Good Times!

Time flies when you are having a good time!

Where to begin?

Our neighbours from Pennsylvania have been here twice. They had such a good time, they came back for another week! Unfortunately, they had to leave this morning.

We have had a few great dinner parties with friends. Great food and great friends and the odd hangover.

Our friends, Patty and Kelly (owners of the Jolly Roger Bar), took a short vacation and left the bar under the care and control of us....what a lot of hard work running a bar. We had some long days, but with the help of our friends, Bruce and Mary, the days passed quickly.

This past weekend, Patty and Kelly threw another one of their fast becoming famous parties. This was a theme party...Cross Dressing. Well, the women had it easy this time...we threw on some shorts, tank tops, and ball caps and we were ready to go. The men had a little more work involved. Ross went as a ballerina...If you really want to see the entire event, check out my facebook page and find the pictures.

I'm starting a job next week...morning breakfast cook at the Jolly Roger. It will give us a little extra pesos and me something to do. Living in paradise, not to mention having a good supply of cervesa and rum, costs pesos.

Well, fall is upon us here. The trees are shedding a few leaves and the grass is brown. The nights are starting to cool down to 25 C which is a welcome break. The swimming pool is cooling down as well. We are told we are entering the "rainy" season. The rain would be welcome at this point as things have started to dry out again.

Last night we had a really wicked thunder/lightening storm roll through at about 2:30 am. There was a crack of thunder so loud that we though someone shot a gun inside the house. Car alarms and house alarms everywhere were going off. The dogs were barking. Ross jumped out of bed screaming, "WTF!" Scared the crap out of us. The rain was coming down like cats and dogs.

I love a good thunderstorm!

So, now that fall is here, we are looking forward to having friends returning for the winter and lots more social occasions.

It's hard to believe that we have been here for 10 months already!

PS Chip has eaten another bedsheet and another plastic bowl. Said bowl contained an entire can of peanuts. On the upside, he now has his adult teeth so hopefully his chewing will start to slow down. We are going to get him a cocoanut for a chew toy.

Quadding

Chip...aka Devil Dog

On Aug 11, we took our first official quad trip with some friends, Patty and Kelly.

We headed out on the highway for about a half mile until we turned onto El Choco Road. This is the road closest to us that goes up into the mountains. Our first beverage stop was about half way to the Monkey Jungle. When we stopped, there was nothing but jungle, birds, and really, really loud tree frogs. No traffic, no people…we were one with nature.

We continued on because nature was calling to Patty so we made our way up the road (aka rocky path) to the Monkey Jungle. We took a short break for a beverage and a snack.

All I can say about the day, was absolutely fabulous scenery. Once we crossed the top of the mountain on the rocky path we were following, the view was absolutely amazing. Pristine jungle, no logging roads and messes made by industry. It was stunningly beautiful to see.

We encountered a couple of young Dominican men moving a herd of cattle/horses/goats. We had to stop by the side of the road. Brahma bulls are quite large when they are up close and personal with you. One was getting really, really up close and personal with a cow. I don’t think she was in the mood.

We were really sorry that we didn’t take our camera. It is a good thing we didn’t (I’ll explain in a bit). There were a few small villages that we encountered where the Dominican’s lived. One particular old gentleman was sitting in a beautiful old mahogany rocking chair on the front step of a typical Dominican home. He was grey and weathered but had a huge toothless smile and wave for us as we went past. He would have made an amazing picture.

At the same time we were really sorry we didn’t take our camera, I was glad we didn’t. Because we weren’t in the “tourist” areas, I didn’t want to offend anyone by taking pictures and disturbing anyone. We saw little boys and girls, naked as the day they were born, playing in the street. Everyone was smiling and waving at us.

We stopped at a small colmado (corner store type place) and grabbed another beverage. That is when we discovered the present that the herd of cattle left us. Can you say shit all over the quads, our legs and Kelly even found some on his helmet. More about the shit later.

