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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Yoga & Kiteboarding

There are some moments when I'm on this island and I feel like I have to pinch myself because it's so beautiful.  This happens every time I go to my new yoga class.

When we first arrived, I was fortunate enough to have some friends invite me to a yoga class at their condo, Orilla del Mar, which is very near ours.  In the beginning I would either walk there or take the motorcycle.  Although it's less than a mile, back then I felt uncomfortable on the bike and this was as far as I really wanted to go on it.  I enjoyed the classes at Orilla del Mar but they really are geared for those who are absolute beginners.  Grace, the yoga instructor invited me to a more challenging class she holds at Ocean Point which is on the other side of Cabarete.  At first there was no way I'd want to ride the bike that far.  Now that I'm much more comfortable on the bike and actually enjoy riding it, I decided it was time to check out this class.  What an experience!

the view from my yoga mat
Grace of Saving Grace Yoga
The classes at Ocean Point are held in an open air palapa next to the beach.  It's set on a small point so whatever position I'm in I always see the ocean.  And the ocean breeze is wonderful!  I'm sure anywhere else a yoga class in a resort area next to the ocean would easily be $25 per class.  In Cabarete, it's about $7.  It feels like something from the lifestyle of the rich and famous, but on a retiree's budget.  Plus I love the opportunity to ride through Cabarete in the morning.  It's always quieter at this time.  The kids are heading off to school.  I see the fruit truck parked on the west side of Cabarete with their load of fresh pineapples, mangoes, papayas and some fruit I still haven't figured out what it is or how to eat it.  And then there is the Bavarian Bakery.....yumm.   A loaf of fresh baked bread for 800 pesos ($2 USD) and some of the most incredible pastries I've ever seen or tasted.  Makes me wish the classes were held more than twice a week!







Cabarette is famous for kite surfing.  It's the #1 destination in the world for kiters.  There are only a few kites at "our beach", the beach near our condo.  But once you go into town, you see hundreds of kites zipping through the water.  Nothing Matt and I would try, it's definitely a young person's sport, but they are beautiful to watch.  We've taken pictures of the kites, but it's hard to capture in a photo.  A few weeks ago, Jim and Cheryl were staying at our condo and they have a great lens on there camera that allowed him to get some great pics of these kiters.  Check them out.  Once the kiters saw Jim taking pics with his long lens, they flocked to zip near him and to get some air for his shots.












La Crux de Huanacaxtle

We are down to less than two months here so we're really starting to seriously investigate options for the coming winter.  We are looking at condos near the Puerta Vallarta area.  We've found one in the town of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle.  I have no idea how to pronounce that, but I understand it's commonly referred to as just La Cruz.  It's a quaint little fishing town less than an hour north of Puerta Vallarta.  We can get a small casa there for a very reasonable price.  We like the idea of being out of the touristy part of PV, but still near enough for shopping and entertainment.

Mexico immigration laws have changed this past year and still seems to be a lot of confusion.  It's a much more complicated process to file for a residency visa than it had been in the past.  And, after such a great experience in the DR, I'm not sure we want a residency in Mexico.  We could stay without a residency visa but I think we'll have a problem keeping our car there for over six months.  If we go with this option, we may drive our car out of Mexico when we leave the Lake Chapala area in September and then just fly to our new winter home.  It sounds like a car wouldn't be necessary in this little town, and I guess we could always get another motorcycle.  But we're still looking, we have lots of options!

And an update on Wallita, the little Dominican dog that Camille tried to take back to Minnesota with her.  American wouldn't allow Wallita to fly as the temps were too low in Minnesota.  But Judy's Pet Lodge, a no kill shelter in Sosua, housed Wallita for a couple of weeks and then made arrangements for her to go out on another airline.  Poor little Wallita spent two days traveling, but she did make it to Minnesota. I do hope she adjusts to the winter....first cold weather she has ever experienced in her six months.  But I'm very glad she's no longer a street dog.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Bike Ride

Deb, Cheryl, Victoria and Raymond
`Friday was a great day.  I've been riding the motorcycle more and more on my own, and really feeling comfortable with it.  I thought it was time for a long ride, but Matt wasn't at all interested.  But I found my biker buddy!  Jim from Minnesota wanted to rent a bike for a day so he and I made plans to ride our bikes to Playa Magante, a sweet little beach about 45 minutes from our condo.  There are a couple of restaurants on the beach and some cabanas for those who want to stay for a few days.  Christina, Jim's girlfriend, had no interest in riding with Jim so she and Matt were following in their rental car.  We invited Raymond and Victoria to join us.  Cheryl, Jim, Deb and Richard came along as well in their car.

