Sunday, April 23, 2006

blue fish condos - great progress!



the blue fish condos are coming along nicely. the roofs are now fully over the third floor. we can see what the bedrooms will be like in our unit. it's cool - they are going to have high (cathedral) ceilings. i like the look, but it also makes the rooms feel bigger. i wish we had the same in the living room area.

it turns out that juan has decided to do the same thing with a unit in The Victorian condo complex as we requested for our unit. meaning on the top floor there in phase 2, they have combined (2) one bedrooms into a large 2 bedroom unit with an open living room/dining room/kitchen area and huge deck. curious to see how quickly that unit sells there. we are biased of course and think our unit at Blue Fish is the best one aside from the A-3 penthouse unit.

they've started to install the windows in building #3, so we now know what those will be like. while our preference would have been wood windows, they are white aluminium but actually quite nice and certainly very sturdy. in think in the end, it is indeed a better choice to go with aluminium because the salt in the air really just quickly trashes wood. we've also seen the kitchen cabinets that will be installed and like them as well. they are deciding whether to put a white wash on them, which we have not yet seen.

blue fish is going to have mexican accents, meaning it will have a mexican feel to it but will not be an outright mexican architectural design. you can start to see some of these accents in the interiors and on the exterior of the buildings. for instance, check out the terraces in this picture:



they have rounded edges and will have a solid wood beam railing across them. they are also experimenting with putting wooden beams on the ceilings of the terraces, though this is purely for aesthetic purposes and nothing functional as the ceiling is made of concrete.

the exterior colors are going to be colorful. juan and pablo are testing out different yellows and oranges. each time we go out to the blue fish condos, they have put up different colors and combinations for the exteriors and window frames in a small section on building #3. they are trying to go for a similar look to this hotel in mexico: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/luxury/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=1375

we are pushing for the colors to be as "earthy" as possible and not day-glo. i think it will turn out fine.

here are some more photos, showing the progress being made:




sweet cabarete dreams



Woohooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

asian food

last night we had to go to the airport to pick up some clients who had bought a home here. the closing was a month ago, but they could only get down here now. as we were heading through sosua anyway on our way to the airport, we decided to try out a restaurant, asiatico, that i had heard about. it is located in eddy's sports bar and is run by a chef, dori, whom we had met several months ago at taco tuesday. the menu has thai and japanese items.

the food was very good, and importantly, served appropriately spicy. i had red curry chicken, and v had a japanese noodle dish called yaki-soba. this food was definitely a few steps up from thai night at lax, which until now had been the only place where we had had thai. wonder if they are open for lunch? when we have shifts in sosua, i would grab lunch there.

i asked dori if it was hard to find the ingredients to make this kind of food here. he said no and that in fact many of the ingredients are actually even grown on the island - things like ginger, lemongrass. i was a bit amazed by this, but then again, this is a very fertile country. the DR certainly does not lack good farming conditions and plenty of water. the latter is certainly a difference i have noted here and from when i lived on another island - bermuda - for a summer. drinking water was like gold in bermuda where they do not have fresh water readily available in the forms of lakes, rivers, springs, etc. and must rely on rain caught off their rooftops.

anyway, back to asiatico. we were the only people eating there. i hope for longevity sake of this restaurant, this was only because either we were there early (6:30ish) or it was a monday night. as it is within eddy's sport's bar, the decor is nothing fancy. what is here? this place is about food not so much about atmosphere. if we wanna watch the football world cup this summer, i think eddy's would be the place. they even have some pool tables there - can't remember the last time i played pool.

there's another place in sosua, actually in la mulata, that serves thai food, which i would like to try sometime. la mulata is up in the hills. i think the restaurant is on the property of someone's home up there, and thus is in a location that you would never expect a restaurant. i don't think zoning here really exists or is enforced. this place sounds like a thai blue moon (i.e., the indian restaurant near jamao)....asian food is not very prevalent here, so you need to seek it out.

Monday, April 17, 2006

some post-easter humor



every now and then we need some humor on the blog! i just thought this was so funny! thanks, fiona, for this!

