto Plata. It's a little past Playa Dorada, down a dirt road..about 2 kms...and well, I personally found it to be in a beautiful place. It's surrounded by trees, mountains, with a nice river behind it. I read in some places that the river is dirty and disgusting..but really, it's not. It's fine, everyone swims in it and loves it..and personally, I prefer it over the ocean. Nice to not be covered in salt..
Okay, I realize some people think it's too far from everything, but really, it's not that bad. Plus, it gives you a way to get out of the noise and dirtyness of Puerto Plata. The ruta Munoz cars leave every 7 or 8 minutes from like 7 am until 8pm and it costs 10 pesos to go to Playa Dorada and 15 for Puerto Plata, which isn't bad at all. The only real problem is at night time when you want to go out and sometimes you have to wait a while for the cars to get back to Munoz.
In terms of going out at night, you can almost always find someone, like a ruta munoz driver for example, that you can pay like 2-300 pesos each way to give you a ride. Now, yes, that is expensive for a person living there, but for a tourist its a really good price. Plus, you can usually find other people living there who want to go too and save money by splitting the cost.
Is Munoz dangerous? Well, I suppose that depends. If you want to walk alone down the dirt road in the middle of the night, I suppose it could be. But really, I never felt unsafe for a minute. I'm a young woman as well..so if I felt safe, everyone should. The people of the village are super nice if you get to know them, they're basically all a big family and everyone knows everyone. Yes, there is one part of the village that is Haitian. But I don't really see what the big problem is with the Haitian people, although it does seem like everyone assumes they are bad or something. Every single Haitian I met was very nice, sweet and helpful. In terms of security in the apartments, I was actually quite impressed. Seemed like all of the apartments have barred doors and windows, making it difficult to get it...and about 2 big locks to put on the door. And as well, at night time, they have like 2 guys out, with guns and machetes, watching for anyone who doesn't belong there. I had nothing stolen ever in my trip and never felt unsafe.
I had heard a lot of bad things about Diane Pellerin before I left, but actually, she's a very nice woman and was always very helpful with everything. All problems were resolved quickly and broken things, like my fridge, were fixed right away. The only thing I noticed that wasn't incredibly good...but I do understand because she is a business woman, is that she gives different prices to different people depending on how much she thinks they'll pay. So be careful, research how much prices are regularly and bargain with her, I guess. She's definitely a reasonable woman.
Well..I don't really know what else to add. If anyone has any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. Also, I have a bunch of pictures if anyone is interested.
lilcanadiangal
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Tropical House: The real story
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these days.