We were invited into a small Dominican bar…there was music playing, people drinking cervesa and dancing. Because we were so far into the mountains, we weren’t sure how long it would take us to get out, we didn’t stop. I’m sure if we had, it (singing) would have been a party.

My butt is SO sore today. Ross built a seat out of lumber for me to sit on. I bounced on lumber for about six hours. I can’t sit down. My legs are stiff and sore but still am so glad we went.

Shit dries in the heat.

We finally made it back to the highway and ended up on the other side of Cabarete. The highway was such a god send because my butt was getting so sore. Patty and Kelly took us through the back side of west of Cabarete to a place on the beach where a river empties into the ocean. We rode the quads on the beach and on the sandbars. Get this: we found a place to have another beverage! The bar had a sand floor, dogs running around, music, food…it was awesome.

After the beverage, it was time to get going as the sun was getting low in the sky. Back over the sandbars in the river….Ross turned the quad into a seado. I saw the patch of dark water coming and before I could say what I was thinking…it happened. The water was about 2 ½ feet deep. Down we went into sand, sea water and muck. The seado stalled. I was absolutely soaked. My brand new running shoes with the cow shit were soaked and sandy. Patty and Kelly were laughing hysterically at the huge splash that we made. Kelly helped Ross get the quad running and out of the muck. Good thing we didn’t have the camera with us…would have been nice and wet!

We continued on our way to Perla Marina to visit with friends and have a beverage. After sunset, we finally headed home. Quadding on the highway in the dark is a little nerve racking but we made it in one piece. We got home at about 8:30 and I had a shower to remove the sand and remains of the cow shit from my legs. Didn’t take long and I was sleeping.

So, while we were gone, the dogs had a party. We came home to a huge mess. Chip discovered how to pull the table cloth off the table to get everything off to chew up. He broke a beer bottle, pulled stuffing out of the chair cushions that were piled on top of the table. He got the basket of clothes pins scattered all over the floor, chewed a bunch of them up too. So, we got to vacuum up glass and do a clean-up. Our guard must have heard the commotion because when we got home, he knew that the place was trashed! Must have heard the beer bottle break!!

It was an absolutely fabulous day. If you ever have the opportunity to travel to a foreign country, don’t stay exclusively in an all-inclusive hotel. Find a way to leave the resort and really experience the country. I am so moved by everything that I encountered yesterday and can’t wait to explore another part of the countryside.

I'm so bad!

June 10, 2011 is the last time I wrote??? Holy but I didn't realize that it was THAT long....

Chip is still a brat, albiet a much larger brat. He is now officially taller than Shelby.

Chip has eaten part of my wicker couch, four cushions for the kitchen chairs, an assortment of towels, one placemat, one pair of flip flops, a plastic bowl....

He is very, very sneaky...too smart for his own good! He constantly torments Shelby and Saleen. He mimicks everything Jack does. Today, Jack decided it would be a good idea to take a swim in the pool cause he was SO hot...so, Jack is swimming around the pool...Chip comes charging across the patio and jumps into the pool doing a spectacular belly flop...swims around a bit with Jack and climbs out on the stairs. Ross and I were in the pool at the time just watching in utter disbelief! One of the funniest things I have seen in quite some time!

Saleen had a close up and personal meeting with the neighbour's Rottie last week. Didn't think a dog could throw a cat that high in the air. Saleen didn't win this battle although I think the Rottie is sporting a few good scratches on it's nose. Saleen has been very, very slowly recovering from her injuries which included a couple of puncture wounds and a very sore back and hip joints. We've been giving her steriods to help the healing process, she's now eating again but we are still reluctant to let her venture outside yet as she can't jump and climb very well yet. Poor kitty!!

We had some bad news a few weeks ago. Ross's oldest daughter, Dianne, was on her way home from work in Kamloops, driving to Vernon, and was in a head on car crash. She was seriously injured and had to be air lifted from the crash site to the hospital in Kamloops. She suffered a number of broken bones that required surgery, the most serious being a shattered hip. She is sporting a number of stainless steel rods but as of July 30, she is now recovering at home.

