We Made It!

Yesterday was a long day but we are now in the DR!  Our flight was scheduled for noon out of Miami but we got to the airport about 9:00 a.m. so we'd have plenty of time to take care of our paperwork for Hermann.  Ryan and Brandee came into the airport with us to provide moral
support!  All went pretty well, we had everything we needed, it just took about 30 minutes for the gate agent to get is processed.  But it was sad leaving Hermann at the check in!

When we arrived into Puerta Plata I was anxious to get through immigration so I could get to baggage claim....and there was Hermann's crate sitting there waiting for us!  We did have to go into the officina to process his paperwork and the agent there spoke no English...but luckily my bad Spanish was enough to get it completed.

And our driver, Juan, was waiting for us!  He took us to the supermercardo and the money exchange shop before we got to the condo.  Our property manager, Juan Luis, got us checked in.  The condo is very nice, a little dark in the kitchen but that's ok. We did have  a few glitches.  We couldn't figure out how to start the gas stove so I decided to use the grill at the pool, but couldn't figure out how to light it.  Luckily, the security guard, Juan, was there to help.  Do you get the impression every man in the DR is named Juan?  Then this morning there was no hot water in our shower.  But luckily the gardener, Bennie, helped us with these little problems and now we are in business.

Matt is not crazy about the location, it's much more remote than he would like.  There are some condo complexes around us.  But there are also two large resorts that have gone belly up.  These means that a lot of bars and restaurants in the area also have gone out of business. 

But here's what I like!  Check out the view of "our" beach this morning when we took an early walk:

Later in the day we went down to the beach and sunned and swam.  We only saw a handful of people in either direction.

We met a couple, Andre and Michael Lynn, who own one of the condos in our building.  They only visit a couple of times a year and are here until Wednesday.  They took us on a tour of the area in their rental car and we really saw some incredible places:  a cool little snorkeling spot near the mangroves, a beautiful little beach and some cool outdoor restaurants and bars..  We're thinking about checking into buying a motor scooter so we can get to these places.

More pics tomorrow!