We had a great ride!  It was beautiful and the road is beautiful, with the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other.  The one large town we went through was Gaspar Hernandez and I was a bit nervous about that, but no problem.  There was some type of parade or demonstration going on, but we were able to get through with no problem.  We did run into a Dominican traffic jam.....about 20 cows being herded down the road but farmers had friends waving flags before we came upon them and we just wove our away around the cows. Another time we came upon a slow moving pick up, with their milk cow trotting behind the back of the truck.
Playa Magante
Palapa Tables at Los Gringos

Playa Magante was a beautiful as remembered.  We spent a nice lazy day on the beach.  It's a very clam beach so good for swimming, but the water is just a little murky so not good for snorkeling.  It is a great shelling beach.

We  had a great lunch at Los Gringos.  They have very cool little beach side palapa tables.

The guys swimming..
We left about 4:00 so we could get home well before dark.  Another great ride home, and then I was done for the day!  Very tired after all this fun!

Feliz Dia de Amor

Oh, what a fun day!

Janae with one of her daughters and Sierra
Lynn asked us to go with her to visit a Dominican family that is very dear to her heart.  The mom is Janae and Lynn met her a few years ago when Jenae worked at a clinic that housed and cared for Haitian children.  Janae cooked and cleaned and just gave the kids some much needed love.  Sometimes Haitians are just too to poor to care and feed their kids; other times the kids just seem to be rejected.  Two of the kids at the clinic were especially dear to everyone - Darius and Sierra.  The clinic was forced to close last year and there were not a lot of options for the kids being housed there.  Janae volunteered to bring Darius and Sierra to join her family.  She is a single mother with four children and a very small home;, but a very large heart.  She is paid a small amount for caring for these kids - probably from relief organization and their medications are provided free of charge.  Both of the kids are HIV positive.

What a happy family.  The small house was immaculate and very comfortable.  The kids were all well cared for and had big smiles on their faces and lots of hugs.  Lynn had brought the kids lollipops and little valentine stickers.  One of Janae's kid, Jennifer, is in my class at the little school.  Darius was sick and wasn't there, as best we could understand he was at a clinic in Sosua.  But Janae seemed to feel he would be ok.

Max
Another child from the clinic is Max.  He is also HIV positive and when he arrived at the clinic he was a small, frail baby.  There were serious doubts he would survive.  Max's mother was a 14 year old Haitian prostitute and her family didn't want him.  The founder of the clinic and his wife fell in love with him and took Max into his home when the clinic closed.  Max is now a very healthy four year old, we see him often when we go into Cabarete.  He speaks Spanish and English and is very bright.  His Canadian foster parents are in the process of trying to adopt him, but this is extremely difficult.  They were able to get a visa for Max so he can travel back to Canada with them.  Hope this story ends well for all of them.  They want Max to retain a connection with his birth mom so they arrange periodic visits.  She now has another child, but this child is being taken care of by her family.

Maria
Later in the day, we had a Dominican woman come out to the condo and cook dinner for twelve of us.  Jim had met Maria one day when he was in Cabarete buying fish.  She sells real estate, but business is slow so this is a good side business for her.  We all bought some type of fish:  dorado, calamari, octopus, and shrimp.  Also had some chicken for the non-fish lover - Raymond.  Maria arrived and started cooking.  She was a very busy woman but always had a smile on her face.  She turned out an impressive meal:  baked dorado, grilled chicken, shrimp and calamari in a cream sauce, veggies roasted with octopus, salad and a fruit salad for dessert.  It was another great evening around our pool!

To top it off, Matt bought me a bouquet of beautiful roses from the flower vendor that is always on the street outside Janet's supermarket.  A wonderful Valentine's Day!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Barbeque - Cabarete Style



Chill N' Grill
We met Rob on the beach a couple of months ago.  He was walking his two Dominican rescue dogs so easy to strike up a conversation.  He is American and is married to a Canadian.  They moved to Cabarette about five years ago and bought the Chill 'n Grill, a bar and grill just down the street from us.  The property also came with several apartments and a few small commercial buildings.  When they bought, this area was booming.  Just a few months after they moved here, the all-inclusive resort that dominated this area closed....and things really slowed down in the Camino del Sol area that we live in.  And so did their business.

