Saturday, December 31, 2005

and we thought we traveled a lot....

i found this cool web site where you can specify the countries that you have visited and have a world map generated that presents the info visually.

i did mine first. i have traveled to 26 countries...just 11% of the world! meanwhile i think of myself as having traveled a lot - apparently not!



now here is veronica's map - she's been to 34 countries. she's up at 15%.



this map could use a little tweaking - like you should be able to specify areas that you have been to within large countries. i.e., i did not make it to siberia but did go to moscow and st. petersburg and in between. i would definitely like to be able to specify which states i have been to within the US. a very cool tool though!

if you want to do this yourself, check out this site: create your own visited countries map

um, the taxi is broken down




the boston gals left very early this morning. :-(

of course a very typical dominican thing had to happen to them on their last day here. the taxi driver that had been arranged to take them to the airport called at 5:58am to say that the taxi had broken down. he could be there by 7am. (YEAH RIGHT! I DON'T THINK SO!) it was actually the wife of the driver who called me. their pickup was to be at 6am.

veronica and i were a bit concerned about having to spring this news on the gals, as we knew that they had been very happy with the previous driver. they had used the same taxi guy on their way to cabarete from the santiago airport and had been pleased with his non-dominican driving skills (meaning he had skills) and his careful pace through the windy mountain road. his wife and baby had been along for the ride too, thus easing their fears of being driven off to some remote part of the island and not knowing what may happen then.

luckily at the hotel this morning, a guy was there whose father was a taxi driver. so a quick call to the dad, and the taxi showed up 1 minute later. before i think we all had time to grasp what had happened, they were in a new cab on an (undesired) adventure to the airport.

i touched base with sheila at 9:15am to make sure that had made it safely. they had - albeit with LOTS of diesel fumes in the taxi, a lot of passing of other cars, speeding up to each pothole, and conversing with other taxis along the way about the state of their passengers (perhaps worse off than the boston gals). sheila, good thing you wore your electric stimulation bracelet!

the gals are probably nearly touching down in NYC now and connecting on to boston from there. i think they have snow to greet them - a definite change from the continuation of the spectacular weather we had for all but one of their days here.

happy new years, ladies! hope the taxi ride was soon forgotten! perhaps you started planning for your party this evening! have fun!

Friday, December 30, 2005

beach, beach, and more beach

yesterday we packed up the car with the gals, the cooler, our snorkel gear, and the boogie board and headed to two of our finest beaches here - playa caleton & playa grande.

first stop was for some swimming and snorkeling at playa caleton. here's a shot of sheila, jessie, and willowe enjoying the dominican sunshine at playa caleton.



with playa caleton filling up and the big waves of playa grande calling us, we headed down the road to the second beach stop. we decided to set up camp at the far western end of the beach, a new spot for us. here's what the view off to the right looked like from where we were sitting. PRETTY SWEET BEACH!



turned out that there was a private party being held on the beach nearby to where we sat. i think it most likely was the NY group that had purchased the playa grande golf course & land. while we did not manage to sneak any food or beverage from the party, we did get some other fringe benefits. namely, a local dominican band played nearby us for a while (that was maybe good and bad) and some kitesurf instructors were there giving some kiting demos and lessons to the members of the private party. this enabled the gals to see this sport live, as there have been virtually no winds in cabarete and thus no kiters on display.

the big event of the day though were THE WAVES! how big, you ask? well, here's a picture that provides some perspective on size:



jessie and i had been in the water for a bit before sheila joined us. we had already figured out that the waves were rather large and mostly were best dealt with by diving under or bobbing to the top of them. when sheila joined and saw her first wave, i gave her the advice to either dive under it or try to bob up it. sheila chose neither....and decided to body surf it instead. well, you should have seen the look on sheila's face when she arrived back up to the surface after riding that wave in! it was a "WOW, holy cow!" face and bring on some more even though i might be in pain!

next thing i know, sheila is up on the beach, grabbing the boogie board! go sheila! we proceeded to have a blast! sometimes it felt like you would just get dropped off the wave head first as it was breaking, which made for some exhilarating moments where all you could do was hold your breath and hope for the best!

here are some boogie boarding shots of sheila and me:





Wednesday, December 28, 2005

improper bostonian, take note

last night we took the boston gals to blue moon - the very cool restaurant up in the mountains here. i think they really enjoyed themselves. we got there early and took loads of pictures throughout the night - starting with shots of the sunset. the gals were hoping to make it into the improper bostonian. if they don't make it there, they will at least have been published here.



