About Rio Vista

We believe the Rio Vista Guest House is the ultimate place for your upcoming mission team accommodations. Nestled in what seems like a jungle setting, we exist to provide your team with the best possible accommodations for their service to the people of the Dominican Republic. In addition to the services we provide directly to the poor in the community, we can help you create a powerful mission atmosphere for your team without sacrificing the amenities that are needed to have a productive time.

We have served medical teams, film crews, youth groups, pastors' conferences, and local church mission teams. We have been privileged to be a part of providing primary health clinics, vacation bible schools, fresh water filter distribution, building homes, repairing churches, documentaries, educational programs, sewing and baking training, marriage workshops, and a lot of feeding the poor. It has been a joy to serve the servants.

Our food is prepared fresh each day by trained chefs who work to use as many locally grown items as possible. Over the years, many people have commented on the quality of our food service. Our food service times are now up to you. You tell the chef when you want to eat, and we will have it hot and ready. Our menu is diverse and will feature many American, Mexican, and Italian favorites, as well as a taste of the island with some delightful Dominican cuisine. We will do our best to accommodate food allergies when informed in advance.

Our nicely appointed rooms have plenty of storage for suitcases and gear. The rooms are simple and extremely clean. The air conditioners are in excellent working condition, and we have a generator for when (not if) the Dominican power goes out. Your group leader can create your own rooming list with the RIO staff. Every room has combination locks, so there are no keys to lose.

Our pool is ready to serve you when you return from the hot morning or afternoon of service projects. The Jacuzzi tub can hold a lot of conversation. The pool is available from 6 am to 10 pm. We ask that pool activities be kept to a quiet volume level after 8 pm.

Our Trained chair massage therapists are available with some much-needed pampering after a long work day. Many teams schedule them for every night. A fee of $40 provides two massage therapists for 3 hours. Please share a small tip with your favorite therapist if you enjoyed your massage. These therapists come from the vocational training department.

While you will NOT hear or see anything about the social work we do each week in the Dominican Republic, we are Sosua's only organization to receive legal permission to deliver food to people in the Garbage Dump.

If your team wants to serve and share in the garbage dump, we can arrange that for you. This is a 9 am to 11 am event.

Please contact our team at riovistamission@gmail.com

Any trip can have emergencies. We have the people to call if your truck breaks down, lost some supplies, got rained out, or you need to get someone into the emergency room. Let us help you have your best mission trip ever. We are quiet as church mice if you don't need us, but we are ready to help. We can connect you with transportation to and from Santiago (STI) so you can save hundreds on your airfares. We can help you find Christian translators if you need them.

Security at the Rio Vista is strong. The fences and locks keep things secure, and our security team is always around to watch for any problems. Thank God we have not had any issues since opening a decade ago. You should be very safe here.

THE GAMES BOX is available for your team to enjoy times of fun and frolic. Please return games to the box each night when finished.

A large triple clothesline is ready to receive your wet clothing or clothing you wash in the sink. You may travel home lighter by leaving any dirty clothing, shoes, shampoos, or liquids at Rio Vista to be given to people in need upon your departure. We will clean everything.

Rio Vista was started in 2011 by a Canadian Couple, Michael and Laura Boisclair, who were passionate about helping mission teams serve. Upon their retirement, Rio Vista continues modernizing the facility and improving its services. Your new Rio Vista staff will have the staffing to make your stay as flexible and enjoyable as possible.

Rio Vista receives a small amount of teams each year who come to serve the residents of the Dominican Republic. All other times, Rio Vista uses the 42-person (14-room) capacity guest house to provide education for local pastors, to train students from a vocational training center for work in the tourism industry, to provide jobs for locals, and our kitchen is used to prepare food for needy in various communities. Our gift shop stocks crafts made by local artisans. We are here, first and foremost, to minister the good news of abundant life to the people of the community.

COMING SOON!

Our NEW ONE DOLLAR SNACK BAR will be open in the evenings for soft drinks, chips, and candies. Feed that craving without an expensive or time-consuming trip off the property. The snack bar often has bug spray and other personal items.

Our NEW COVERED GROUP GATHERING PAVILION under the trees is a very private place for you to have leaders' meetings, debriefs, prayer, and teaching times. You are going to love this additional private gathering place for up to 60 people. You can now split your group into half in the Tiki dining room and half in the new pavilion.

A NEW ROLLING BIG SCREEN TELEVISION & DVD player and a SOUND SYSTEM are now available. Please let us know when you need them. Some DVDs are available to borrow.