Tuesday, January 31, 2006

a perfect DR sunset


this shot was taken last night from the grounds of the sosua by the sea hotel. only 10 minutes before this, we were in a different location where the sunset was nothing special. wow, how the sky changed!

lingering effects of a trip to the DR

for those regularly following our blog, you may remember when sheila was visiting from boston that she and i did some KILLER boogie boarding. as sheila put it, the waves were so big that it was BONECRUSHING to go along with VERY FUN! there have been some lingering effects though for sheila from that activity. during a physical exam this week, her doctor informed her that she had SAND in her ears! now it's been a month, and i don't think that sheila is a member of the polar bear club or anything. meaning, she has not done any ocean swimming since here in the DR at the end of december. she claims not to shy away from the q-tip either. so that was indeed SOME BOOGIE BOARDING!

here's a shot of sheila's head from after our boogie boarding. it paints a good picture of how much we were rattled around in the surf and sand!



on the topic of playa grande and waves, we went back there with my mom a week ago or so. the waves were FEROCIOUS! if they were like ~5-6 feet the day we were there with sheila, i'd say they were 10-12 feet this time. i think we lucked out the day we went with sheila. they were at the very edge of what i think one could handle boogie boarding. though maybe sheila's doctor would say otherwise!

Sunday, January 29, 2006

easy come, easy go


well, today had some real ups and downs.

the ups - a nice breakfast at the extreme hotel, a great beach walk*, a pretty sunset to go along with a huge rainbow over cabarete bay, a client still seriously considering a hotel property, and a new phone** to play with.

the downs - well, in a matter of 1 second, i managed to get both my phone and camera immersed in a wave. :-( at the end of a beautiful beach walk with my mom, we had a bit of a disaster. a wave came a bit too close to us, my mom stumbled, and a shoe was lost. as i was preparing to retrieve the shoe, another wave came up, washed over my camera that i had stupidly placed on my flip flops in the sand and not far enough up the beach. somehow my phone then slipped out of my hand too, as i scrambled to try to save the camera. in this whole commotion, my sunglasses also came off, but i did recover those - only just though as they were barely sticking out from the sand. this was utter chaos and needless to say very upsetting.

veronica and i spent like 2 hours drying out the phone and camera. the camera miraculously looks like it may be OK. we'll see if the salt water corrodes it and it stops working sometime soon. as far as the nokia 6600 goes, that's caput. finito. done. :-( we even tried to take it apart to help with drying it out, but we didn't have the right tools. i don't think it would have helped anyway.

luckily i have another phone that was a toss-aside from rich. it's a windows mobile device from some 3rd tier manufacturer and at a somewhat beta stage. i started loading it up with contacts and customizing and then was having fun with it. the phone actually takes pretty good pictures (for a phone). with it, i managed to capture the rainbow that we saw on cabarete beach at sunset hour. here are some other shots from that hour.

facing into the sunset...


wait, soccer? aren't they supposed to be into baseball in this country?


at the end of the day, i have another phone, the camera is working, my mom has her other shoe, and my sunglasses weren't scratched somehow. a very different picture from those first few moments after that wave hit!

Friday, January 27, 2006

a thursday evening in cabarete



this is marabu - a cool new restaurant in cabarete under a big canopy right on the beach. i wrote about this place in an earlier blog entry. it looks a bit like a spaceship here - i really dig this photo.

here's inside marabu....





we went there for a drink at about 7pm last night with my mom. we contemplated staying on for dinner, but we decided to stick with our plan to go to pomodoro as it was jazz night there.

over at pomodoro, the place was full inside and the beach was very windy, so we were guided to a table in the quaint alleyway where there are many outdoor eating establishments. our vantage point from this table was looking inwards into the restaurant and at the back of the musicians. the music was nothing special, but as usual in cabarete, something comes along that entertains or amuses you. this time it was a dominican with a guitar who wanted to both learn some new music from the jazz musicians and grab some dinero off us by playing some of his own local music. here are some photos from that part of the night....