We have stopped by for a beer several times but hadn't eaten at their place.  Their specialty is a private dinner around the barbeque pit.  You need to give Pam and Rob at least a 24 hour notice of what your group would like to eat....so takes a bit of organization.  They need a minimum of four and no more than 12 guests.  We've been wanting to plan a dinner there for some time, but it just takes a bit of organization.

Rob getting ready for our group



Finally, last night we did it!  We got together a group of twelve all from Serenity del Sol and walked up to the Chill 'n Grill for our dinner.  We had a drink in the bar area while Rob got the fire going.  He used a wood charcoal mix and the sparks were flying.  After the coals were glowing, they seated us around the table.  The heat drafts up, so it's not really too hot seated around the fire.  Was a great dining experience!

Grilled Salad
Pam started out by serving a cup of carrot spice soup and then passed around a tray of garlic bread.  We each had our own set of tongs and we grilled the bread ourselves.  The next course was grilled ceaser salad.  Pam slid the lettuce down the grill and several of us helped out by flipping it as it grilled for just a few minutes.  She then gathered up the lettuce from the grill, dressed it, and passed around the salad bowl.  Was very yummy.

Then out came the main course.  Some had ordered an entree that needed to be fully cooked on the grill, so that came first.  The steaks, lobster, pork kabob and chicken were sizzling on the grill and then Pam passed out the ribs, her specialty.  They were already cooked, so just needed to be warmed.  We also each had a potato, wrapped in foil with butter, garlic and onions, that we warmed up on grill.  For dessert, we all grilled a slice of fresh pineapple and topped it with warm Canadian maple syrup.

This was a great dinner.  Lots of fun and delicious.  We plan to be back.  It was definitely worth the time it took to organize.

Camilla and Wallita
Camilla left this week.  She'd been here nearly two weeks staying with her mom Christina and Jim from Minnesota.  The second day Camilla was here, she fell in love.  Not with a hot Dominican guy, but instead with a sweet little Dominican street dog.  On her way to the guagua, Camilla saw this little, scared pup limping around.  Camilla took her to Judy's Pet Lodge, the no kill shelter that also arranges for free spay and neutering.  The limp was due to a little cut so no big deal and luckily there was a team of vets in town that could do the spaying.  Camilla left Wallita with Judy for her surgery (yes, she gave her a name...big mistake) and then picked her up a few days later to help her recover.  The plan was that Camilla would release Wallita into the same area she found her, but instead Camilla wanted to take her home with her.  Camilla got a lot of advice from the Pet Lodge about how to accomplish this.  She got the vet certificate and bought a carrier.  I knew from my research that flying a dog when temperatures were extreme was a problem; and temps are extreme in Minnesota in February.  But Judy told Camilla it would be OK and the vet certified Wallita able to fly with temps between 10 to 85 degrees.  Unfortunately, this is not American Airlines policy.  Their policy is between 45 and 85 degrees.  Judy went to the airport with Camilla to help her get Wallita checked in and threw a huge fit when the airline refused to accept the vet's certification.  After much crying, Camilla flew out alone and Wallita went back to the pet lodge.  What to do with sweet Wallita is still in limbo.  Camilla is trying to make other arrangements to get her to Minnesota.  I do think that our gardener, Benni, will take the dog to his home if Camilla pays for her food.

Juan
One of my favorite friends in the DR is Juan.  There is a vacant lot between our condo and the ocean that was going to be developed into condos.  Looks like the developer poured the foundation and buillt a security shack and then stopped.  Juan's job is to watch over this vacant development.  He has plenty of time on his hands so he grows batatas (Dominican style sweet potatoes), helps wash our motorcycle, and keeps an eye on Hermann for me.  Juan also likes to cook.  He's got a little open pit fire behind the guard shack that he cooks some great Dominican dishes.  He loves to share them with Matt and I.  Often he'll show up on the beach with our lunch and sometimes he'll bring us some coconuts, already cracked and ready to drink the coconut water.  Really sweet guy.