v, s, and s hanging out pre-dinner:



sheila and willow relaxing after emptying their banana leaves (your plate at blue moon). they made friends with the 2 guys next to them - a couple of gay guys from NYC, staying at seahorse ranch villa #83 (NICE!) with the family of the guy on the right.



jessie recovering from the food extravaganza!



group shot after the meal was over & banana leaves cleared.



it was a big group at blue moon last night - 4 groups, totalling 22 of us for dinner.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

300 pesos

sheila, jessie, and willow arrived yesterday! after dropping their bags in their room, experiencing one power outage, sheila seeing one creepy crawlie in the bathroom, and then switching their hotel room (boring story), we headed for LAX for some food and fun.

here's a shot of us last night:


the gals were a bit confused by the local currency. when they used the ATM at the airport, they each took out 300 pesos. they thought they'd be styling with that much. well, that translates into $9.37 US Dollars. we all got a laugh out of this! so we made a stop at an ATM in cabarete and encouraged them to add another zero to the number this time!



we're off to meet them shortly for breakfast on the beach. looks like they may get a decent beach day too, as it is sunny right now. this evening we are heading to blue moon for dinner. should be a good day!

Monday, December 26, 2005

yikes, hold on!


i am often asking v to slow down as we are passing someone on the road as it is often a crazy scene. as far as nutty scenes you see on motorbikes here, this is pretty tame. this little boy is awake actually. maybe he feels safer closing his eyes! they are easily going about 40mph! no helmet. no worries about the very high likelihood of hitting a gaping hole in the road in the form of a gigantic pothole!

since i have been here, i have seen 2 traffic accidents. can't believe i have not seen more.

the first occurred on my second day here. v and i took a trip out to rio san juan and cabrera. just as we got to rio san juan, we saw a woman hit by a motorcycle while crossing the street. this was directly in front of us. luckily the motorcycle was only moving about 15 miles per hour, but still she was hit by the motorcyle and toppled to the ground. we did not stop, as if you do, as the white people, you could very likely get tagged as having hit her. it feels terrible to just go on and not help, but such is life as a foreigner in a country where you are definitely not innocent before being proven guilty. this is true of both foreigners and dominicans.

(minor digression: i know that as an american, i take for granted the legal system that we have in the US. i often catch myself still assuming the types of rights i would have if something went wrong here, but then realize that is not the case here at all. say the roof of my apartment caves in because some stupid workman above does something he should not. normally you think, well, i would sue him, the company he works for, or the condo owner. well....WHO is he? he's some guy that makes $100/month. WHAT kind of money would he have to hand over to me? WHAT company? he's just some guy they found who says he knows how to rip out a kitchen. the owner of the condo lives in god knows what country and would never show up here for any kind of trial, if you ever even got to one.)

the second accident i have seen was a little boy about the same age as the one on this motorcyle in the picture. his dad was unsuccessful at maneuvering through the chaotic center of cabarete on his motorcycle, while holding the child at the front of the motorcyle. the child took a face plant into the pavement - no arms out at all. yikes!

i know that i have written several blog entries mentioning the horrendous driving habits and practices here, but it still always amazes me when i see a child like this in the photo, riding along on the front with no helmet and really nothing holding him on except his dad - who is using one of his arms to POINT AT THE CAMERA! hold on to the kid, man!

we know of two situations here where foreigners have run over dominicans who are STUPIDLY driving motorcycles at night with no headlights on the wrong side of the road. this sounds awful, but when that happens here, the first thing you do is head to the airport and get on a plane out of here. otherwise there is no way that it is not going to be your fault. you will be tossed in jail here and possibly not get out and/or have to pay EXORBITANT fees to support a family for life here. one of the guys we know that this happened to had to leave a bar business behind that he owned here. he just left everything. the other guy is actually a resident here and in very good standing in the community due to the businesses he owns here, so it ended up being OK for him, but costing him a lot of money.

i will continue to take photos like this where i can to document the appalling driving practices and habits here, as it will never cease to amaze me.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

christmas eve day



it being warm for xmas definitely makes for an odd experience. i think it is definitely tough to get into the xmas mode when you're at the beach and it's mid 80s out. this shot is of yesterday afternoon (christmas eve day) on the beach here in perla marina.