So, as I write this note, we are closely watching Tropical Storm Emily approaching our island. We are preparing the house and yard, just in case. At this time, the storm looks like it will stay on the south side of the island, however, we decided to prepare to be on the safe side. If/when we do meet Emily, we will be sure to snap some pictures (only if safe to do so) and I will most certainly blog about the experience. Now, I like thunder and lightening storms (and boy do we get some gooders here!!!), however, a tropical storm will be a new experience for me.

We haven't had any visitors in a long, long time however our neighbours from the US were here for eight days. Had a fabulous time with them and are sure looking forward to their next trip to Sosua. Jack stayed with Richard and Tierra for the week they were here so they wouldn't be lonely...Jack had a great time on vacation...he didn't want to come home and was very depressed the day they left.

Ross recently committed a murder...can you say tarantula?? Not an itty bitty spider coming down the water spout...big creepy thing...Now, normally we don't kill these gentle, but creepy things, but we were quite concerned that the dogs might decide to play with it. He also took out a large black scorpion that was crawling across the patio. Didn't think they had scorpions here but apparently they do.

Our next crop of bananas is well on its way to being a bumper crop. We're hoping we don't get any really strong winds that take the trees down. My chinola (passion fruit) vines are growing like crazy. No blossoms yet. I have tomatoes growing in pots and the first flowers are starting to form. Pineapple plants are growing well to but they grow so very slowly. We've been feasting on the neighbour's avacados that their security guard throws over our fence for us. Usually they come at us like missles and land in the pool.

So, we have been here eight months now and boy has time passed quickly. We've settled into a routine. We are tolerating the heat. We spend lots of time in the swimming pool, we read lots and lots of books.

We absolutely love it here and at this point in time, just couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

As us that question again on Thursday morning...if we experience Tropical Storm Emily....

HOT HOT HOT

It’s hot…really frickin hot. It’s hot and it’s humid. It’s hot, humid and we have been getting some great thunderstorms.

So, with the humidity, heat and rain, things are really starting to grow quickly. I’ve planted tomato seeds, papaya seeds and the passion fruit vines are literally growing inches every day! If it wasn’t so hot and humid, I could probably cut the grass every couple of days. Like I said, I could probably cut the grass but I’m not…it’s too hot.

I like to sit in the swimming pool.

Honey. Apparently we have lots of beehives around here. The gardener was by last week to cut trees and grass. Well, that’s what he was supposed to be doing. NOT! He was harvesting honey. I thought he was cooking his lunch over an open fire but he was smoking out the bees. He gave me some of the honeycomb in a container. I strained the liquid honey and ended up with a small container of fresh honey. It’s quite dark but man is it good.
So, poor Judy had to go back to the animal shelter. She developed some rather gross looking wart like things in her mouth. They are highly contagious to both pets and humans. They were starting to bleed when she would eat and was getting quite sore. We felt terrible but she will do much better where she is the only dog. She just wasn’t settling in here and was scared of everything.

Our friends, Craig and Lindsy, had three puppies dumped into their garage last week. Poor little things were covered with fleas and were full of worms. We took the puppies to the shelter for a flea and worm treatment to get them healthy and happy. We helped get the word out about these three adorable puppies, Chocolate, Chip and Cookie.

Chip lives at our house now. Chip is a brat.

Chip looks a great deal like Jack did when he was a puppy except he has a little brown nose and green eyes. He has similar markings but is more chocolate brown than golden brown. He’s about seven or eight weeks old.

Chip likes to get up at about 4 am to go outside for a pee and then wants to play. I don't.

Chip is a brat.

Life in general has been very quiet. We have been going into the Jolly Roger for cold beverages on Monday nights. They have been playing comedy DVDs. Some great laughs! Even the Brits have a sense of humour when it comes to Russell Peters!

