Who We're Meeting

This has been a very quiet week for us....I got sick.  I believe it was just Sunday that I bragged we'd been here two weeks and no issues....and then it hit me.  If we were in Mexico it would be Montezumas Revenge, but not sure what to call it in the DR.  Maybe the Cabarete ChaCha?   Will after two days staying close to the apartment, I'm finally all better!

We have met so many really interesting, kind and enjoyable people while here!  I'd like to eventually talk a little about each of them, so for today, here's Pat...and of course Oreo.  Pat lives in a house very near our condo and we met him on the beach.  He is one of the few Americans we've met here.  He has lived here three years and is here year round.  In his past life he was a teacher in Wyoming and also owned a bar.  His wife had been visiting family in Wyoming for the past month, but she just returned home on Monday.  Pat gave us the run down of what to do, where to go and invited us to our first social event - happy hour on Cabarete beach -- which is where we met so many of our other new friends.  He's one of  the few we've met who actually owns a car and he never rides the gaugaus - probably because dogs are frowned upon on the gaugaus and Pat never goes anywhere without Oreo.  At the beach for happy hour Oreo just roams around, sometimes she gets out of sight and Pat has to hunt for her.  Pat will (hopefully) soon he a TV star - he was filmed for an episode of Househunters International a few months ago.  I have always heard how staged that show is, that they only feature people who have already bought their homes and then HHI restages the hunt.  Pat had already been in his home over two years when the showed was filmed.  They had to actually clear all their things out of the house before filming.  No word when the show will air, but I think a watch party would be fun!  Pat has been great to give us rides to town....and back home after happy hour.  This is very nice as the gaugaus quit running about 6:30. 

Here's a pic of Matt and I on the beach in Cabarete at night.  Not a good pic, but I love the background.  It shows a peek of what it's like there in the evening.  With all the lights hungs out and the cozy furniture arranged in the sand.  It is so much fun!

Last night was the peak of the meteorite shower and we were determined we would see it.  We sprayed ourselves with Off! and grabbed the beach chairs and Herm (and a cocktail for me) and headed for the beach where we met Pat.  By about 9 a cloud cover had rolled in over the horizon and it was decided we'd need to wait for it to clear before we could get a good view.  I was getting sleepy and chilly and the effects of the cocktail were working on me so I gave up.  Matt and Pat waited it out and he said it was a nice show;.

Is this a typical Saturday?

Yesterday marked two weeks since we've been in Cabarete.  When we first arrived Matt was wondering "what are we going to do here for five months?".  I'm a beach bum at heart so I saw no problem whatsoever.  But this did cause a little bit of "discussion" between us.  I was telling him to let go of his expectations and just enjoy.  He was asking me how much we would loose if we cut our stay short.  Well....I think it's safe to say he's past this.

Saturday morning we started out by walking about 20 minutes to the Saturday market.  It's a lot like a swap and shop.  Some Dominicans go there, but mainly expats.  We met up with our Canadian friends David, Louise and Robin.  Everyone had told us the cinnamon buns were very nice so Matt and I both bought a bun and coffee and we all sat at a big table that would hold about 12-15 people.  Before long Pat came along with his little dog Oreo and joined us.  And then Lynn came in her motor scooter.   Everyone of these people is a true individual but I have a feeling that Lynn's story is the most amazing....although she would hate for me to say that.  She's a Brit, probably in her early 60s.  From what I understand she has spent most of her life volunteering, mainly in Africa and the DR.  When she was ready to retire she went back to the UK, but found she couldn't afford to live comfortably there.....so back to the DR.  Now she has a nice little home somewhere near us although I haven't seen it.  With all the rain, the roads to the house have been flooded so to get out she hikes through a cow pasture, wades through 6" of water part of the time, crawls through a couple of barbed wire fences and eventually can make it to the main road to catch a gaugua.  Saturday was a celebration for her because the water on the road went down enough for her to take her motor scooter out.  As isolated as she lives,  Lynn still seems to know everyone!  So at the beginning we knew about six people at the table, but after Lynn came we knew almost everyone.  The highlight of the market is the Getrman woman's baking.  She was a little late arriving and came in carrying in about 8 beautiful cakes and several loafs of bread.  Immediately there was a crowd at her table.  We didn't buy a slice of cake because we'd already had a cinnamon bun, but Pat shared some of his cake with me.  It was beautiful, but actually tasted better than it looked - if that was possible.  Sad news around her is that the German woman is leaving to go spend Christmas at home so we'll have five weeks before we see her at the market again.