Aguacate Man
Another one of the characters around here is the "aguacate man".  He drives his motorcycle all around Cabarette and Sosua yelling "aguacate" over and over again.  Aguacates are avacadoes.  He also sells fruit; I love his grapefruit.  Dominican grapefruit are the best!  He comes to our condo nearly every day.  We also see him when we're out and about.  He loves to see me driving the motorcycle....gets quite a kick out of that.  He also gives me daily Spanish lessons, always quick to correct my pronunciation.



Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Settled Into Cabarette

Our stay here in Cabarette is half way done.  In about ten weeks we'll be leaving this island.  We'll spend a few days with Ryan and Brandee and then head up to Orlando where we will spend maybe three days at the Disney parks.  I'm anxious to see how different an experience this is from the days when I was there with small children.  Matt and I had planned to spend a few days in New Orleans with Mike and Karen but there is a two week jazz fest in New Orleans at that time and hotel rooms are very pricey.  Maybe another time.  Then we'll head down through Texas and enter Mexico.  We will check into our home into Ajijic on May 3rd.

But the thought of leaving this place is making me very sad and it's hard to look forward to all these new adventures.  When we first arrived we were practically afraid to stick our head out of our condo.  We had heard about the crime in the DR so we had an intricate plan of where to hide our money and what to offer up if we were robbed.  Everyone we met on the street - when we did get out of the condo -- we thought was a potential ladron (thief).  At night we slept lightly...fearful someone would be breaking in while we slept.  Because of this fear, we allowed Hermann to sleep in the bed with us so he'd hopefully wake us up if we were in danger.  Well....luckily this phase passed and we were quickly drawn into this island life.  But somehow....Hermann never got kicked out of the bed.

Last night we had our first going away dinner for one of our Cabarette friends.  Louise is leaving today.  Her daughter had a baby boy a week ago and is needing some help from grandma so Louise is going back to Canada a few weeks early.  Louise and her husband David have done more than they will ever know to help us get adjusted to this life.  At first we were determined that we would not ride those guaguas.  Louise and David told us it was perfectly fine, coached us on how it worked, and then we were off.  They introduced us to Sosua beach and gave us many ideas for day trips to help us explore this island.  They organized our trip into Santo Domingo which really opened up another world for us now that we know what incredible bus service there is here.  Louise, an RN, always give me good practical advice on taking care of your health in this tropical climate without being fussy at all.  If it's a nasty bug bite, she says "soak it in salt water, eh".  If it's a burn, she says "soak it in salt water, eh -- and take that bandage off of it".  If I'm hesitant about using a primitive toilet at a beach bar, she says "it's a perfectly good toilet, eh....just squat".   Countless times, we've caught ourselves passing on all their excellent advice and island wisdom to new folks in Cabarette we've met.

We went to our favorite spot in Cabarette, Alli's Surf Camp, for dinner for Louise's send off.  We had this picture taken before the entire crowd arrived.  We will miss you Louise....and hope to see you again soon!

Louise, David, Robyn, Matt & Syd at Alli's


I hadn't posted in a bit.  Not because we're not busy.  We are doing something nearly every day.  When we have an occasional day when nothing is planned, we actually celebrate.  But mainly because what we've been doing isn't a "first time" event.  So when we head out the door, we often don't bother taking the camera so a lot fewer pics.

Last week we did have a pot luck dinner at the pool of our condo.  About 20 guests that are staying here at Cabarette del Sol participated and six of our Cabarette friends joined as well.  After the pot luck we walked to the beach where Matt had built a bonfire.  Jim and Mike played the guitar and sang for an hour or so.  It was a perfect night and an incredible good time.

I have given up on Matt ever getting really comfortable with our motor cycle, so I decided that I would!  I started by driving into Sabanetta.  Cabarette is to the west of our condo and much busier.  Sabanetta is to the east, and a quieter little town although it has quite a bit going on.  I've found it's a perfect little ride there.  I actually took a passenger with me last week.  Cheryl needed a pedicure, do she rode on the back of the motorcycle and we went to Sabanetta.  No problema!  Yesterday Lynn and I went on a ride.  She has a little scooter that she rides all the time, but she doesn't like to go on off the main road excursions alone...just in case there is a problem with the bike.  She lead the way and we went to some beautiful beaches I hadn't seen before and stopped at an oceanside bar for a cerveza and then back home.  This was my first time driving the bike through Cabarette and it was fine -- and so much fun!  Matt was waiting for me, and he was sure I'd say "honey, you're right - let's get rid of this bike" but not a chance!  We're planning to do this at least once a week.  Robyn has her scooter on loan to the yoga teacher, but she's getting it back so she can come along as well.  With three members, we think we've officially formed a retired ladies island motorcycle gang.  We're working on a name:  Geritol Angels, Lusty Ladies, Dusty Daiseys.  Any suggestions would be welcome.