Hockey. Ross was very happy at the beginning of the finals. He’s not so happy right now. He doesn’t want Boston to win. He doesn’t want to have to kick American Ass at the bar. I don’t think Kelly would be too happy if Ross broke tables and chairs over other customer heads.

Did I mention, Chip is a brat?

The Wheels of Justice and Bingo

As everyone probably knows by now, our home was broken into on April 16.

We have been working with friends, acquaintances and the police…and I use the term police very, very loosely.

In most first world countries, when you encounter crime, you expect certain investigative processes. Those include formal statements, finger printing, maybe some pictures and some follow up. The wheels of justice move backwards here.

So, through on-lines news articles and a website we follow, we found out that three individuals had been arrested pawning a large number of computers, cameras, electronic equipment etc. So, because we hadn’t heard back from the Policia, we took it upon ourselves to do the follow up ourselves.

Last week, Ross went to the Polica (equivalent to a security guard at a private parking lot except these guys are carrying an assortment of weapons). The Policia advised that the arrests occurred in Santiago but many of the confiscated items were in Puerto Plata and that we should go to Puerto Plata today to see if anything was there.

This is where the story gets really interesting…..

So, first stop, the Justice Palace in Puerto Plata. We march up to the entrance to be denied access. Why you ask…well, our friend Trevor, Ross and myself were wearing shorts and sandels. Okay, so when you go to an “official” government building or church, men must be wearing long pants and closed toe shoes. Women can wear pants or skirts, dress sandels (not hooker type shoes) and women’s shoulder’s must be covered.

Okay, it was about 30 C today…..probably more like 40C with the humidity….I had sweat running where I have never had sweat run before…..

So, off we went to La Serena and purchased what we thought was “appropriate” clothing. Ross is now sporting a new pair of jeans and some strange looking dress shoes that the bottoms look like a slice off a slightly used tire. He did not wear socks in these shoes that I am pretty sure weren’t leather. The same was true for our friend Trevor…but the best part….THEY GOT THE SAME SHITTY SHOES!!! I got a lovely tropical looking sundress and some dressy type sandels. Now, they didn’t tell us about the cover your shoulders thing so after getting my new outfit, I still couldn’t go into the court house. When we made our second trip to the Justice Place, a young security guard had a good laugh at our shopping expenditures….little bugger could have warned us. But that didn’t really matter, they sent us off to the central police station.

So, we arrived at the police station. No formal clothing required here as this is the “lockup” place. So, we have to pass through a security gate where this guy who looks like he was about 17 was holding an impressive looking rifle.

So, the wheels of justice are still turning. We presented all of our documentation (compliments of the internet and a colour printer). Trevor did a great job of being our translator….we are almost done with the pleasantries of retelling our story for the third time and we are told that everything is still in Santiago. But, they will make some phone calls and get back to us

I feel another trip to Puerto Plata coming in about a week or so…just in case they lost our phone number…

Ross and I played bingo today…it’s a charity fundraiser…I think the only reason the guys go is to have some male bonding time…and an excuse to drink beer in the middle of the day! Nope, didn’t win a thing but, Ross got to use Mary’s “dabber”…

I think that made his day….

Update

It's been a couple of weeks since I last updated everyone so here goes.....

Well, we thought Fort Knox Casa was secure, but how wrong we were! Two weeks ago our home was broken into when we were out for a couple of hours. We were royally pissed off as we had all three laptops, two cameras, and our Ipod taken. This literally cut us off from the outside world. You don't realize how dependant you get on something but boy did we miss our computers.

We had great support here from many friends including Patty and Kelly (Jolly Roger Pub), Lindsy and Craig (offered tons of support), Vic (dealt with the police for us as we don't speak enough spanish), friends from the AAAS, neighbours and I'm sure more that I'm missing.

We would be very grateful if anyone has any pictures that we may have sent to them over the years to please email them to us so we can rebuild our photo libraries as we lost almost all of our memories from the last five years.