the guy in green outside the restaurant (like us) is the dominican. after following and trying to play along to the jazz music, he turned his attention to us. the photo is out of focus but it captures the essence of his excitement for the merengue/bachata that we requested he play for us. i gave him 10 pesos for his efforts.



my mom has been getting her own comments from the blog entries while she has been here. they have been from her friend, diane. thanks, diane! my mom is enjoying hearing your thoughts on her time here! here i am showing my mom the blog and a comment from you.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

palm trees, monkeys, beach walks



the day started off with the coconut palm trees getting a trim. this guy in the photo was up in the palm tree at our condo complex, hacking off the palms and coconuts. they do this to ensure that people walking under the trees don't get walloped on the head by an old palm leave or any coconuts. that could really injure you! it was intriguing to witness how this guy was able to climb 30+ feet up and down the tree by just using a rope. he somehow wrapped it around his leg and the tree, which enabled him to slowly shimmy up and down the tree. again, note the machete. that tool is used for everything.

we needed to head into the sosua office today to do some work in prep for 3 clients over the next 3 days. we brought my mom along and dropped her off to walk around sosua a bit.

once done in the office, we next needed to see a new house listing. so off we went up into the hills of sosua. when it's a cool house, this is a fun thing to do! and cool, indeed, was this house. the living area and kitchen were partially outdoors on a kind of terrace like floor. in one direction, you had a sweeping view of the ocean off in the distance. the back side of the house borders the road that brings you to panorama village. so from that side, you see this movie set view of gorgeous, vibrantly green rolling hills with tons of palm trees.

the owner was swiss - a very nice guy. the only strange thing (there's always something) was that he had a monkey! yes, a monkey! it apparently acts like a watch dog for him. i can't imagine how a dominican intruder would react to seeing a monkey during a break-in! they're usually scared to death of dogs, but a monkey might just completely freak them out, especially if it screeched, which the owner said it would.

later in the day my mom and i went for another long walk along cabarete beach out to kite beach. this is good exercise for us both and also a great sight with all the kitesurfers that have been out over the past few days. here are some shots during our walk:





we just finished having a bbq out on the deck. tomorrow night we're planning to go to pomodoro where they play jazz on thursday nights.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

cabarete after dark



we just returned from a fantastic meal at "papi's" - aka, la casita de don alfredo. the restaurant is on the beach, though we sat upstairs in the restaurant, so that we could catch the action on the beach from all angles. this was our first evening actually eating on the beach with my mom. i think she enjoyed the food very much and the sights and sounds of the different restaurants/bars of cabarete beach.

the specialty of the house are these amazing shrimp in a garlic and cream sauce. yum! they serve the camarones (shrimp) in a big pan with the heads still on. it's really a wonderful taste treat. we had not been there since we went last year when on vacation here. we should go more often!


here is a shot of us at the table:



this was a great cap to a great day with spectacular weather. as i had worked a lot over the past 2 days on closing out 2 offers, i felt free to spend the day with my mom. we had a nice long walk on the beach at mid-day and then did some sunning on the sand in the afternoon. my mom is really starting to like cabarete very much - especially the beach and balmy weather.

veronica was not able to join us today on the beach because she had to go to puerto plata to list a house. too bad, because we missed her!

Sunday, January 22, 2006

mom does the DR!

we've been showing my mom the sights, sounds, and tastes of the DR. yesterday we took a trip out to playa grande with a picnic. the ride out there always provides a good view into life in the DR. the pay off for this often very bumpy ride is the gorgeous beach that awaits at playa grande. we enjoyed our picnic on the beach and got some sunshine but then raced to the car when a rain storm came up quickly. so it was short day on the beach itself.

last night we had a big cooking session. i enjoy cooking with my mom, as she shows me some new recipes. one thing we have craved here is soup. it's not something you regularly find here on menus. it makes sense, as who would want soup when they are sweltering? however, as it is "winter" now and thus no longer stiffingly hot here, soup is an appealing meal. so, we cooked up some lentil and chicken soups last night.

this morning we took my mom to dick's panaderia - the german bakery where you can hang out and see the world of cabarete walk/drive by. here's a shot of us -- you can see the shoeshine boys in back of us. they were slowly moving in on my mom....