it is now christmas morning. we're off to sandi's restaurant for breakfast in town. we thought it would be nice to hang with sandi, and likely rich will be there too. after that we're planning a picnic on the beach here in perla marina. when in rome, do as the romans! doing something on the beach seemed to be the most appropriate thing to do on this day in the tropics. we've put together an antipasto platter. it's looking slightly cloudy but hopefully that will burn off.

bernard, an austrian guy we know here, lives with his family at Maquey which are some condos (built by C21) right by the beach at PM. i saw him yesterday afternoon on my way down to the beach. he said they would be BBQ'ing with a bunch of people at the Las Olas condos (right next to Maquey) and to come by while we were on the beach. so we'll drop in on that.

veronica just returned from walking isla on the beach, so we will be going shortly into cabarete.

merry christmas!

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

it's a cultural thing



here's a shot of some dominican women hanging out at the gas station on a friday afternoon, drinking some presidentes. dominicans are very social and VERY LOUD! that has been one thing that we have really had to get used to here. it is very much a cultural thing - but they are always screaming out to each other and talking very loudly. they often congregrate in groups outside, so you cannot avoid the noise. this is probaby so because their houses are so small. it's more fun on the street or at the gas station for them where there is action!

other noise pollution here - and it really is noise pollution - includes the following:

  • dominicans play their music really loudly and often. music is an essential part of their culture. dancing is too for that matter. it is nice to see them enjoying themselves, but sometimes the music, especially one of the instruments (don't know which one) in their music, is really annoying. i know stubbs knows what sound i am talking about. when i am irritated, i imitate this instrument - it's like a "tink, tink, plink, plink" sound and it drives me NUTS!
  • there are small pick-up trucks loaded with fresh vegetables and fruit that drive around. they use these speakers or megaphones to announce their arrival and goods. the only word i can catch of this is "yucca", which is a root vegetable.
  • when there is a special singer/musician playing in one of the nearby towns, they will also announce this by driving around in a usually beat-up little pick-up truck with massive speakers that take up the entire back of the truck. they blast music and the announcement of this event. same goes for political parties that want to send out some message. one seriously wonders if the drivers have any hearing left after this activity. i always have to roll my window up when passing these pick-ups because i think i will go deaf otherwise.
  • many of the motorcyles here are loud. they are all mostly jerry rigged together, so forget mufflers or whatever else would reduce noise (and air pollution!). cabarete is basically a one road town, so there is this constant noise from the road - be it these motorcyles, cars, and/or the many trucks going by.
  • in the apartment complex we live in, all throughout the day, the maintenance guy, the gardener, the cleaning ladies, and the guys renovating some of the apartments, all yell out to one another to either find one another or ask a question. it goes like this, "wilson! (no response) WILSON! (no response) WILSON!" i wish i could give all of them PushToTalk functionality, but i don't think Orange ever ended up deploying it - certainly not in the DR. too bad, it would be a lovely thing to give them. of course it would cost them too much and they would never use it anyway since they love to just shout anyway......

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

a day on the island



we went for a late afternoon walk with the dog today. during the walk, we took this picture just a little bit down from the blue fish site. this was the first time we could so clearly see the mountains off in the distance along the coastline on the right. it was a very nice time of day, so good to capture it on film.

nothing much exciting to report on today. we made a trip into the sosua office today to talk to juan and then spent the rest of the day working from the house. after BBQ'ing, veronica is now working on her final homework assignment for the sustainable design class she is taking online. she's over across the table now, crunching away on some design. the dog looks to finally be sacked out. i am really coming to like her, though she was a bit mischievous today. we kept finding her on the street, having jumped over the small coral stone wall that surrounds the property we are at. it wouldn't be good to have to report to her owners that she had disappeared, been chewed apart by some (other) guard dog, or run over by a car.

we're getting excited for sheila and the lortie girls to arrive. we chatted on IM with sheila tonight about what she should bring, things we should do, the weather forecast, etc. hard to believe it is already time for them to come!

tomorrow we head into cabarete for a shift in that office, as well as have to go back to our apartment while someone comes and fixes the water heater. it's murphy's law that we would be away for a few days, only to come back on monday and find veronica's closet flooded from a busted water heater. there go all those leather shoes she brought (and mostly never wears!)

well, not too exciting of a blog entry, i know, but not every day on the island is exciting. though i must say you usually do see or experience something new, strange, or insane here quite regularly. i guess if you spend most of the day in perla marina, it's to be expected.