Sunday, April 16, 2006

semana santa





these are pictures of cabarete beach yesterday afternoon. the beach was packed with dominicans - swimming, dancing, drinking, littering - all in celebration of holy week "semana santa". we walked out to kite beach in the afternoon to see some of the reggae music that was supposed to be on out there. well, it was definitely island time for them, as they were still setting up the stage and checking the sound system at 5pm. we had been under the impression that the music would have started by 2/3pm. so we hung out there for a while and then decided to head back.

sponsors were out in force on the beach. you have to remember that this a poor country so there are not that many companies that are large enough to warrant using sponsorship as a marketing tactic. the 2 industries here though that are regulars in sponsoring events are BEER and MOBILE COMMUNICATION. so... Presidente and Brahma compete with each other with big blow up beer bottles on the beach. Orange and Verizon duel with each other by sponsoring music events and have big banners on and around stages etc. here's a shot of some of Orange's marketing where they sponsored the music event at kite beach.



our condo complex has been taken over by dominicans for semana santa as well. as it is the end of the high season, many of the units are free and available for short term rentals, which is not normally the case in the complex that mainly attracts long-termers. the dominicans have taken over the pool, which threw a bit of a kink into our BBQ plans on friday night. along with sandy and rich, we had planned a BBQ for by the pool and had invited vlad sr, denise, their friends from canada, and herman. after spending a few minutes by the pool, we opted instead to move the BBQ on to our deck. we had a feast with everyone bringing a dish to share and something to put on the BBQ. it was a good time.

our car has been parked inside our complex since thursday, as the street is completely nuts - traffic jams, people partying, motos driving in perilous locations. we thought it was a better idea to protect our car by having it inside our complex - we could not park it in our usual spot at the hotel next door because they were throwing a huge party and needed all the parking for that. we are looking forward to cabarete clearing out at the end of today, so we can use our car and be free again!

it has basically been 3 days of constant car alarms going off, car stereos blasting, bass thumping from the brahma party next door, honking cars, and dominicans singing/cheering/screaming all day and night long. perhaps this is what it feels like to live in the middle of the french quarter in new orleans during mardi gras. you cannot escape it.

after today though, we are into the low season until june when the winds are at their best and bring the hardcore wind and kite surfers to town. it'll be a welcome calm.

Friday, April 14, 2006

victorian architecture



this is a picture of a victorian style home in puerto plata. it is actually somewhat of a mish-mash of styles and not fully victorian, but it was the best image i could find (on flickr.com). the las terrazas condo complex in sosua is victorian style, as is the victorian beach front condos that juan is building in east cabarete. each time i go to the las terrazas complex, i wonder how and why victorian architecture came to be popular here in the DR? the DR was never ruled by england. the spanish discovered it (through christopher columbus of course) and fought with the french quite often over it. i think the english tried a bit to take it over but never got very far either. so how does it come to be that the victorian style architecture is often seen and used here?

i finally got around to researching this on the web, though i was only able to come up with one article on it. again, we have no bookstore here, so it's not as though i can find out more that way. anyway, it turns out that the dominicans used this style of architecture as means of asserting their sovereignty from spain. by using a style of architecture completely different from that of spain, the dominicans were rebelling against that former colonial power that had ruled them for so long.

it also turns out that the victorian bungalow as a home and architectural style was actually first used in india when great britain ruled that country. the "white man" needed a home that was suitable for a tropical climate, and so the victorian style bungalow was born.ironically the dominicans see the victorian style as a sign of sovereignty while the indians (of india) see it as a sign of imperialism.

unfortunately the article really does not say who exactly started the victorian style movement in the DR - in terms of a specific person. perhaps that is not so easy to pinpoint, but it would be interesting to know how that style actually became known to the dominicans. most likely it came from books or people who arrived by ship to this caribbean island.