on the walk home, we picked up a coconut for my mom. there are 2 types of coconuts - one best for eating the fruit and another specifically for drinking the juice. for 20 pesos, we bought one of the drinking coconuts from our regular fruit stand. this involves selecting a coconut from a wheel barrow. the old guy, who normally runs the stand, was not there. instead, we got his grandson or something who used his machete to cut the top off the coconut. he was less deft with the machete - give him a few years, as that is the tool of choice here for everything, so we know he'll get better at it. after chopping the top off, he inserted a straw into the small hole, and we were off with my mom holding her TRUE tropical drink. here's a shot of her, enjoying one of the tastes of island life:



the rest of the day we spent out on cabarete beach, lazing in a lounge chair and eating lunch at the EZE cafe. the weather has been somewhat unpredictable with rain storms coming up quite often. we have certainly had blue skies too, but i think we are all looking forward to days without sudden rain storms.

we're thinking of heading over to the new casino in town here one of these nights. that should be an interesting scene and worth a blog entry! my mom keeps asking where we can listen to merengue and see some dancing. the places we know of aren't necessarily going to be our cup of tea. so perhaps we should consult with juan or another dominican on where we should go for this...

Thursday, January 19, 2006

showing mom around

veronica took the gua-gua to the office this afternoon, which gave mom and me the car to use. we headed over to perla marina so that i could show her the blue fish complex. we walked all around the construction site, the coast in front of blue fish, and then over to maquey and naturas cabanas. it was fun to show her blue fish, as we have been excited about investing in it and seeing the progress of the complex.

next up we headed to sosua. i had recently noted a place called "on the waterfront" as a place to check out. it's down by the las terrazas complex and has a great view over a small beach and out towards puerto plata and the mountains behind there. we ordered a couple of banana mamas sin ron and enjoyed the view. here's my mom, enjoying her tropical drink.



veronica came to meet us, and the next thing we know it's about time for the sunset. we decided to stay for that and to get some appetizers. well, the sunset did not disappoint. here's a shot of it:



now we're just hanging out at home and watching some TV. if there had been a movie theater nearby, we'd have opted top do that. but alas, a movie theater is asking a bit too much of this third world country. here's a thought, we have not seen a movie (in a theater) since we have been here. wow!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

welcome to the DR, mom!




my mom arrived yesterday afternoon. she was so excited to see me that she exited the baggage claim area without her bags! well, we were a bit worried about how she'd get back in to get her bags. as she re-entered into the customs/baggage are, the security guys kind of looked at her, tried to call her back, and then gave up (too much effort required and not worth it, i guess). so now we're thinking, how is she going to exit again because i am holding her purse with ticket, passport, and customs form? well, she just popped her sunglasses on and walked on past everyone! she basically got past all the customs people TWO times without anyone asking for her forms or looking over her bags! way to go, mom! next time we need to bring in some electronics or something with huge duties, we'll hire you!

we made a quick stop at daniel, the german butcher, for some things for dinner. this is a real typical german butcher shop - lots of sausages, sauerkraut, and other types of meat on display. there were several customers in there - all speaking different languages, so it was good introduction into the varied cultures and nationalities that live here. i let my mom know that this is the place to buy meat and not at the grocery store where it can often look less than appealing. daniel has gotten to know us, as we're regular customers. if veronica had gone into the shop instead, we probably would have walked out with an extra treat - some hot dog of some sort, which we usually don't want but accept as he's being nice to us. we did not get any extra treats this time, but instead a "please say hello to your dutch friend! warm greetings to her!"

we then came back to the apartment, dropped the bags, and then headed over to the EZE cafe - one of our favorite spots here. it was a great day weatherwise and wind-wise so the windsurfers and kitesurfers were out in force, making for a great view from EZE. after a light snack and some fresh fruit juices, we came back to the apartment. as it was a long 2 days of travel for my mom, it was good to just hang out in the apartment last night. we threw some things on the BBQ and had a nice dinner out on the deck.