Monday, December 19, 2005

blue fish ocean front condos



this is a picture of the blue fish ocean front condos being constructed in the perla marina community of cabarete. back in june, we bought one of the units here - a pre-construction deal. the condos are being built by juan perdomo (the C21 broker) and partners. we actually took two 1 bedroom units and combined them into 1 large unit. this condo will be up on the third floor of the building (top floor) and will have a very large ocean facing terrace. we bought it as an investment but also fantasize about actually living in the condo, when we're feeling like we want to stay here. i think any time we see blue fish, we feel like staying!

there will be 68 condos at blue fish in 6 different buildings - of which only 2 buildings (#1 and #2) have ocean views. our unit is D3/E3 in the middle of the U shaped Building #1. by combining 2 units, we have ended up with a condo that will have a very big open living room/dining room and terrace facing directly towards the ocean, tucked in a bit, thus protecting us from the often present winds. (remember people come to cabarete for the wind to either windsurf or kitesurf, so the winds are always there!)

construction was supposed to start in august. they broke ground in september. they actually dig the foundation by hand, as opposed to using excavators! @#$%^&*$! under building #1, it is all coral stone, so it has been quite a back breaking affair for the workers. man, when you go out there in the blazing caribbean sun at midday and see these guys with shovels and axes, hacking away at this rock, you really feel for them. it's mostly haitians doing this super strenuous, menial work. they have these incredibly well defined bodies, and it is clear why. they work 7 days a week.

the construction site is also like a mini-camp for the workers. they have constructed these temporary structures where many of them live while working there. god knows from how far away they came to work on this and the pennies that they are getting for it. apparently, there are some industrious women who set up the "mess hall" on the site too and serve meals to the guys. this is a common practice on construction sites here - a good business for the women. here is the mess hall...



ok, back to the lovely ocean view..... so these condos are located 120 feet from the ocean. the coastline directly in front of blue fish is that petrified coral rock that i wrote about in one of my previous blog entries. the waves crash on these rocks and generate these huge sprays of water. it should make for some spectacular views from the terrace of our condo.

if you follow a path along the rocks for 2 minutes, you come to this great, secluded beach that is basically for the residents of Perla Marina - though all beaches in the DR are public. i already liked this beach, but i'm now coming to really love it, as we are spending a lot of time on it, walking the dog we are watching.

pablo, the C21 architect, is modeling blue fish after this hotel in mexico that he loves - el cayeres hotel resort. let's hope he pulls off his vision. veronica and i are often in his ear about a possible design change here and there, colors, materials, and of course the quality of the construction (veronica's area of expertise) to make sure it is up to snuff.

the blue fish condos are slated to be finished in May 2006 - so that means like July probably. it's fun to watch the construction of them. we go there quite often to see the progress. the walls are starting to go up really fast now that they have made it through the foundation. these makes it quite exciting. at this point, we are able to see the layout of our condo, albeit the first floor unit. we were able to go up to the 3rd floor of building #3 yesterday - they are farther along there. that gave us some perspective on what our view will be like.

here is an aerial shot of the site.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Susie's locks


I just wanted to show a picture of Susie's hair. It is getting quite long. She misses her Newbury Street stylist, Cindy, and is afraid that if she starts experimenting with any of the locals, they will mess her hair up. So it grows and grows. It is so long now that she can almost put in a pony tail.

We have a couple of stylist options though. I use Ana, from Serbia. She fled there about 7 years ago with her husband, who does tattoos, and her sister, who helps her with the washing of clients hair. I think she does a decent job. But she has weird platinum colored, chopped off hair, and that might not really boost Susie's confidence, as far as short hair cutting is concerned.

Another option is Andreas, a German, in Sosua. People rave about him. So maybe one day she will give him a try. But till then her locks grow.