So while we didn't get anything back (and we really didn't expect to), Patty put it all into perspective for me...at least the dogs weren't hurt and you are here to tell us about it and most important, "you can't change what happened, only how you feel about it". These were very true words and I was very grateful for them.

Now, Fort Knox is even further secured thanks to the fast response we had from Trevor and his welder, Franklin. We are keeping our new laptop with us at all times along with the camera that the creep missed taking with him.

We also adopted a new German Shepard/Dominican dog about a week ago for extra early warning. "Judy" is now seven months old (same age as Saleen). I had forgotten how much work a puppy is. Well, for a puppy, she is bigger than Jack and weighs more than Jack!

Judy has a very sweet tempermant at this time although as she is coming out of her shell and getting used to Jack, Shelby and Saleen, she is becoming very loyal to us. She has a HUGE bark! She's been quite good as far as house training...the little darling wakes me up during the night when she wants outside. I love getting up at 3 am and unlocking all the deadbolts.......

Yesterday Judy got stung in the paw by a wasp...wow did her paw swell up! Today she is back to normal and running and playing with Saleen.

We had company for the last week. Craig, Laura and Layla came from Vancouver. We had a great visit and were able to show them a small piece of our paradise. Layla absolutely loved the swimming pool and the animals. Shelby took a special interest in Layla: I don't think I have ever seen him wag his tail as much as he did. He was particularly concerned when Layla was in the pool with Craig and Laura.

Ross taught Layla a few nasty little tricks while she was here and I'm sure that Mom and Dad will be thrilled when she starts to spit food all over them! We had lots of photo ops and both Ross and Craig were taking pictures which will make their way onto Facebook.

Craig, Laura and Layla left early this morning on the long treck home...we wish them safe travels!

I got a new tattoo! Our friend Vic added to my hummingbird. Pictures on Facebook to follow. Ross is pretty firm that this is the last one I can get...we'll see....lol

That's all for now folks....

That's some bad hat!

Snakes and Frogs

Hola

Another beautiful day in paradise...well, I lie. The cat, that cute little grey kitten, hauled in another frog this morning, and a snake this afternoon. The snake pushed me over the edge. I came unglued at Ross and demanded he do something. Naturally he didn't take very kindly to me telling him what to do, so...off to the hardware store I went to purchase some 3/4" chicken wire.

Now, the nice old dude at the hardware store was being kinda friendly and spoke English...he wants to know what I want the wire for...I tell him to keep the cat from hauling in snakes...he is now laughing hysterically and tells the young men working in the hardware store what I am up to...now they are all laughing at the silly gringa....I laughed with them as their reaction was priceless!

A few dozen zip ties later, the entire front security gate is now covered with wire...NO MORE SNAKES, NO MORE FROGS, NO MORE GEKOS...or anything else for that matter. The cat can't get through with ANYTHING.

I hate snakes.....

So Ross and I went out to the JR (Jolly Roger) on Thursday night. A group of 30 women were in town for a stagette. Now, originally we were told that the women were from New Brunswick so we ASSUMED they meant Canada...had security lined up and everything because we all know how those New Brunswick girls like to party...

Kelly and Patti (owners of the JR) installed a dancing pole for the event. (Patti was apposed to this but I'll just bet at some point she gives the pole a little workout...lmao) So, there was a little alcohol fueled dancing...So, it turned out they were from New Brunswick, New Jersey so while they were pretty well lit, and fun, it was an overall safe event...Ross worked part of the security and I cleared up some of the mess they left behind.

We are getting more company. Ross's niece, her husband and their daughter are set to arrive on Apr 21 which is Ross's birthday. So, we are getting ready for their arrival and baby-proofing the house..well, that took minutes...we don't have anything a baby can destroy unless she decides to take out a concrete wall...But seriously, we are really looking forward to sharing our little piece of paradise with them!

Did I tell you how much I hate snakes????