today is looking sunny and nice, so perhaps we will go for a long beach walk today. i'm out on our deck now. my mom is still sleeping. veronica is on the other deck (we have two), reading the newspaper etc. online. we have a client who has put in an offer on a great beach house, so we have to work through some of that today with the listing agent. when we leave here, i'd love to write a book on all the experiences we have had with buyers - qualified, unqualified, DREAMERS, as well as sellers and realty processes (or lack thereof here), etc. the stuff we have experienced is just unbelievable. i'm of course not serious about writing a book, but maybe i'd put it into the blog (and obviously keep names out of it.)

ok, time for some breakfast out here on the deck!

Monday, January 16, 2006

happenings



we had dinner at el tigre tonight. the neighborhood was hopping. the reason being they are working on the road into el callejon. several dump trucks arrived with caliche and dumped it on the side of the road. apparently, it is up to the people living there to spread the caliche out. no construction workers provided, it's a do-it-yourself thing. they won't pave over this either. it will just get packed down really tightly over time by cars going over it. life in a 3rd world country for sure.....

my mom arrives tomorrow! it's quite a trip to get here.... charlottesville to cincinnati to newark (overnight there) and then on to puerto plata! i haven't seen her since may, so i am quite looking forward to seeing her! she's been following the blog and getting excited to see firsthand the things that we have been writing about and doing. it will be interesting to see what she thinks of it here.

we have had a busy past few days. over the weekend we had a C21 training session. we actually did learn quite a few things and found it to be helpful. we got a chance to put it into practice today with a client. we have gone out a few times as a team with clients - and today was one of those times. the clients were not ready to buy and were looking way beyond their price range, but it was a good experience for us to try out some new ways of working with clients. wish we knew then what we know now!

brad pitt and angelina jolie have been in the DR, filming a movie along with robert deniro and matt damon. the movie is "the good shepherd". now i am not much of a celebrity watcher, but i think we both have had our moments where we have thought, maybe we should have gone to santo domingo to possibly catch some of this filming. i mean brad pitt and angelina, come on, they would be quite something to see in person! when we were in santo domingo in the fall, they were preparing to film the movie version of "miami vice". it seems like the DR is becoming a popular place to film - particularly the colonial zone.

we went out to the lot today in perla marina to see if the guy we hired had finished out the work on clearing lot. of course he hadn't. we're about 3/4 of the way through the job. the overgrowth has been chopped down. now the stuff needs to be piled up into one area. of course we get a song and dance from the guy who helped us hire his friend to do the work. apparently, some sort of bug is biting the gardener dude and he can't finish the piling up of the overgrowth. WHATEVER! it is of course a tactic to get us to pay more money. the lot looks a lot better though at this point.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

new things in cabarete

there's a great new spot to eat and/or just have a drink on cabarete beach. it's called marabu and is located directly next to the laurel eastman kitesurfing school. it is quite simple in terms of design & architecture and is very cool. it's basically a platform/wooden deck underneath a large white canopy. elevated up from the beach, you have a fantastic view of the ocean and beach. if you are sitting in the back of the restaurant and look out towards the ocean, it feels like you are actually on the ocean, as if on a boat or something. you don't see the sand at all. a very cool effect!

they figured out how to deal well with the ever present cabarete winds by putting up glass on the side where the winds normally come. as it is under a canopy, the glass goes up just a few feet and stops. the openness of this space and use of glass allows for the best views possible.

we had a snack of various meats (salami, etc.) and cheese, which was tasty. the menu is italian with pastas, pizzas, and salads. i believe that one of the owner's of this place owns toma la luna - a very good italian restaurant in cabarete.

this is a great addition to the cabarete restaurant scene and certainly brings some style to the area. i'll post some photos of marabu when i am there next. in the meantime, here is some info on it: http://www.cabaretewinds.com/news/148/ARTICLE/1174/2006-01-10.html

as we were sitting there, we were thinking about how much development has happened within cabarete since we first came almost a year ago now on vacation. for instance, there's the expansion of cabarete eastwards, the opening of the casino, the opening of restaurants and places like marabu & extreme hotel, the condos being built at blue fish, oceanpoint, porta-del-mar, ocean dream phase II, pelican beach, a gym opening up, and kite schools opening up beyond nanny estates.

now it's the biggest well known secret on the north coast that sea horse ranch is going to develop a golf course. it is believed that they will begin work on this course starting in march near to lomas mironas. who knows when it really will happen - though i certainly do believe it will happen at some point in the near future. when it does happen, it will provide a big pop to this area. so bring it on!