After the market we caught the gaugau to Sosua Beach with Louise, David and Robin.  Later another couple joined us....they were brave as they drove their motor scooter.  It was an incredible day.  The beach was gorgeous and uncrowded.  There is a reef in the center of the bay for snorkeling.  We rented chairs and an umbrella and settled in.  The vendors were a bit of a pest, but not bad.  When we'd visited Sosua before I saw vendors selling conch salad from a big tupperware bowl.  I had thought to myself that all those folks buying it had to be crazy.  Well the report from all the Canadians is that it's quite safe and very good  So that was my lunch....a cup of conch salad and a nice big beer!  It was different than the conch salad I'd had in the Bahamas, but very tasty  And I survived to tell the story.  At four o'clock it was time to leave the beach and head to happy hour.  After a couple of mojitos and some fish fingers and fries (which was the daily happy hour special) it was time to catch the gaugau back to Cabarete so we could be home before dark.

When we got back to the condo, exhausted after this big day, we started logging in our expenses for the day.  Keeping track of our spending is something we've vowed to do so we have a clear idea that we're not outspending our pension check (if it ever comes!).  Will this day had cost us about $30 - amazing!

And every day there seems to be a new plan in the works.  Louise is organizing a bonfire at LaBoca, Matt wants to take a bus to Santo Domingo and spend a couple of nights (if we can find a sitter for Herman), I would like to rent a car and drive to Las Terrenas for a weekend.  I've also heard that it's beautiful up in the mountains and that you can get a group together and hire a driver for about $10 a person to take you up the mountain for a little tour and then have dinner at a great restaurant looking down on the valley.  And we're planning a progressive dinner party to celebrate Christmas.

Sorry there are no pics of this great day.  Matt was a little concerned that it might not be a great idea to carry along anything valuable.  Next time we'll bring the camera for sure!

After a couple of busy days we're looking forward to spending a quiet Sunday chilling at our condo.  Maybe a little beach time and then watching football.  But then as soon as I write that, I remember that Sunday is supposedly a great day at LaBoca as a lot of Dominicans make it their party day.  Oh....and we met someone at the market who sings at VoyVoy! on Sunday starting at 5:00 and that it's always a good time......  So we'll see what this day brings.

Settling In!

Man has it rained!  Rained most of the day Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  Matt was seriously getting very stir crazy.  It cleared off enough that we went to town on Tuesday afternoon via a gaugau to restock Matt on cigars, get me a pedicure ($9) and buy a few groceries.  On the way home we had 22 passengers and a baby, plus the driver and conductor on the gaugau....and remember this about the size of Toyota mini-van.  It looked too full for us to fit on it when they stopped for us and you should have seen Matt's face as they kept stopping for more passengers.  It was easy for me to see his face because I was perched on this little bench behind the front row of seats staring at Matt and all the other passengers  Everyone had to rearrange their knees to mesh in with the other passengers and evidently Matt wasn't doing that correctly because the guy next to me grabbed Matt's knees and rearranged them. But it's cheap, quick transportation and we didn't want to get the motorcycle out in all that rain.

With all the rain our access path to the beach is flooded.  We have to wade through about three inches of water to get there.  Hermann loves his beach time so he trudges right on through, Matt however is NOT a fan of this walk.  Everyone we've talked to says they have never seen this much rain.  Hope it goes away soon!

Actually Thursday was a great day.  We spent several hours at the beach and then went into Cabarete for happy hour.  We had met Pat on the beach a couple of days ago.  He's originally from Montana but now lives full time in the DR in a house very near our condo.  His wife is back in Montana visiting family until next week so we spent lots of time at the beach talking.  He's a great source of information.  He invited us to the happy hour....and even stopped by the condo and gave us a ride.  His little dog Oreo went with us, but she seems to go everywhere with Pat. 