Friday, Jim from Minnesota is renting a bike and he and I are riding our bikes to Los Gringos, a beach that we think is about an hour away.  Jim's friend, Christina, and Matt will join us, but they are coming in a rental car.  Hope to have pics of that trip!

And finally....my Domincan street dog Angel has a new home.  I was hoping that she would be able to stay with Pat and Angie when we left.  They have a large gated yard and they have an outside dog, Houdini.  Houdini appears very vicious when you come up to the gate...just what they want...but is a cupcake once he gets to know you.  We though Angel would be a good addition to their security, but I wanted to keep her with me until we left.  Unfortunately, she just got too aggressive at the beach.  There were a few beach walkers she just didn't like at all, and she'd run up to them and bark.  She never bit, but she did scare a few.  So we decided Angel's beach days were over.  She seems to be doing ok over at her new home. I miss her but know this is the best place for her.




Friday, February 8, 2013

Correction! I have now seen a snake!

In my post on things we don't like about the DR, I had said I had never even seen a snake in the DR.  Well, Can't say that now.  A few nights ago we were having drinks near the pool with several of the other guests in our building.  Hermann and I took a little walk with another couple staying here and their dog....and good thing I did.

While we were walking, everyone sitting at the pool side gazebo heard a thud.  They looked behind them and a five foot rainbow boa had fallen from an overhead tree.  Now what I wish I had seen was Matt and another guy trying to catch this snake using a pool skimmer.  Luckily the security guard stepped in and locked the snake inside a trash can.

Kelly and Comilla (two twenty something girls from Minnesota) couldn't stand the thought of the snake trapped in that trash can and what might happen to it -- Dominicans do seem to hate snake even if they are beneficial to have around.  So they got it out of the trash can to release it.  Before they let it go, they brought it up to our condo so I had a chance to see it.  Thank you Kelly and Comilla!  Then I told them to take a nice long walk before they let it go.

So no real pics of the snake that was here, just thought I should make a correction to my first post on icky things in the DR.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

What a Beautiful Country!


On my last post I went on and on about what we don't like about this country.  But....oh....the things we do like!  This is an incredibly beautiful country that only a lucky few seem to have found.  We were talking with a couple who had traveled extensively (Roatan, Belize, Costa Rica and Hawaii).  Although they felt they had seen some incredible sites in those countries, nothing compared with the DR.  There is so much diversity here - beaches, mountains, deserts -- that it's hard to say what section is the most beautiful.

This past week we were fortunate to really step out and see more of this island.  On Wednesday, Harry and Rose invited to join them for a drive to Las Terrenas.  Las Terrenas is in the Samana peninsula on the northeast side of the island.  We've heard so much about this sweet little town that it's been on our "to see" list since we arrived.  In fact, when we were planning our trip here, we had narrowed down our search to Cabarette or Las Terrenas.

The drive into Las Terrenas from Cabarette had been about 3 1/2 or 4 hour but the DR just completed a new toll road through the mountains that shortened the drive time down to 2 1/2 hours.  On the way there we passed through some sweet little towns with miles of undeveloped beaches.  The only town we didn't care for was Gaspar Hernandez.  The toll for the new short cut is $485 RD.....about $12 USD....each way.  This makes the road not accessible to most Dominicans so very little traffic.  A great road with beautiful views.



The only downer to our trip was the weather.  It was raining most of the time we were in Las Terrenas.  We did manage to spend some time checking out the beautiful beaches.  We found the pescaderia where the fishermen bring their daily catch up to the beach and sell it, fresh from the ocean.  There were dorado, snappers, marlin, squid, camarones (shrimp), and the biggest lobsters I'd ever seen.  Wish we'd brought a cooler!