Thursday, January 12, 2006

early evening baseball

after we left the C21 office this evening, we went to go check out a property in sosua in preparation for a client tomorrow. we noticed a youth baseball game happening across from the casa marina reef hotel. we both agreed that it would be fun to buy a beer at a local mini-mart and some chips, and take a seat in back of the plate to watch this. i'd seen a few gringos - an older couple - sitting there amongst the other onlookers who were mostly dominican men and boys, ranging in age from 5 on up. we were not the first ones with this idea. so we drove down the street, picked up 2 presidentes, came back and watched for a while.

the players were probably about 17 or so. one team was in red and the other in blue. the uniforms were a hodge podge - i'd say on each team 60% were wearing the same uniform. those without the uniform filled in with another team's uniform in the same color or something else. some wore cletes while others had just running shoes. one of the catchers actually had one of those cushy pads that can be worn around your calf to help take some pressure off your knees. he only had one pad though, who knows if he ever had the other one or where he even got his lone one from.

i was hoping maybe i would catch a budding david ortiz or alfonso soriano, but the level of play was not that great. nonetheless, it was a nice temperature and a great way to spend a half hour after work.

we, of course, got the initial stares from the boys and men in the stands. afterall, we were two women. it was only when we sat down that i remembered that they may start their typical cat calling, hissing, and general annoying behavior towards women. i thought it might even be brought up a level as this was a baseball game and very much a guy's place. lo and behold however, they quickly returned their attention to the baseball game. it was a pleasant surprise.

we both wondered aloud who paid for the uniforms, bats, balls, batting helmets, and the lights that came on when it turned 6pmish. another thing we pondered was who cut the grass. the field was actually in "little league" shape - nothing special by american standards but certainly not a sand pit, which i would have thought it to be.

as i sat there and watched, i could only help but think, if i were anyone of these kids, i would just want to play baseball all day. it's a great way to be out of the small space that they likely live and share with tons of family members. it's a possible route out of poverty for those who can make it. it's also just a really great way to spend your time on an early evening.

i didn't have the camera with us, so i couldn't capture the scene. oh well, perhaps we can get a pic another evening and post it later.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Jungle clearing

In April '05 Susie and I bought a 1/4 acre lot in Perla Marina, one of the most popular oceanfront gated communities here. This area is so popular that lots rarely come on the open market, and if they do they get sold again very quickly. It happened that I was at the office when a sale of one of these lots fell through, I found out and made an offer on the spot. And it was accepted. Great!



Now we want to sell the lot, but as can be seen in the picture there is one problem. It is almost inpossible to actually see the lot without needing a machete and fearing for your life. The lot is so overgrown that you can't walk through it, and if you do brave the grasses and plants and try to work your way into the center of the lot, who knows what kind of creatures are lurking in the under- and overgrowth. It wouldn't surprize me if there were small snakes and huge spiders and all sorts of things crawling around in there. And if you do make it out again, it will certainly be with scrapes and scratches.

So as to not endanger peoples lives and make the viewing experience for perspective buyers a more pleasant one, we decided the lot needed a "chop job" - but how to go about arranging that?

Well, after some consulting with a fellow realtor it turned out to be very easy: Talk to the security guy at the gate and he probably knows 30 people who own a machete and would gladly do the job. And so it went yesterday. We talked to the guy at the gate, who happened to have the night watchman sitting next to him, and he owns a machete. So now, after showing him the lot, he and a friend will spend three days, braving the elements with machete in hand and chop away all that is legally allowed to be chopped (everything with a trunk smaller than a 4" diameter) on the plot. There will be a small fire made in the middle of the lot and all the material chopped with be burned. And I am told that after 3 days the lot will look presentable again. I am to meet Johnny at the gate again on Saturday evening, and if the plot is clean we will hand over the $40 that we negotiated as a price for doing this.