Cabarete in the evening was everything I've heard it to be.  It's almost magical.  This is the same beach that in the daytime is full of beach chairs, kite surfers and families swimming.  But at night the beach chairs go inside, out comes huge bean bags, patio furniture or picnic tables and the restaurants all string out lighting.  It's beautiful.  While it's normally very breezy in the afternoon, the wind dies down at night so it makes for a perfect evening to sit outside to eat and drink.  Most of the restaurants offer happy hours specials from 4 to 6 or from 5 to 7, so that was perfect for us.  About 11:00 the place starts to really fill up with the late night crowd...or so we here.  He back home safe and sound by 8:00.  The only Americans in the group were Pat, Matt and I.  The rest were Canadian except for an English woman.  Some lived here full time, some for five or six months at a time - really fun evening.

The ladies we met last night hooked me up with a yoga class.  Three of them live in a condo complex very near us and they have yoga classes Wednesday and Friday mornings....so today was my first class.  The cost is $2500 DOP for ten classes, which I believe works out to about $6 a class..  Matt is as nervous as a dad sending his baby off to the first day of kindergarten because this is my first trip out alone on the motorcycle.   Yoohoo.  He's told me to keep my speed down, be very careful crossing the street and look both ways.....I really thought he'd tell me not to take candy from strangers!

After yoga we went to the beach and some of the Canadians we'd met the day before were walking up the beach to La Boca and asked us to join them.  La Boca means "the mouth" and is where the mouth of the river runs into the ocean.  There are a couple of rustic Dominican style restaurants there that are well known by locals and visitors alike.  We just had a couple of beers but David and Louise split a fish plate and gave me a bite.  Yummm!  Matt and I will be back when we are hungry enough to appreciate it.

After that long walk we cleaned up and took the gaugau into town because we needed a few things from the store and to withdraw some money from the ATM.  When we were ready to head back, every gaugau that passed us was full so we walked the 2 kilometers to our condo.  The last 20 minutes or so we cut over to the beach and it was a gorgeous walk at the end of the day.  We got home just about 15 minutes before dark, so barely made it!

Big day...we are tired!

Caballero!

Fun day today!

We had met Franklin, our friend in the DR, on the beach a few days ago.  He's got a ranch with 17 horses and wanted, of course, to take us riding.  Price he quoted was $40 per person for two hours on the beach or $140 a couple for a four hour ride into the mountains.  Thankfully I opted for the two hour option!  He picked me up this morning about 8:00 with my new best friend, Hurricane.  I've seen horseback rides on the beach in other countries where the horses barely step foot on the beach.  Well not the case.  We first went up the beach to La Boca, which is the mouth of the nearby river where it runs into the ocean.  Beautiful!  Then we came back to the condo on a little back rode and then a LONG ride on the beach.  I had to finally tell Franklin enough!  It had been probably 25 years since I'd been on a horse and I was feeling every bounce.  But boy....was a good time.  Hurricane galloped through the waves for much of the way and was very sure footed.  By the time we came back I was soaked!  Matt was going to meet us on the beach to take a photo, but since I had to wimp out 20 minutes early we missed our photo op.  Hopefully will do this again...but it will be a while.  My backside needs to recover!

The day started out rainy, but ended up clearing nicely.  While I was out with Herm for my early walk I talked with Juan, who watches the property behind us.  My conversations with Juan always start out with me saying something to him in Spanish that I've very carefully thought through in advance...then Juan will start rattling off something to me....all in Spanish of course.....for about five minutes.  I usually understand very little.  Today, I did pick up that when I asked him about the rain, Juan told me that "Deciembre mucho lluvia", which I believe he's telling me that December is a rainy month.  Even with a rainy start, here's what our beach looked like:

Hermann is quite the beach dog.  He usually lays next to us, but every once in a while a crab will catch his attention and then he goes into full "beagle"mode.  He'll dig and dig until he can stick his entire head under the sand, then he'll get freaked out and run back to us.  Hope he doesn't end up catching one of these...I'm sure it wouldn't be a good experience for him.

Today Matt and I took the motorcycle out onto the main road!  Made it to Janet's, the grocery store in Cabarete.   We bought ice cream!  While leaving the grocery store, Matt had me walk across the street so he could get started without a passenger.  He waited forever for traffic to clear.....other bikes came and went but we are SUPER careful, then he picked me up.  This wasn't exactlhy the Dominican style of biike riding, but OK with us.

