Hi,
I swear this is the sort of guy that we heard called a dragon when we were in Chiapas a few years ago.
He sure as hell ain’t no gecko.
He’s lurking in the shadows on the wall, up above the storage closet. He (I haven’t actually inspected closely to confirm gender, but let’s just stay with “he,” shall we?) looks exactly like the lizard that is one of the two ceremonial drawings done by the Taino, the indigenous population here on the island before all this silliness began.
He’s ferocious and lightning-quick. I saw him zeroing in on a bug in the corner at the ceiling and suddenly whip around to grab a pretty good-sized bug right out of the air.
I gave him the spotlight treatment with the 3-cell Maglite and he got all shy. He went to the only half-way hiding place up there, between the Coleman lantern box and the wall. Maybe he’s living in the box?
That would be OK. Someone ought to get some use out of it–they don’t sell Coleman fuel or white gas in the DR…
Oh, yeah: the frog’s put in another protracted appearance. Maybe these creatures took our journey to Sto. Dom. as a sign to move back in, I don’t know.
Today was a pruning and bush-whacking sort of day. I actually dropped a few trees with my little folding pruning saw and bucked them up for firewood.
All I need is a few sunny days to get the burn piles dry enough to smolder.
Unless it rains tonight, I’ll finish cleaning off the failed membrane on the rest of the roof tomorrow, preparing for that couple of dry days before applying the elastomeric roof membrane. Maybe I’ll hang the hammocks in their “permanent” location tomorrow, too.
Good times!
I’m 57 years old today. This is the best birthday I can remember.
Bill
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Tags: Dominican Republic, Las Galeras, Living in the Dominican Republic, Retire, Retirement, Samana
Willie, mi amigo,
Desculpa mi par a yo escribo tu en englaise.
Thanks for checking on us after the storm. I don’t know if others of our family and friends noticed that we took a direct hit in Las Galeras.
It was quite something!
The winds built all day, with the rain coming in heavy bands. I suppose that was good for the water level in the cistern, but I had just stripped the membrane off 2/3 or the roof, exposing the concrete underneath. It will be awhile before it dries out enough to re-coat.
That’s just as well, because we kept to our plan to travel to Santo Domingo on Wednesday to update the registration of our vehicle and initiate the resident visa process. We saw much destruction, and took many detours on the journey, which took more than twice as long as normal. When we arrived in The Capital we went straight to the ferreteria and spent a small boatload of money on tools and household needs, and then off to a US-style supermercado for “snacks” before turning in to the hotel, which is not close to any restaurant.
I was still vibrating in harmony with the car when I drifted off to sleep.
We will have a lot of cleaning up to do when we return home, but suffered no serious damage.
I learned (after the fact) that the electricity company shut the power off several hours before the storm hit, as a safety measure. That works for me, because there were sure lots of wires down.
Here is Roger, we’re off to the government…
Hasta leugo
Bill
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Tags: Dominican Republic, Hurricane, Las Galeras, Living in the Dominican Republic, Retire, Retirement, Samana
Hi,
I don’t know that I’ve ever really understood the true meaning of the phrase in English “ebb and flow” when it is applied to persons.
A day at the Migration Office has taken care of that.
Formerly, I was of the understanding the “ebb and flow” had to do with the comings and goings of large numbers of people. Not so.
Ebb and flow, in my newly informed vocabulary, refers to the coming and going and coming and going (and coming and going and coming and going, really,) of the SAME people through a space–a 12 x 18 room, for example. I say ebb and flow, because it is really nothing remotely like a uni-directional flow, it is repetitive.
The same 35 people squeezing past the same 12 persons who are seated in aforementioned small room, along with the receptionista and the cashier’s window, neither of which is close to the door. I suppose that their coming and going serve may a purpose but one is only occasionally apparent.
Every now and again one person seems to be thrown free from what I’d call a human eddy, if it was circular. As it is, I’m now fully informed as to the real meaning behind the phrase “ebb and flow.”
It was a remarkably productive day, nonetheless.
We accomplished several missions with the government, covering AIDS, TB, and recent drug consumption, none of which we’ve got. Roger, our able assistant, has a degree in Business Administration and is now 1 year away from joining his sister (our abogada) at the bar.