In Cabarette, most of the Dominicans who deal with tourists speak at least a little English.  In Las Terrenas, which has a large European population, this is not the case.  To get by here you should know either a little Spanish or French.  We had dinner at a nice waterfront restaurant, La Yucca Caliente;  Matt took this shot of Rose, Harry and me at the table.

Oyster Vendor at Playa Grande
The rainy weather was dragging on so we didn't stay as long as we'd like in Las Terrenas.  It did clear up on the way back and we stopped at a couple beautiful beaches.  Playa Grande is part of a development of homes and a golf course.  The developers must have been required to spend some money to maintain a beautiful public beach, and they did a great job.  The Playa Grande beach is like a miniature Sosua beach with a few food shacks and vendors surrounding the beach.  It's a bit of a trip from Cabarette but still a sweet little place.


Los Gringos Beach
Beach front tables at Los Gringos
Harry and Rose have a couple of friends who live in the DR for six months each year.  Thanks to these friends, they know of several little out of the way places that we hadn't heard of before.  One of these is Los Gringos.  It's quite a drive down a long bumpy road, but when you get there what a treat.  It;s a nice little beach side restaurant where you can spend the day....or if you like the night as they have three little cabanas you can rent overnight.  We stopped there for a beer and a walk on the beach.  This is one place Matt and I should be able to get back to.....as we could take the gaugau to the entrance off the main road and then hike back to the restaurant.

Mountain top "gas" station
Sometimes the best days just happen....when you don't expect it.  On Saturday we didn't really have any plans.  We decided to get the motorcycle out and go to the Saturday morning market and then to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  The Saturday morning market is more a social experience than a shopping trip and we ran into Jim from Minnesota.  He owns a unit in our building and is here for three weeks this trip.  He invited us to join him for breakfast at Claro.  On the way there, we came across Jim and Cheryl from Canada who are renting a unit in our building for a month.  They decided to join us for breakfast.  Jim and Cheryl have a car and were thinking about driving up into the mountains to La Cumbre for dinner.  We have heard from many of our friends here what a great experience this is, but we have been cautioned about going up into the mountains without a driver.  The road can be treacherous unless you know where you are familiar with the area.  Another couple in our complex, Mike and Linda, also have a car and they have driven the mountains many times and were going to lead the way.  Jim and Cheryl invited us to join them....so new plans,  We left about 1:30 and took our time driving up the mountain.  We stopped often to take photos and just admire the view.  We wound our way through some nice little Dominican villages. Like I've said before, you see some crazy things in the DR.  Here is a pic of a Dominican-style gas station.  We passed several of these....always the same scene.  A couple of bottles with gas, a can of oil and a funnel.  So just in case you were headed up the mountain and ran out, they could fix you up.  No problem going down the mountain, everyone just coasted.  

We took lots of photos on the way up the mountain.  The views were jaw dropping.  This is the area where they filmed some scenes for the movie Jurassic Park. We passed several small villages on the way up the mountain, but at the top is La Cumbre.  Just a few houses and two restaurants.  We ate at La Molina which means windmill.  We had a big table on the back deck where we could look down into the valley toward Santiago.  Dinner was great, but of course the real draw was these incredible views.

View from La Molina















Jim, Cheryl, Mike, Linda, Kelley, Syd & Matt

Erika
Mike and Linda are close friends with a Dominican family that lives in Santiago.  Elvis, Carinna and their two beautiful girls drove up and joined us.  We had a great time with these two little sweeties.  Matt took lots of pics of the girls.
Anna Gabrielle

And to cap off a great evening was watching the sun set behind the mountains.



Then the ride back down the mountain.  That was quite the thrill.  Mike wanted to lead the way.  Elvis and his family came back to our condos to spend the night so they followed us.  We hurried down to take advantage of the little light that was left, but still quite a trip.  But made it home safe and sound.

Friday, February 1, 2013

The not so good about tropical living!

O.K., we love it here on the north coast of the DR.  It seems that we have a different adventure unfold amost every day.  And almost always it's a "pinch me, I can't believe I'm here moment". But to be honest there are some things here that are difficult.

