Dominican Culture and Dating: A Man’s Guide to Island Living

Before you go dating Dominican girls, you better understand Dominican culture a little bit. If not, you’ll get eaten alive on the island.

The DR is a fantastic place, but it’s not for the faint of heart. Weak men will get used and abused in the Dominican Republic.

Even well-travelled men can run into problems in the DR if they don’t pay attention to the culture and understand how things work here. The Dominican Republic is paradise, but even paradise has a dark side.

The dark side of the DR is something you want to stay away from. Just take my word on that one. By understanding how Dominican culture operates, you can keep yourself far away from some of the troubles this island is home to.

You can enjoy the island vibes, the sexy Dominican girls, and the unique culture that draws you in and keeps you coming back for more and more. The DR is worth a vacation, but some of us end up never leaving. By some, I mean a lot of us.

Dominican Culture and Dating: A Man’s Guide to Island Living

Enough with the doom and gloom already. I get it. You want to know how Dominican culture relates to the dating scene, specifically with foreign men are involved.

That’s what I’m here to tell you about. Below you’ll find everything a man must know to begin understanding Dominican culture and the dating scene in the country:

• Relaxed Island Vibes and Time

First off, you need to realize this is an island. The Dominican Republic is home to nearly 12 million people and not a single one of them will view time as you do.

Time is different in the Dominican Republic. An appointment or a meeting is more of a suggestion than something that is set in stone. This is even true in formal situations, where you’d never imagine someone would show up an hour late. They will show up late. Or they might not show at all.

The idea of island time is even more pronounced when dating Dominican girls. Never expect a Dominicana to show up on time to a date. It just won’t happen, even if you’ve been dating her for months on end.

It’s not a disrespect thing. It’s the culture of the Dominican Republic. The relaxed island vibes combined with the Spanish speaking, Latin heritage ensures that showing up on time for a date just isn’t going to happen. Ever.

If this bothers you, then stay in Europe or the United States.

• Economics of Dating Dominican Women

The Dominican Republic is a poor country. Nearly one out of every three Dominicans lives in extreme poverty on the island (Source). That’s rough, especially in the rural areas. Even the people that aren’t living in poverty wouldn’t be considered rich in the western world.

Thus, money talks in the Dominican Republic. If you have money in the DR, you have power. If you have money here, you can do what you want. That’s the economics of life in the DR. You could almost get away with murder here if you had enough cash. I’m sure some have.

This also related to the dating market. Dominican women value money and economic ability more than most other girls. Many Dominican girls will take a wealthy man or a good looking guy any day of the week. That’s just the dating culture in the Dominican Republic.

Supply and demand are at work here. In the DR, there’s way more beautiful women than there are men with money to properly support a family. As such, men with money will always have plenty of dating options while living in the Dominican.

• Chapiadoras Galore

While rich guys may think Dominican culture sounds like a goldmine for them, it will also cause problems. Girls in the DR are so obsessed with money that there’s a whole culture centered around it and it’s not pretty.

In the Dominican Republic, a girl who is a gold digger is called a chapiadora. They had to develop their own word for gold digger because it was such a common cultural phenomenon. If you have money in the DR, you’ll come across a chapiadora soon enough.

Well, they’ll probably find you. Chapiadoras are girls who basically dress like hookers and almost act like them. They won’t go on a date with you unless you take them to a nice restaurant or invite them to a fancy club with bottle service. Often both.

If you spend enough money on her, a chapiadora will probably sleep with you. She knows the gravy train revolves around her throwing that ass back. So chapiadoras can fuck pretty well. You won’t be disappointed when you get one in bed.

You will be disappointed when she won’t come over again unless you take her out on the dog and pony show for another round of expensive restaurants and bottle service. Chapiadoras are an integral part of Dominican culture, but they’re best to be avoided.

She might be a Chapiadora.

• Fashion in the Dominican Republic

Due to the culture of the Dominican Republic, fashion is a little different here than back home. Dominicans tend to love bright colours, especially because they tend to look better on darker skin tones. You probably can’t pull that off, although you might be able to.

What you can do is mimic the fashion of upper-class Dominicans. These guys wear pants all day and night. It doesn’t matter whether its hot as hell outside or nice and cool on an evening in Santiago, they’re wearing pants or jeans.

You will stick out like a sore thumb in the Dominican Republic if you wear shorts outside the gym, beach, or pool. This is especially true in the bigger cities, like Santo Domingo. Just wear pants in the DR.

You’ll also want to wear name brands here. Since economics plays a role in dating Dominican women, you’ll find the girls here will notice labels more than girls from other cultures. As such, name brands will make you stand out in a good way. Here are a few recommendations:

• Best Jeans in the DR
• Great Dress Shirts in DR
• Polos are Popular Here
• Dominicanas Love These Shoes

By “Dominicanizing” your wardrobe a little bit, you’ll find girls in the DR will respond to you quite well. You don’t need to go overboard. You just need to accept Dominican culture and make a small effort to blend in.

• Education Levels and Online Dating

Since the DR is a bit of a poorer country, you’ll find that education levels aren’t great here. While you can meet tons of educated Dominican women in Santiago and Santo Domingo, this becomes harder and harder when you get into rural Dominican republic areas.

Overall, most of the girls you meet won’t have an education. Even if they do, they’ll struggle to find meaningful work that utilizes their degree properly. Life can be tough in the DR. It also creates opportunities for men.