Sunday, January 08, 2006

nearly recovered

so, the feet are hurting less, the blisters are healing, and we are catching up on our sleep. my 2 days after the trip have been quite busy as i had to prepare for and then take a client out yesterday. he flew in from california specifically to see the blue fish and the victorian condos (another juan perdomo condo complex being built.) this client actually came through one of our craigslist's ads, so we were pretty psyched that the free advertising worked and helped to bring us a new client. he put in an offer on a blue fish unit. we shall know in the next day or two if it is accepted.

i wanted to capture some of my thoughts on our pico duarte trip.

first off, my favorite part of the hike was the 5km summit to the peak, starting at 4:45am. we did the bulk of this part of the hike in total darkness. thus, you could see the stars. they were out in full force and a great sight. obviously we were using flashlights to hike. prior to embarking on this summit hike, i had been a bit worried about the possibility of a twisted ankle. hiking in the dark just seemed like a prime way to roll an ankle. after getting used to the hiking though, i was fine. i also kept the blair witch project visions out of my head (i mean we are in the middle of the woods at night!) i never even saw that movie, i don't do too well with those types of things.

for all you people in cold weather right now, take note that it was 26 degrees farenheit when we woke up to do the summit. i felt like i was back in new england! the cold felt good!

our fellow trip mates were volunteers from the DREAM Project. they had all graduated from Cornell last summer and knew each other from there before deciding to volunteer here in the DR. they were easy going trip mates and always willing to help out.

the first night the mule guides prepared a really tasty local meal - chambre. this was a vegetarian dominican stew made up of all sorts of vegetables, rice, beans, cilantro, garlic, and hot sauce. it really stuck to your ribs, so you had to be careful not to eat too much or you felt like you'd blow up. they cooked this in a huge metal pot over a fire in the total darkness. throughout the trip, we had some meals that were quite elaborate for hiking meals. i guess the fact that the pack mules transport the food and pots enables you to eat non-traditional hiking food. for instance, we had pasta salad, freshly made hummus, spaghetti, salads, tuna fish, fruits, etc.

ok, now for some not so great elements of this trip.....

this trail up & down pico duarte has been made into a highway for YAHOOS! more than the bulk of the people hiking up could not even make it up main street in burlington, VT. these people were using their mules to transport themselves up & down this mountain. they were not hikers or anything close to it.

the footwear i saw was RIDICULOUS! here are some examples...

  • i saw a guy wearing CLETES! for the european readers of this blog, those would be FOOTBALL SHOES! he should have just gone for skates instead, because he must have been sliding down the rocks like mad!
  • our junior guide, and forgive me for being unkind, was nothing close to a guide, was wearing BALLET SHOES! i think she came along with rich in order to have a few days off from school (she was 13). she did do the dishes a few times, so that was helpful.
  • i saw a woman wearing BOXING SHOES. um, how thin would your soles be on those? holy cow! she DEFINITELY needed a mule and fast.

the descent was brutal! i was nearly in tears as i was in so much pain due to my toes jamming into the front of my boots. i have 4 purple toes, and i mean they are PURPLE - the two toes next to the pinkie toes and my two big toes. veronica's knee was really bothering her on the descent, so i had to take one for the team and let her ride the mule for most of the 14.4 miles down. advice to all who ever decide to do pico duarte - have a riding mule for each person in your party!!!! being in shape was not the issue here either. it was a matter of having REALLY good boots and hikers feet. i was fine in terms of muscle tiredness but not fine with the soreness of my toes. i rode the mule for the last 4km, which was a flat bit that veronica could walk.

along with all the mules comes a tremendous amount of mule DUNG! dung here, dung there, dung everywhere. it was all along the trail, all over the camp grounds, outside the (horrific) port-a-potties, by the cooking areas, etc. you could not escape it.