He paid me what I take as a profound compliment today when he told me more than once that I “…drive like a Dominican.”
We still found time to spend a remarkable amount on money on things that you can’t find in Samana and that American Airlines frowns on checking with the baggage.
Be sure and ask how you can pack your 2nd bag when visiting. Your shorts and sandals won’t take up much room.
Bill
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Tags: Dominican Republic, Las Galeras, Living in the Dominican Republic, Retire, Retirement, Samana
Hi,
It’s a little late in the season, and quite unusual to hit our protected part of the island, but Olga came through the neighborhood yesterday. A muy grande tormenta!
We’re fine, and so is the house. We’re in Santo Domingo tonight (an 8 hour drive, with road closures and bridges out) and are buying sheets for the guest bungalow, working on the registration documents for the car and on our own resident visas.
We’re planning to be home to Las Galeras Friday or Saturday. More later.
Bill
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Tags: Dominican Republic, Hurricane, Las Galeras, Living in the Dominican Republic, Retire, Retirement, Samana
Hi Bob and Rick,
My hiatus from Washington has been quite enjoyable so far.
Denise and I went to Utah (of all places) and spent a couple of weeks hiking and looking at geology. This helped put life in a larger context than may have been apparent to me recently.
Even a substantial stomach, such as this, is dwarfed by the scale of the geology in Utah.
That was followed by several weeks in Italy, with a day trip to Switzerland on the side. I’m sure that we came away with a renewed sense of the purpose of life, beyond pasta and chocolate, although they’re right up there.
This is one of 5 villages we hiked through along the Mediterranean.
We visited The David at home in Florence.
For the past few weeks, and for a couple of months to come, we’ll be in a little village on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic, where we’ve had a modest casa for the last several years. Homes in the DR, like buildings everywhere, suffer when they’re not inhabited so there is lots to do.
You can’t even begin to imagine what happens to a largely untended garden in the Caribbean.
Our garden is fabulous, about 800 square meters of paths and flowering plants falling off over a very steep hill formed when molten lava met the primordial sea. We hire a guy to savagely slash at it with a machete in our absence, but it is not enough.
Last summer we had a buildingtradesman named Ruben expand the thatched roof to cover the entire deck overlooking the bay and the Atlantic. The view is an ever-changing vista that continually delights and frequently astonishes a couple of inland-dwellers such as Denise and I. This is also where the hammocks are located (although one could easily de camp to the guest bungalow, which is situated with a similar vista…)
We continue with our Spanish classes, whenever we can pin down la professora, and grow tired of the pidgin nature of our communication about things of substance, although we muddle along OK with the requirements of day-to-day life when speaking with our Dominican, French, Italian, and German neighbors.
The only other Americans in town are a retired Boston police detective and his retired AFA partner and a couple from Central Ohio who look askance at my IUPAT “Win With Gore” tee shirt.
The cop masquerades as Santa Clause and has been working on his beard since June.
The couple from Ohio keep their counsel regarding politics in the US. It’s that sort of place.
We’ve yet to host our first visitors from the US and are anxious to see how that goes. I’m thinking that the rustic conditions and minor privations are small price to pay for the rewards of a few days or weeks on la loma in Las Galeras.
My daughter is trying to arrange to visit sometime in mid-January, so we’ll see.
I haven’t yet made any decisions about what’s next for me in Washington, but have no regrets about my last choice.
This is typed by thumbs, on a BBerry keyboard, so please overlook the more glaring keyboarding errors.
I hope you’ll further forebear my seemingly arbitrary selection of you as the recipients of this missive. I trust your respective judgments and respectfully ask and give you license to forward this note to those as may be interested. I’d also be grateful if you’d let me know that this message was NOT captured by your respective Spam filters.
I hope that the holidays find you all fulfilled and happy.
Best and fraternal regards,
Bill
Roofing? It’s concrete and, inexplicably, flat. The membrane has failed. The roof is the source of all of our non-potable water.
So now I’m a roofer.
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Eventually, most of the old coatings came off.
Tags: Dominican Republic, Las Galeras, Retirement