Since there’s a lot of women here who don’t have jobs or much else to do, online dating has become exceedingly popular. You’ll find more women use online dating per capita in the Dominican Republic than almost anywhere else.

You’ll find thousands of women using Dominican Cupid every single week in Santo Domingo and Santiago de Los Caballeros.

There are certain days when more than 1,000 women are active on Dominican Cupid in Santo Domingo at one time! That’s truly staggering numbers, especially when you consider there’s only a few hundred foreigners that even use the site. This means the odds are more than in your favour.

If you speak a little Spanish, you can use online dating in the Dominican Republic to meet more women than your heart desires. Many girls here are bored and online dating has become a way for them to entertain themselves.

Overall, online dating is a part of Dominican culture. Use it to your advantage.

• It’s a Spanish Speaking Country

This shouldn’t come as any surprise, but if you don’t already know, Dominicans speak Spanish. The DR is a Spanish speaking country. That’s a little basic for an article about Dominican culture, but trust me there’s more to it.

Dominican Spanish is some of the most difficult slang to understand in the world. Even if you can understand the Spanish dialect in a place like Mexico, you may find speaking with girls in the Dominican Republic is difficult.

You need to understand a little Spanish if you want to date Dominican girls. You don’t need to be fluent, but you need to be able to hold conversations.

If you cannot hold a conversation in Spanish, then the only Dominican girls that will date you will be upper-class girls who speak decent English, girls with real jobs that speak some English, regular gringo hunters, and chapiadoras.

Some of these girls will be great. I’ve met Dominicanas when my Spanish wasn’t great and they were lovely girls.

The best Dominican women will want you to speak some Spanish. I’m talking girls who will make you meet their family before coming to your apartment to cook you dinner after the fifth date. I bet you didn’t know the DR had those types of girls. It does. You need to speak Spanish to meet them.

If you know zero Spanish, then check out Rocket Spanish. If you study this program for three months, you will be speaking Spanish better than you’d ever imagined. It’s a pricey program, but there’s no denying it works, especially for beginners.

For guys who speak a little Spanish, but want to brush up on it and date some stunning Dominican girls, I’ve got a secret weapon up my sleeve. Pickup Spanish was a course created to help guys speaking Spanish in a way that helps them get girls in bed. This course will help your game in the Dominican Republic more than anything else.

• You Gotta Ride a Guagua and Go to the Colmado

Don’t take that Chapiadora you met online on a guagua on your first date. Or ever! She’d be mortified even though she’s taken hundreds of guagua rides in her life before she met you.

You must ride a guagua in the Dominican Republic one time. It’s one of the best ways to truly experience the culture of the Dominican Republic. You’ll see how locals travel about the city in their daily lives.

Just don’t wear your nice clothes or bring your cell phone. It’d be rare, but I’ve heard of people getting jacked on guaguas. Still, it’s a unique cultural experience that you must have before you leave the Dominican Republic.

After getting off the guagua, head on over to a colmado around dusk. These small neighbourhood convenience stores do more than sell goods. Colmados have become an institution in daily Dominican life.

Visit a colmado during the early evening and down some Presidentes while bachata music blasts on the loudspeakers. If it’s the weekend, locals might gather around the colmado to socialize and maybe even dance a bit as they drink cold beer.

If you’re looking for an authentic Dominican culture experience, it doesn’t get more Dominicano than drinking and dancing at the colmado on the weekend.

Experience true Dominican culture at a colmado.

• Don’t Expect the First World in the DR

While there’s so much to love about the Dominican Republic, it’s not perfect here, either. The culture of the Dominican Republic is rough around the edges. Times can be tough and people have to find a way to make ends meet.

This means you’ll find lots of third world hustling in the Dominican Republic. Dominicans might not be the most educated people in the world, but damn can they scam. Just because someone doesn’t have a college degree or speak your language, that doesn’t make them stupid.

I’ve seen “educated” foreigners get caught up in the most basic of scams in the Dominican Republic. You have to be on your guard at all times here because some scams can be quite elaborate. Some people have all day to sit on their ass and come up with a plan to rip you off.

You’ll catch on pretty quick if you stick around and won’t fall prey, again. It also helps if you speak Spanish, as you become a much harder mark.

Not only that, you have to worry about power outages, general cleanliness issues, and stuff just not working properly here. The Dominican Republic is known for the stunning Dominicanas, not for their striking infrastructure.

• The Most Friendly People

Even with a few negatives, I’m hooked on the Dominican Republic. The main reason isn’t even the women, although I’m a huge fan. The main reason the Dominican Republic is so awesome is the people.

Sure, you might get scammed or ripped off on occasion for being foreign, but the vast majority of the Dominicans you meet will be incredibly friendly people. You’ll make more friends partying in the Dominican Republic than you would anywhere else.

The people want you to enjoy their country and have a great time while you’re there. They might want you to buy a round of beer, too. Who cares? You make more money in a few months than many locals do in a year. Buy the beers and enjoy their company.

If you make some good local Dominican friends, then you’ll never want to leave. These guys will help you out in a jam and are always up for whatever. A Dominican friend is truly ride or die.

The Culture of the Dominican Republic: A Man’s Guide

Dominicans are some of the friendliest people you’ll ever find. While Dominican culture can be a little rough around the edges, you’ll quickly learn to love it once you figure out how to navigate the few landmines around the island.

That’s what this guide is for. Once you understand how the country operates, you’ll be able to enjoy your time here even more. You might even be able to take advantage of how things work in the Dominican Republic 😉

Where the best of Dominican culture combine.