Travel - Down in the DR

I know that it has been over 2 weeks since we got back, but my feeling is that it is better late than never so here I am with an entry. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about Joanna and I took a little vacation earlier this month to the Dominican Republic. We left Philadelphia International on Friday, June 9 and returned 5 days later on Wednesday, having spent 4 full days relaxing in the Caribbean sun (typically with a drink in hand). Having never been there before I had some obvious worries, ranging from food and water to the weather (it was their supposed rainy season), but after coming back I find myself hard pressed to come up with any complaints.

Our vacation was spent at the Viva Wyndam Dominicus Palace, found just outside of La Romana in the southern part of the Dominican. We found and booked the resort online with a package that was all-inclusive and very affordable (The Dominican is probably the most affordable vacation destination among the Caribbean islands). By all-inclusive I mean that upon arrival we placed our wallets in the room’s safe and excluding a snorkeling trip they were left there the entire time. Everything from the flight, to transportation to and from the hotel, the room, food, drinks, and entertainment were all included and we had no issues with anything.

The resort itself was absolutely gorgeous, as you can see from the pictures I’ve included, and right on the beach. That is where we spent most of our day just lounging with drinks from the poolside bar or swimming in the sea. Our room was less stunning perhaps, but very clean and comfortable, (all I was really looking for) and the balcony with a gorgeous view of the resort was a nice bonus. The food, likewise, may have been disappointing if you were looking for 4 stars, but we were more than happy, with the dinners especially at restaurants ranging from Italian to Mexican and a grille.

Before arriving we had talked about taking a day trip to Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital, but we ended up being very happy spending the entire trip at the resort and on the beach without worrying about the hastle of busing into and around the city. The one exception was the last day when we took the above mentioned snorkeling trip. It was actually my very first time snorkeling and a very cool experience. The highlight for the excursion was obviously snorkeling on the reef as well as in a natural pool that was home to a number of starfish, but we were also brought to visit a few small, nearby islands. All very gorgeous.

The following day we headed back to Philadelphia and as I said before, there really isn't anything I could think of worth complaining about with the trip, except maybe that it ended too quickly. We had a great time and even the weather was perfect, minus a brief downpour and thunderstorm Tuesday night.

That said I would note a couple of things for anyone thinking about going. One is that it is a major European travel destination and you shouldn’t expect to hear much English spoken while there, though the majority of the staff seemed to speak at least some English. It certainly helps if you have some understanding of Spanish, but completely unnecessary. Second, it is probably not a great place for singles looking to meet people, but it is a great resort for couples and families. And personally I think it would be a great place for a group of friends to get together (note for future). Hard to beat a place where you can drink for free all day and night on the beach, swim in the Caribbean, and play some volleyball, water polo, etc.

Now I’ll leave you with some pictures and with that, Hasta pronto.

Politics - Gas prices too high?

Across the country people have been expressing outrage over the rising cost of gas, now averaging near $3 a gallon. So far the result has largely been to focus frustrations on the easy target found in big oil (and their record breaking profits). Accusations of price gouging and artificially inflated prices have been made by politicians, the media, and people across the country. However, by doing so one misses the real issues affecting gas prices.

So how do we explain the current rise in gas prices? It can become complicated to understand considering the many factors at work (let alone explain. Especially true if, like me, you are far from an expert in economics), but essentially it boils down to simple supply and demand.

In terms of supply there are a number of questions regarding the world’s oil reserves. The experts can’t seem to agree so I will not make any claims about whether or not the world is running out of oil, but either way it is a limited resource and as we continue to pump oil the supply continues to shrink. Moreover, as known reserves are used up new, untapped sources of oil become harder, and more expensive, to access for geological, political, and environmental reasons.

Despite this the world’s demand for oil has only continued to grow. In large part this is due to the dramatic rise in demand from the developing (and rapidly growing) economies in India and China. But the biggest factor in all of this continues to be the United States. The US consumes roughly 25 billion barrels of oil a day, 10 times more than all of India and far more than anyone else in the world. This can be explained in part by a lack of responsibility and foresight on the part of Americans and the US government. Without a loophole SUVs would be banned and had politicians not given in to carmakers car-emissions standards would have been raised years ago. The demand for oil in Western Europe and Japan has remained flat since the oil crisis of the 1970s, but it has doubled in the United States.

On top of all this there is still a major X factor in the instability of the major oil producing countries. Many experts believe that $10-15 of the current price of oil can be attributed solely to geopolitical concerns. This includes violence and instability in Nigeria and Iraq, but of even greater issue is Iran and conflicts with the West over its nuclear ambitions.

In two other major oil producers, Venezuela and Russia, nationalization has resulted in a decrease in investment and production. In Russia production growth has fallen from 5 to 10% a year in the 1990s to 2 to 3% currently, while in Venezuela production has actually fallen around 50% since 2003 under Chavez.

All of these factors help to explain the dramatic rise of oil prices in the global market (a more significant rise than that of American gas prices in the same time period), which is now around $70 a barrel. Still, as we focus more nationally one sees a number of local factors that have contributed to rising gas prices as well. These include, among others, last years hurricanes, which knocked out 10% of the nation’s refining capacity, and the removal of a chemical called methyl tertiary-butyl ether from gas in a number of states due to health and environmental concerns.

Taking everything into account prices at the pump should be rising. This is to say nothing of the fact that they are already considerably higher in other developed, oil importing nations (near $7 in Britain). I am by no stretch of the imagination a defender of the oil companies, but accusations of price gauging are by and large unfounded. They are not only unfounded but potentially dangerous because they shift the focus away from the real issues that must be dealt with: curbing demand, investing in future supplies, developing alternative fuels, and limiting dependence on unstable nations and regimes to name a few. There are no quick fixes, unfortunately, but better recognizing the situation and issues at hand is at least a start. I would in fact argue that ultimately we would be better off if gas prices were higher, but that is a subject for another post.

I used a number of sources for this post, including the Economist, MSNBC.com, the Wall Street Journal, and Wikipedia. For additional reading I suggest starting with:

Much Ado about pumping

The Real Story of Pricey Oil

Oil Price Increases 2004-2006