GauGau

Today we rode a gaugau.  Not sure if I even know how to pronounce it, but we rode one.  Gauguas are the little minivan buses that run constantly on the one main road.  Somehow they are able to hold about 15 people, plus the driver, plus a conductor.  You thumb down a gaugau and the conductor tells you where to sit;.  Everytime someone gets on or off, the conductor rearranges the entire mess.   But the good thing is gaugaus are plentiful AND affordable.   A gaugau ride from our condo into Cabarete was about 25 DOP each....or about 60 cents.  To go all the way into Sosua it was 50 DOP.  We rode into Cabarete first to test the water....so to speak.  In Cabarete we went to the bank, visited a cigar shop and FINALLY saw the Caberete beach with all the bars and restaurants -- we will be back.  Then onto Sosua....oh let me tell you about Sosua.  We had been to the grocery store in Sosua before which was fine....and we had driven through the town with Endre and Michaellyn, but never really noticed what Sosua is famous for - until today.  And that is prostitution.  I can't tell you how many 60 or 70 year old men we saw walking down the street with big smiles on their face and holding hands with a 20 something Dominican on their arm (at least I wanted to tell myself those girls were at least 20 years old).  It looked like a bunch of nerdy teenagers who got invited to prom by a cheerleader.  They were so happy.  We ate lunch in Sosua, checked out the fishing and shops and then went to the Sosua grocery store.  I don't think we'll be back to Sosua unless I decide to fish, that seems to be the only place to hook up with a fishing boat (among other things).

We would (or should) have taken pictures of this trip but Matt was a bit to apprehensive about the whole gaugau experience to take the camera, but next time we will.

The full moon has been incredible the last few nights, and we have tried and tried to get a picture of it.  But just couldn't do it.

One of our most important purchases today (beside my wine and beer and Matt's butter and cigars) was a hair clip for my hair!  I am due for a haircut and not sure where I'll get that done!  So I cut my own bangs and pulled the rest of it back with a clip.;....probably a good chance there will be no more pics of me on this blog until I figure this hair thing out!

The Faces of Cabarete

When we were in the airport in Miami waiting for our flight to Puerto Plato, we kept looking at the faces around us....wondering who were the typical "Cabaretites" we'd meet when we were down here.  Well...seems like there is no one type of person.

Here's the first couple we met when we first arrived.  Endre and Michaellynn own one of the condos in our building.  They live in North Carolina.  Endre, from Hungary, is semi-retired  Michaellyn is a nurse.  They first came to Cabarete a couple of years ago and bought this condo because it was so affordable and they love being near the beach.  They really took us under their wings.  They took us to the grocery store a couple of times, introduced us to the Dutch butcher (thank you, thank you, thank you), helped us find our motorcycle, helped us learn to ride our motorcycle and gave us tons of advice.  That was in just three days!  Sadly, they left us today so Michaellyn could go back to work, but they'll be back in February.  Meanwhile I'm watching out for the condo-complex dog, Lassie, that Michaellyn is so crazy about. 

We went on another long beach walk early this morning, hung out at the beach, practiced riding our motorcycle, I finally got a manicure (the cost was a little less than $4 but since I'm a big tipper I sprang for $5), spent some time on the beach and walked down the street for dinner.  There is a German-cafe and we had a type of German meat-loaf, potatoe salad and ice cream;  Pretty yummy.  Matt felt a little out of place because EVERYONE there was German...but hey, we aren't in Overland Park!  This was also the first day that the girls at the complex cleaned our apartment, yahoo!  I felt just a little guilty that we sat out by the pool by the worked so hard...but oh well. 

Not So Easy Rider

OK, here's the new bike. 

Spent a couple of hours yesterday trying to learn how to ride!  It does have a bit of a learning curve....and I cannot figure out how to turn it around!  But will practice more today.

Yesterday we went to three different bike shops trying to buy a helmet.  Since we've been here we've only seen one Dominican wearing a helmet so there isn't much available.  We found a total of three helmets all were too big for us!  Not sure what we'll do about this, but we're not ready to hit the main road yet anyway.

Beautiful day....another long walk on the beach.