Just a little insight of one thing we miss about Boston

housesitting



we are housesitting for a fellow C21 realtor who went to the US for vacation. along with the house comes this very sweet dog, isla. she's quite playful and easy to take care of. we've been taking her for long walks in order to be sure she is tired out at night. she's a good watch dog too, as anyone who walks by the house gets a bark from her. given her size, i don't think she'd do too much damage to anyone, but it is still nice to have her looking out for us.

we're about a 7 minute drive from cabarete in a semi-gated community called perla marina. this is the same community in which the blue fish condos are located - where we bought an oceanfront condo. those condos are about a 5 minute walk from here, as well as the beach. here is a shot of the house we're staying at:




this morning we took a walk along the ocean towards cabarete. wow! the coastline here is beautiful. it's not your tranquil caribbean coastline (as it is the atlantic here) but is stunning in a different way. there's a lot of petrified coral rock in some sections of the coastline, so you have the waves crashing and huges sprays of water shooting upwards. during our walk, we came across several small beaches. this coastline here is nearly completed undeveloped, so you have the beaches to yourself. today we walked almost to the point in front of hideaway beach where we had our late afternoon picnic with nicole and karen.

we found some more amazing shells on one of the beaches. we will add them to our collection.

it's nice to be spending some time outside of the hustle bustle of cabarete. it does feel like we are in the "suburbs" here, as it is basically a subdivision. however, it's like a mini-vacation, being away from our apartment (even though we are working.) the only downside is that there are 2 homes being built right around this home, so there is a bit of a racket each day - not to mention all the big trucks and streams of workers arriving in the morning to work on the blue fish condos.

here is a shot of the beach at perla marina. the coastline with its petrified rock here reminds me a bit of new england coasts, like in maine and RI. but of course when you put your feet in the water, it's a whole other experience. the water is warm! none of that toes going numb feeling!


i know the photos are out of whack, but i am on a dial-up connection and don't feel like spending 20 minutes correcting it. yes, dial-up! it still exists!

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

blue moon


there is this very cool and unique restaurant up in the hills here called blue moon. it is located about 20 minutes away from cabarete on the road to santiago. the restaurant is by reservation only with a minimum of 8 people and serves an "indian-dominican fusion" cuisine as the hostess calls it. the reason for the reservations and minimum number of people is that the staff has to travel to cabarete and/or sosua to get the food to be prepared for that night's meal. if they are serving fish, they for sure have to go to sosua. this means that the staff drives over an hour (roundtrip) to get the fresh ingredients for that night's meal.

the property and restaurant is a real zen like experience. for starters, the dinner is served to everyone who is sitting on the floor in a large circle. the food is served in small dishes, and then you take what you want and put it on your banana leave directly in front of you and the cushy pillows you are sitting on (or later lying on.) you eat with your hands! it takes a while to get the hang of this because rice is one of the elements of the meal - not to mention the fact that it feels quite wrong to be eating that way. i (sort of) got over it. the dinner area is under a tent like structure and can accommodate up to 30 people in a circle. you take your shoes off before entering in. it's decorated with all sorts of tapestries and colorful pillows.

the restaurant is part of a large property that you can walk around on. set amongst egg shaped hills with many palm trees, the views here are spectacular - particularly at sunset. at the top one of the hills is the owner's house. he's a doctor from germany who came to the DR about 15 years ago with his south african wife. their original intention for the property was to have it be a school for teaching spanish to foreigners. when that did not work out, they decided to open up the restaurant. they split up a few years ago and the wife left. now his girlfriend (wife?), eneda, who is from the DR, is the hostess at the restaurant. the restaurant is very popular with groups making reservations through the local hotels, the local mountain bike tour operator, etc. apparently flight crews like to go out there too.

calling it a restaurant is not really doing it justice. it's more like an "outing". you can go there before dinner and hang out on one of the hilltops on the property. as i said, the sunset is fantastic here and definitely a must see. if you'd like, you can go there even earlier and laze around at the pool. once you're ready for dinner, you pick your spot in the circle and settle into the pillows. the food is very good - just spicy enough and a with wide variety of flavors.

we went to blue moon on my birthday with some friends. here are some shots to give a sense of the place and the experience.




here is a link to their web site: http://www.dominicana-net.com/bluemoon/index.html

Thursday, December 08, 2005

las terrenas - take 3

our third trip to las terrenas provided us with a new view on the quaint, pretty town. as mentioned in the previous blog entry, the weather has changed here a bit with the waters being rougher and the air a bit cooler. it's still very much beach weather, but now we see more rain and are getting some big waves. the allure of las terrenas is the gorgeous turquoise blue waters, the great food, and the appealing ambiance of the restaurants and bars. this time, it hit for 2 out of 3 of those things.