#1  Poverty - while many Dominicans are really poor, at least by US standards, they are very happy.  Seeing these truly happy people (both kids and adults) makes me sick about how materialistic we really are.  Matt and I have given up almost all our possessions to live this life style, yet comparing what we own to what most Dominicans own makes us seem very wealthy.  But as long as a Dominican family has a home (no matter how crowded) and food and clothing, they seem very happy.  However there are many Dominicans and even more Haitians in this area that don't have enough to eat, or clothing for their kids.  On my way to yoga I pass by the home of a Haitian family.  The kids (not sure if there are two or three) are usually naked;  The mother, father and the kids sit and stare as I walk by.  The mother is pregnant again.

#2 Education - during the short amount of time I've been helping teach English at the local school, I can truly see how much Dominican education is lacking.  There are private schools around, but obviously many can't afford these.  The local schools that I've seen are one room school houses with three or four grades of kids at each session.  Unfortunately each sessions is only three hours  I believe the "high school" level goes to school in the early morning, then the third to fifth grade kids go to school from 9:00 to noon.  In the afternoon, after the siesta, the littlest kids go to school\.  So hard to learn much with just a three hour \school day.  And then with several grades in the same room, it's difficult to teach to individual levels.  The kids wear uniforms to school each day, and in the class I help with there is usually only one boy who breaks the rules and wears whatever shirt is handy. And that boy is the son of the teacher  The last two days at school I've taught, there has been a very young boy of about five years of age, hanging around the classroom.  The teacher isn't working with him to help him learn anything, she just lets him wander.  Today I gave him some papers to color; otherwise he would have just been causing a distraction.  Then today during class a boy of about 14 just walked into the classroom  He wasn't there to learn, seems he just showed up to try and drum up a conversation.....and disturb the class.  One of my favorite kids is Juan Raphael.  He's the oldest in the school, and should have moved up to another class by now.  Lynn, the English teacher I help, thinks he's smart but maybe a little lazy because he doesn't put out much effort.;  But I've noticed he does know the practical things better than most of the kids.  He knows colors and numbers in English really well.  And we played a dice game the other day in school to help learn numbers in English, and he adds up the dice much quicker than the other kids.  I have ridden horses several times with Franklin, and Juan Raphael is Franklin's cousin. I was talking to Franklin about Juan Raphael one day and Franklin told me that it's very important that Juan Raphael "learn English so he can hook up with an American woman".  This leads me to my next dislike.....

#3 Prostitution - At first Matt and I were disgusted by the men in their 60's or older proudly walking around town with a 20 year old holding their hand.  But we've come to understand that it's just a way to survive for some women.  They're not drug addicts, they're just poor and have no other work available to them.  Some have children and only come to the tourist areas a couple of months a year to earn enough money to care for their kids  What's sad is how so many of these men think this is such a romance.  They often bring the girl to stay with them during their vacation, take her out to dinner, horseback riding, whatever the guys do the girls do.  It's like the geekiest guy in high school gets to take a cheerleader to the prom.  Same goes for the guys, only not to the same degree  There are a lot of young men here who would gladly entertain a woman....no matter her age......but for a price.  There are also a lot of Dominican men and women whoes main goal is to marry a wealthy tourist.....although the tourist doesn't need to be that wealthy just have more money than the Dominican.

#4 Dogs - Way too many homeless dogs here.  There are a lot of beach dogs that seem to take up residence at restaurants at the beach.  The same dog or two is there all the time and they run off any other dogs...that's therir place.  These dogs are well fed.  The ones on the streets and Dominican villages aren't.  There are always a ton of little skinny pups on the street.  Often they have a bad leg...probably from a run in with a motor cycle.

#5 Driving - It's awful.  No way around it, Dominicans seem to be terrible drivers.  The roads are two lanes, so you would think one car coming and one car going at the same time.  Not in the DR.  It's not uncommon to see a car passing a motorcycle, while another car is passing the first car, and they are all heading straight for another car of motor cycle.  Also when you step into a road, you generally look to your left to make sure something isn't coming, right?  Well, here you always look both ways because just as likely as not a motor cycle will be driving on the wrong side of the road headed right for you.  The main strip of shops in Cabarete is maybe one mile long.  In 2012 there were 28 fatalities in that one mile and a lot of them were pedestrians.