puerto plata has many examples of victorian style buildings. most of them are fairly run down, but i do think there are some in decent condition. next time we go to puerto plata, i'll take some pictures of the architecture there and post them. i know that i always marvel at how nice the buildings could be there, if only they had been taken care of. sames goes for the buildings in santo domingo in the colonial zone, though that is typical spanish architecture.

i have to say that at first i did not like the victorian style. it seemed a bit "prudish", not very islandy, and totally out of place here. in the end, my observation of being totally out of place was correct and was intentional by the dominicans. i have actually come around to the style now and like it.

if you are interested in learning more about how the victorian bungalow came to be here, check out page 7 of this pdf document: http://www.indianfolklore.org/pdf/newsletter/ifl_01.pdf

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

making it happen!

things move slowly here. when you think there are 5 steps to something, it turns out that there are 15. the answer to when something will happen often is "manana, manana, no problema". this can be frustrating when you need something done and in a timely manner. ok, ok, but you're living on an island, you say. well, true, but sometimes like with, um say, items involving real estate transactions, you need stuff to happen! you push and push people and wonder what motivates them because often it does not seem like money is the answer to that question.

every now and then we get surprised when someone actually pushes for something as hard as we would and also takes action. here's pablo, working hard to get a land survey resolved between 2 different surveyors.



check out this picture closely - he is holding 2 different cell phones together! in essence, he wanted to make sure that these 2 surveyors talked to each other and didn't want to just take their word that they would contact each other. we all got a good laugh out of this scene, including pablo, and noted how ridiculous it can be to get stuff done here!

pablo started posing for the picture, holding the phones in different ways etc. - that's just a good example of how in the end pablo always has such a great attitude about stuff and doesn't seem to let stuff stress him out. we've mellowed enough to island time to at least be recognizing the humor and be taking pictures. often here and in the real estate transaction process, you are dependent on others over which you have little to no control - lawyers, title companies, surveyors, sellers. so it is good to recognize when you need to push to make it happen or when you need to just roll with it and laugh!

Monday, April 10, 2006

who owns that land?



sometimes this job requires some detective skills. we're trying very hard to figure out who owns a piece of land here that a client is interested in possibly buying. finding out the answer to that can sometimes be quick and easy but sometimes not. in this case of this piece of land, it is turning out to be a lengthy and tough process.

the first way to try to find out this info is to ask the neighbors if they know the owner. we did that about 10 days ago. we drove around and next to the lot. this brought a few people out of their homes to wonder what we were doing, as this is not a particularly gringo-filled area. we made contact with one of the neighbors. now this is when you gotta be able to speak spanish. (way to go, v!) he said that he did not know but would try to find out. the dominicans are very helpful, as usual.

a few days later we call him up and ask if he has figured it out yet. "nope, but i am going to be meeting with someone in a few days who works for the owner and could find it out then."

a few days went by, we called him again. "oh no, have not met with the guy yet."

ok, well, do you know of someone else who might know the owner and do you at least know the owner's name? "oh yeah, his name is such and such and there is this lawyer in town who would know how to reach him."

excellent, what is his number? "don't know but his office is here and here in cabarete."

ok, but at least now we had a name and a possible other lead to follow up with. we decided to call pablo, tell him the name, and see if he knew it. pablo - "oh yes, i knew his name but not how to get in contact with him." DOH! you knew his name? well, how can we get in contact with him? pablo - "well, we could look it up in the phone book." there is actually a phonebook here? @#$%^&*!! of course the phone book will only contain numbers for landlines and many people here just have cell phones,so this is only slightly promising.

as we do not have one of these phone books and we wanted to take the bulls by the horn, off we went immediately to the lawyer's office. it's saturday, so he is not in. :-( but hey, let's ask a hotel if they have a phone book. sure enough, they do.

now the funny thing about this phone book is that it covers like 3/4 of the entire country! it's about as thick as a boston yellow pages! it goes by town. so we look up the name in like 6 towns that would be likely candidates for someone who owns land in cabarete. we locate 6 people with the name who live in santiago - all women, mind you and the name was for a male. veronica starts calling each one. one person says "wrong number" and hangs up. another says "i know someone who owns a sweet shop with that name. you want sweets?" another does not answer.