rather than swims, we enjoyed walks along the beach. on friday early evening, nicole, veronica, and i took a stroll along the beach towards playa coson. the sun was setting over the mountains (lomas, as they call them here), casting a great light on to the beach. we stopped for a while and picked up some shells off the beach. playa bonita and playa coson have some great shells - albeit most small but colorful. here's a shot of nicole and me looking for our treasure:



here are some of the shells we have picked up during our 3 trips out there:



in terms of food, we enjoyed several very good meals. the lunches at casa grande, our hotel, were excellent as usual. we took a stroll past the various restaurants at playa bonita the first afternoon we were there. we stopped in at hotel acaya and had some dessert and coffee.



we enjoyed dinner out at finn bar. this place is run a french guy and is located on the non-beach side of the road in las terrenas. as you're still basically on the beach, the tables are set on the sand. so, you can take off your flip flops and have your feet playing with the sand. this place is all about fish and is where the local expats suggest that you go, if you want the best fish in town at great prices.



on saturday night we went to Flavio Fashion - a restaurant owned by 2 italian gay guys. flavio is one of the 2 owners. flavio is th older of the 2, decked out in some italian designer jeans and a big D&G belt buckle. don't know the name of the other guy. he has a sort of a "fashionable" mullet kind of haircut. he too was wearing some fashionable casual outfit (not very DR). even their waitresses seemed to have picked up on some their fashion - our waitress had given it the old college try with big gold necklace with DKNY letters. we had seen these 2 guys during our previous trips to las terrenas over at palapa bar - apparently they own that cool beach bar/restaurant at palapa. during the day, they are usually lazing about on the beach in front of their establishment. tough life....

back to Flavio Fashion - it is decked out in lots of silver streamer like things attached to the wall, some pink strips too, and zebra striped seat cushions, it was *a bit* much for the eye. this place looked like the room had been decorated for a one-time party and would be dismantled when the night was over. however, this was no one time decoration, this was the decoration. the food was excellent though. it was thea from the el mosquito bar who had recommended that we go there. being italian and all, she was highly in favor of the authentic italian food that could be had there. we did not any pictures there which is a shame. i think we all were a little bit shell shocked by the decor and perhaps did not feel we needed to capture it for posterity sake. don't get me wrong, i would go back there for the food and the scene, as there were some interesting observations to be made here on other tables, the owners milling about, etc.

it would not be a trip to las terrenas without hanging out at el mosquito bar. thea, the italian waitress/personal trainer, remembered us from when we we there at halloween. both thea and elisabeth, the bartender and italian also, were very accommodating, offering us some free hors d'oevres and mixing up some fine drinks. we hang out there both friday and saturday night. we sat inside though as the wind was blowing out on the deck area. here is a shot from there:



all in all it was a very nice weekend. here's a parting shot - a view outward towards the ocean from casa grande grounds.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

some catching up

we've been bad and have not blogged lately. it feels kind of like when you stop exercising. once you stop for a few days, it feels hard to get back into it!

it's been a week since the last post. in that time, we took a weekend trip out to las terrenas with nicole and karen. we were excited to show them this fun little town and the blue, blue waters out there. turns out though that in december and january, the water becomes rough. so the water was not very blue. we had been noticing the rougher waters in cabarete but didn't think to translate that into its effect on las terrenas waters. oh well. we had a fun time out there anyway, even though it was not particularly centered around swimming. we did spend time on the beach for sure - particularly taking some nice long walks.

i'll focus this entry on the trip out to las terrenas. starting off, here are some shots taken along the way. this one is near rio san juan. out here the fields are so incredibly vibrantly green. having driven here many times, i finally decided to take a picture of this landscape.



we stopped at 2 beaches along the way to show nicole and karen. the first was playa caleton. this is a great little beach that is located within a (usually) calm inlet. we should have known when we saw the rough water even here that our experience in las terrenas would be different. anyway, here is a sign to the beach. as is typical here in the DR, nothing is well marked here. it's only after coming once, that you know "it's after the brugal billboard and a left turn at this sign."




next up was playa grande. we have much better pictures of playa grande (and playa caleton for that matter) but for matter of fact sake, i've put in one that was taken that day. (i plan to write a blog entry soon on the beaches we've been to here. i'll be sure to use the cream of the crop photos for that entry). again, the surf was way up at playa grande.



we then motored along to las terrenas. once we arrived, wondered if we should buy gas or not, due to the rationing. we actually forgot that they lifted the rationing for the month of december. if we wanted, we could have bought some gas like this - this is a private home whose residents are trying to make a few pesos by selling gasoline in old water jugs, beer bottles, etc.:



i'll start a new post with some photos from our time in las terrenas. so that's all for now.