#6 Icky Things - Skip this part if you're squeamish,  It is tropical here and things never freeze.  So bacteria and other things can thrive.  It seems most people get sick at some point.  I got the "stomach" thing for two days after we'd been here about two weeks.  Matt, who generally has a very sensitive stomach, has yet to have a problem - but he's about the only one I've run into who's been here a while with no problems.  Seems like the evil amoeba is often the culprit.  Our friend David hadn't been feeling well since Christmas.  He took a sample of you know what to the local doctor, she sends it to the lab and the next day he gets his results.  The amoeba and E-coli.  The doctor has a little room in the back of her office with two beds that she uses for treatments.  She hooked David up to an i.v. drip of a good antibiotic and he was good as new after a few days.  Bob who has been our neighbor for the month of January, got sick about two weeks into his stay.  Bea took him to the clinic in Sosua and he had an amoeba.  He got to spend two nights of his vacation in the hospital.  The doctor told him that it's pretty much unavoidable here, you can expect to get sick every six months -- but usually not to the degree you would need such serious treatment.

Then there are the crawly things.  The DR has no poisonous snakes or insects....so that's good.  I have never even seen any type of snake here.  And we have never seen a bug in our condo other than ants....but they are hard to keep out anywhere,   I do think I got a spider bite my first week here.  At first I thought it was an infected mosquito bite, but a nurse friend looked at it and she said this was no mosquito bite.  It was pretty nasty for about a week, but all better now.  Then there was our recent ordeal with another type of crawly....a rat.  Matt always has bananas here and he liked to keep them out on our patio so they wouldn't attract ants;  We noticed that something was getting into his bananas at night.  Since we live on the second floor, we thought it must be a little bird pecking at them.  So Matt brought the bananas inside......well since it WASN'T a bird after all, the little bastard decided to come in and get his bananas.  He chewed a hole through a screen.  We saw him one evening and he ran into the spare bedroom.  We shut the door to the bedroom thinking we'd get  Benni the gardener to take care of it the next day.  Well, the next day it had escaped by chewing a hole through the screen in the bedroom.  The next morning, Herm and I were up early and Herm started going crazy, sniffing around Well another hole was chewed in the screen and Matt's bananas had been chewed on.  This time we said to send out the cavalry, we wanted this thing gone.  We baited a glue trap with cheese and two hours later the cheese was gone and the glue trap was torn apart.  They brought a trap baited with a hot dog.  The rat ate the hot dog and got out of the trap.  We put out some packets of poison corn, and they disappeared so we assumed they were eateon but we couldn't find the body.  Finally Jose Luis the property manager came in with a small ball bat and Matilda the housekeeper came in with an umbrella.  They found it and beat it to death.  OK by me, at least he's gone.  But now Matt is afraid to keep bananas in the apartment.

And now the worst, I'm not going into detail, but a dog with a screw worm infestation showed up at the condo a few days ago.  YUCK!  Poor thing;  Luckily it's easily treated.  A very kind hearted young woman staying at our condo took him to Judy's Pet Lodge (a no kill shelter in Sosua) and they accepted him.  They give him a pill that kills all parasites on his body and then just keep the "areas" clean so they can heal. While they were at it they also neutered him, so hopefully he'll find a good home.

Now, please don't think we aren't incredibly happy here.  All the things above or just a trade off for the beautiful place we are calling home for five months.  We love the beaches and the mountains.  We love the friendly people and having dnner at Cabarete beach with our feet in the sand.  We love sitting around the pool at night with new friends.  We have met so many kind people who see the poverty here and try to do what they can.  Like our friends David and Louise who take chicken, rice and beans to the Haitian family.  Like the musician who works in the states three or four months of the year year, so he can follow his passion the rest of the year --- which is to bring water purificatin systems to the most remote and poor villages.  We love our friend Lynn who volunteers her time, talent and experience to teach these kids English.  And then there is the Mariposa Society that recognizes the need to educate Dominican girls so they can have the skills to work in a good paying job that will support their family without turning to prostitution.  I'm amazed that Judy's Pet Lodge can continue to accept homeless dogs.  And I'm thrilled that teams of veterinarians regularly come to the DR to spay and neuter as many animals as possible.  There are also volunteers that find the dogs who need this surgery and then transport them to the clinic and deliver them back to the Dominican family they came from....or if no family back to the street.  There are also volunteers who track these dogs and give them monthly treatments for ticks, fleas and parasites.

So hopefully, some of these not so good things will not always be such an awful problem