we decide to call juan and ask if the name rings a bell with him. we should have done this first actually, as juan knows tons of people. well, juan says "oh, he is dead." dead? @#$%^*!! we start laughing - not out of disrespect, but it is just funny that we have been trying to locate someone who is no longer with us. then we remember that one of the neighbors had said this as well, so it actually made sense. anyway, juan says let me ask guido if he knows the heirs, and puts us on hold. juan comes back and confirms the first report. he says on monday (today), we can figure out lawyers who would know his heirs.

ok, so we gave it our best shot and now had to wait until today. i hope we figure it out today!

Sunday, April 09, 2006

sushi, cooking, semana santa

we went to ali's surf camp last night to try out the sushi. it was excellent! i have to say that it was a treat to have this. the only place i have had sushi here in the DR was at bobo's in santo domingo. sushi is only available at ali's on saturday nights. they have a guy who comes in to the restaurant to do this. i did not catch his name, but he sounded australian. clearly he knew what he was doing, as the sushi was very good.

speaking of food, if you like to cook and have not discovered http://www.epicurious.com, you need to! i love this site, especially since all of our cookbooks are in a box back in boston in a storage unit. those didn't make the cut for the move here. epicurious.com provides thousands of recipes from gourmet, bon appetit, and many other magaziness. one of the best features is that people can review the recipes and add their comments on how they liked it, how they would doctor it up, etc. i also like the recipe book feature, which allows you build up a recipe book of the recipes that you like on the site. just pop the laptop in the kitchen with you and you are ready to follow a recipe. i'm cooking a chicken cacciatore using an epicurious recipe right now!

i do still miss my "thrill of the grill" recipe book. and on that note, i miss the east coast grill back in cambridge too. next trip to boston will need to include a few oysters and margaritas there!

we spent some time out at the pool at our complex this weekend. we had not done that for a while. the temperature seems to be rising here now, so a dip in the pool is quite enjoyable.

the locals are gearing up for semana santa...look out! the country basically starts celebrating easter on thursday and does not stop until sunday. according to DR1, 3 million people will be on the move within the country for the holiday weekend. there's about 8.9 million people living in the entire country. that is a crazy percentage of people going somewhere other than their home to celebrate!

cabarete becomes completely packed with locals. there are several events planned for the weekend. there is going to be a 36 hour long electronica music party with 10 different DJs on cabarete beach. the music starts on friday at 12 noon and literally will not stop until sunday morning. i'm psyched to check that out.

at the windsurf hotel, brahma (a local beer company) is going to be throwing a 12 hour long party with bands etc. we won't need to go too far to hear that!

at the extreme hotel on saturday, it is an all day party with reggae bands. i'm looking forward to that too!

i'm just wondering how loud it is going to be in cabarete. i mean these people are loud to begin with, but this is their biggest celebration of the year. when they are happy, they are not afraid to show it in whatever form they feel like expressing it - plastic horn blowing, blasting of car stereos, cheering, screaming, honking, moto racing, etc.! it's all coming our way this week. oh yeah, and it is a religious holiday - go figure!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

baseball in the DR



for those people who follow baseball, you know that the dominican republic supplies the largest number of players to major league baseball after the US. as of july 2005, there were 101 dominican players in the major leagues - that's 1 out of every nine 9 major leaguer is from the DR. 10 out of 67 of the 2005 All Stars were from the DR - that's even more impressive and shows that the DR talent is quite high. this data comes from this site: http://www.dlc.org/ppi/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=108&subsecID=900003&contentID=253421

many teams have training facilities here in the south of the country where they take on teenage boys and train, feed, and school these kids. only a tiny percentage of these players ever make it into the major leagues, though that number will likely increase as the training facilities get more and more established. at some point, i'd love to go and check out the red sox training facility.

the dominican players have mostly been big hitters like vlad guerrero, david ortiz, and sammy sosa, as well as star pitchers like pedro martinez and bartolo colon. well, apparently, shortstop appears to be a hot position now for dominican players. according to DR1, 10 of the 30 shortstops currently playing in the big leagues are from the DR. here are just a few of those names:

