....... I soon realized that POP was not good for making money. I was wrong to think gringos would pay well. It seemed that gringos living in pop were almost as poor as the dominicans. Living on tight budget. They were either cheap or broke. I lost a lot of money in POP. I also realized that beach was not so exciting place to be near by. I would rarely go to beach. I simply got bored with pop and sosua area. Women were ugly and place had little to offer. Most foreigners were drunks and old. I was a bit lonely there. ........I learned to speak spanish among them. I didn't know that I had learned absolutely nothing of spanish in POP. I thought I knew some but when I came to santiago, I was dumb founded. I had lost 2 years in POP and I was upset. I didn't know this country had so much to offer. from that time on, I started to hate sosua and POP, not to mention the people who live there. They know nothing of this country. Most foreigners know only pop and sosua and nothing apart from that. These DR1 gurus know only their small world and nothing else. If you want to know this country, get out from resort towns. I wasted my time and money listening to gringos and puerto plata dominicans in pop. So for me, its santiago and only santiago. I love this town and the people here. I don't think if I can ever go back to USA and live there happily. If I ever move from here it would be for economical reasons. AZB