along with all the crap (literally), comes a boatload of TRASH along the trail. as dominicans are not accustomed to trash being picked up (and thus putting it in proper places like a trash bin), they just freely drop their trash wherever. the camp ground was like a garbage pit. forget pack in, pack out. they consider the land to be one big trash can. they don't pack in, pack out anywhere, so why would it occur to them to do it on a mountain? TRULY DISGUSTING!

as mentioned in previous blog entries, dominicans are very social and loud. they like to sing, dance, have a good time, and shout in excitement to one another. well, put 200 dominicans in a campground and you'll get a TREMENDOUS amount of noise. yes, there were probably 200 dominicans at the high camp. some hanging out for 5 days up there, doing who knows what because remember, these people are not hikers! we were lying in our sleeping bags in our tent in back of the main cabin at high camp, trying to get some shut eye before the early morning summit hike. it was as if we were in a lansdowne street bar before a red sox game! the noise was deafening! it was THE ANTI-HIKING/CAMPING EXPERIENCE!

in the end, we had to remember, yes, we are still in the DR, so of course this would have a DR slant to it. i think you just expect that when you are hiking, you would like to enjoy the peacefulness of the outdoors. not so when you are sharing a mountain with dominicans. i guess we need to save that experience for the white mountains.

we will for sure remember this trip for its many unique aspects.

Friday, January 06, 2006

We made it!

Just a few pics and words to give an impression of the last three days - we are SO tired, we can barely talk!

The facts:
Day 1: 4.0 km (2.5 miles), 168m (555ft) elevation gain
Day 2: 14.1 km (8.8 miles), 1172m (3,845 ft) elevation gain
Day 3: 5.0 km (3.1 miles) to the top, 637m (2,090 ft) elevation gain, then 23.1km (14.5 miles), 1977m (6,486 ft) descent down to the base

TOTAL = 46.2 km OR 28.9 miles!




Mules arriving at base camp:


Hiking a flat bit:


Waiting for pack mules at high camp:


The kitchen at high camp:


Reaching the top of Pico Duarte:




Sun rise views over the Caribbean:




We are dead tired and have purple toes, sore knees and legs and feel like total zombies - so a more elaborate story will follow in a day or two.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

going to the top of the caribbean!

happy new year!

veronica and i have decided to start the new year off with a big adventure! we have signed up for a hiking trip that will take us to the top of the highest mountain in the caribbean - pico duarte! this is no small mountain - pico duarte is at 10,230 feet!

our buddy rich weber is leading the trip. he's the one who owns the trips, tours, treks, and travel company - http://www.4tdomrep.com . he has done this hike many times, and i am sure will be very informative and FUN, as he always is! he organized this particular hiking trip for some volunteers of the Dream Project, which is a non-profit here in the DR that helps to improve schooling of dominican children. the trip was open for other people to join, so we decided to go for it.

we leave on tuesday. it is a 3 day hike, covering 31 miles, with much, much elevation gain. we first travel to jarabacoa and then on to la cienaga as our launching point for the hike. at that point, we are nestled within the Cordilla Central mountain range. we then embark on a short hike, 2.5 miles, to our camp for the night. day 2 is a hefty day of climbing where we will hike for 11 miles and gain almost 4000 feet. day 3 we summit the peak and return to where we started. the summit will be the reward for the long day that encompasses 17.5 miles of hiking.

i think there is going to be about 8 or 9 of us in total, but we shall see. both veronica and i are looking forward to meeting the other hikers. along with all of us, there will be mules to carry the backpacks, as well as a few extra mules in case someone needs a break from the hiking etc.

so we are now busy checking the packing list and getting prepared by taking long walks down the beach. after being in flip flops for 7 months, i expected hiking boots to be a bit uncomfortable, so we are starting to wear them around (even in the heat here!) neither v or i are in great shape these days, so we're expecting to be quite sore during this all, but it should be worth it to look out from the peak and to say that we've been to the top of the caribbean!

check out rich's web site that outlines the trip -- http://www.4tdomrep.com/dreampicoduarte2006.html

we will be sure to blog away after the trek with pics and stories!