  • Miguel Tejada - Baltimore Orioles
  • Rafael Furcal - LA Dodgers
  • Jose Reyes - NY Mets
  • Juan Uribe - Chicago White Sox
  • Johnny Peralta - Cleveland Indians
  • Julio Lugo - Tampa Bay Devil Rays
  • Angel Berroa - Kansas City Royals
  • Cristian Guzman - Washington Nationals
  • Hanley Ramirez - Florida Marlins

hanley ramirez came out of the red sox minor league system and was traded to the marlins for stud pitcher, josh beckett. hopefully we don't regret that decision. beckett won his first game for the sox yesterday, so we're off to a good start there.

baseball is a huge sport here. the dominican republic has a winter ball league from october to january where many of the dominican players come back home and play in during their MLB offseason. there are 6 teams in that league, with the licey tigers and cibao eagles (aguilas) being i believe the 2 best. here's a link to the aguilas home page (which is in spanish of course) http://www.lasaguilas.com/2005/index.php

surprisingly, the area of the country that produces the most major leaguers (san pedro de marcoris) does not have a very good team. even stars like david ortiz play in this league - albeit for a few games only towards the end of that season as a primer to get in shape for MLB.

when the major leagues are in season, the games are televised on multiple channels - on any given night, there are up to 3 games on TV here. often the red sox are one of the games, which is a good thing! the fact that i can live in another country and actually see a good number of the sox games on regular cable TV is just remarkable to me. score another point for the DR as a place to live as an ex-pat (and sox fan).

dominicans do not really pledge allegiance to MLB teams. instead, they pledge allegiance to dominican players. so if a player they like is playing for the red sox, they follow the red sox. but if that player is traded to a different team, they then start following that team. you see lots of dominicans wearing baseball hats of various MLB teams. i think they switch hats once their favorite player moves to a different team. certainly a different way to follow baseball.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

brad pitt in the DR looking for real estate

one of the reasons we went out to the samana peninsula this past weekend also was to try run into brad pitt. i'm joking. but seriously, he was here scouting out real estate development locations. yes, real estate! this was his second time looking at real estate here - the first being when he was here with angelina jolie back in january when she was filming a movie in santo domingo with robert de niro. this is obviously excellent publicity and just goes to show that the DR is getting more and more discovered.

here's some press on his visit here:

Sat Apr 1, 11:41 AM ET
Brad Pitt visited the Dominican Republic this week to scout real estate development locations.
The actor took a helicopter to the Samana peninsula, on the island's north coast, and the eastern towns of Miches and Punta Cana to look into real estate projects with art dealer and promoter George Nader.
He was photographed Friday afternoon following a meeting with German architects Lars Kruckeberg and Wolfram Putz at a hotel in the capital's colonial district. The architects had previously refurbished Pitt and girlfriend Angelina Jolie's house in Los Angeles.
Jolie — who was in the Caribbean nation in January filming the movie "The Good Shepherd" with Robert De Niro — did not accompany Pitt, said her publicist, Holly Goline, who confirmed Pitt's trip.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Monday at the office



Sometimes we look at each other and smile, knowing that we are soooo far away from our desk job, and we love it! Yesterday was a great example of that.

We were out in Las Terrenas, scoping out some beachfront lots for a client. On our previous trip out there, we met an eccentric American with a Harvard, Oxford and Sorbonne education, who lives on the top of a hill, in a round house with the most amazing 360 degree views of ocean, palm tree groves, and rolling lush tropical hills. A somewhat preppy guy, he walks around in a straw hat and strikes you as a modern day Thoreau, living in his own “woods” up on this hill when he is not traveling for the US state department as a translator. Together with some partners, this guy owns several large chunks of land. We had made an appointment with him yesterday to see some of the lots.

When we got to his house, he mentioned that two Danes were coming along with us to see the lots. They turned out to be two filmmakers, Frederick and Asgard, who were writing a script for a movie based in Haiti. Asgard’s father turns out to be a very well known Danish filmmaker, Jorgen Leth, whom we also met later in the day – another eccentric looking guy with wild hair and modern European glasses. Anyway, we set off with our American friend in a rented 4WD with his driver at the wheel and the Danes each on ATV quads, following us. Within 5 minutes, it started to rain. Now apparently it had rained there for the past week, so everything was very muddy - a big problem when you are driving up into the hills on steep dirt roads. Halfway towards the lot, the car got stuck in the side of the road in an attempt to get up a muddy steep hill. In the pouring rain, we tried to give the wheels some traction by pushing palm tree leaves and coconuts under the wheels, but that didn’t help.

Here’s what happened after this:

  • We left the car behind with the driver who was instructed to go and get help.
  • We all pile on the ATVs and resume trip into the hills towards lot.
  • We go a ways down the road and over a few more hills where it was decided to leave the ATVs for fear of them getting stuck in the mud as well.
  • By now, we have ruined our clothing as the red clayish mud was all over us.
  • We reach the lot on foot (still in the pouring rain) and walk around. WAY TOO FAR OUT for our clients, but interesting to see nonetheless.
  • The American and the Danes decide to see a bit more of the lot. S and I have had enough and start to trek back to the car in our flip flops – up and over the muddy terrain when at times, it starts to pour.
  • S and I reach the still-stuck-in-the-ditch car after a 40 minute walk, occasionally standing under huge fern leaves to shield ourselves from the rain. No one is to be found, of course.
  • We wait and forty minutes later the two Danes arrive, one walking and the other riding two ATVs.
  • Frederick had flipped his ATV going down a muddy hill and had badly dislocated his thumb. :-( He looked very green and like he was going to pass out!
  • The Danes take off on one ATV to the hospital (tiny clinic) and leave the other ATV behind with us.
  • We wait for the American who comes down the hill another 15 minutes later – soaked and very muddy (has fallen multiple times going up and down the hills).
  • We inform the American about the accident who is obviously quite alarmed and now completely distraught over how this day has gone. He is afterall trying to sell this lot. He's got a rental car stuck in the ditch, a Dane with a broken thumb, and 2 realtor women (us)completely soaked and covered in mud and not interested in lot. So obviously it was a pretty disastrous outing. In fact later, he was calling the lot, "the disaster lot."
  • We all continue walking down the hill, leaving both the car and ATV behind, which will be dealt with by the American's helper.
  • We come to the Dominican caretaker’s house at the bottom of the hill. Seeing us covered in mud, the caretaker and his wife quickly pull out a bucket of water and start scrubbing our feet and sandals with a hard brush. We are both embarrassed and amazed but also very grateful to be receiving this "dominican pedicure" at such an opportune time. (We give them some pesos for their kindness.)
  • We continue walking down the road and eventually catch a ride back to the American's house, getting completely ripped off with the fare but not caring as we are so tired.
  • We take the American out to a well-deserved lunch at the place where the Danes are staying so that we can check up on Frederick. This is when we meet Asgard’s famous film director father. Frederick’s thumb has been set and all is well – the Danes look very clean while we look like total disasters, especially the American. We have an amazing nicoise salad by the beach at Playa Bonita.
  • After then dropping off the American, we head back to our hotel room, where the shower is a welcome sight!
  • The end of a very adventurous day!

Here's a selection of pictures from this very exciting day looking for land in Las Terrenas.

Arriving at the lot:

Walking down to admire the view:

Admiring more of the view:

Where it all started to go awry:


Asgard negotiating one of the steep bits for a hurt Frederick:

Strategizing how to get down this bit in flip flops!

Dominican kindness!

Saturday, April 01, 2006

dominican pest control



good job, mr. gecko! that was a cockroach. yuck! i went for the slightly less graphic photo so as not to gross out our readers. it was cool to look up from my laptop and see this bright green lizard on the stark white tiles snag this disgusting creature. so now we know what the lizards are good for!