First thing on Monday morning, I put the beans together and on the stove to cook – to make sure they have plenty of time. (Remember, I’m used to cooking beans in Denver!) Typically the guys arrive around 8…sometimes shortly after that. Nine a.m. – no one. Ten a.m. – not a worker in sight. By 11, we’ve decided we either misunderstood or they had decided to blow us off! We knew that Monday was actually a holiday (until noon) for their national election that was held on Sunday, but since Raphael had told us they’d be there on Monday, we weren’t sure where the miscommunication happened, but needless to say, they didn’t work on Monday.
I can tell you that we are enjoying the fact that many things cook faster here at sea level (a phenomenon that you likely don’t appreciate until you’ve lived at least a mile high where it takes FOREVER for a pot of water to boil, let alone a large pot of beans to cook!). Monday night Steve went ahead and grilled the chicken and we put everything in the fridge for lunch the next day. We figured we were a couple steps ahead for Tuesday…with only the rice to cook and everything else just needing to be heated.
So…imagine our surprise on Tuesday when Raphael & Luis show up – with three other guys to help them! Needless to say, we hadn’t cooked enough for 5 men who would be working very hard, so we jumped to plan B. And I did my first solo drive into Sosua (and only my second driving experience here)! It actually wasn't too bad even though they drive like lunatics here (maybe we just fit in??).
There are several roadside stands where they cook whole chickens on an outdoor grill. So I went to one that our friends Pam & Dennis had recommended and got two whole chickens and a Styrofoam container with some yucca and fried bananas (it's a Dominican thing - we haven't tried it yet). I grabbed some 2-liter bottles of soda and we heated up the pot of beans. They ate every bit! Guess it wasn’t too bad – and Luis told me they really liked the beans so I owe Glenda a huge thanks for the pointers on those – and the ingredients!!
It was pretty interesting to watch how they poured the roof. Mind you – this is a 6 inch thick slab, so there is a LOT of concrete to pour. It went like this…one guy was out front mixing a batch by hand in the wheelbarrow. Another guy would bring it around to the back (the casita is in the far opposite corner of where they are mixing) and he would dump it out on a sheet of plywood. Luis was manning that area and he would shovel the concrete mixture up to a platform that they had built out of a sheet of plywood & several concrete blocks - about ½ way up the side of the casita wall. The guy on the platform then would shovel the concrete up onto the roof and Raphael would move it to the areas it was needed. The pictures below don’t really do it justice but will help you to visualize how it worked.
They started the actual mixing/pouring around 9 and were done by about 1:30 – including their lunch break! Pretty amazing!
With the roof needing some time to cure, Raphael told us they would be back on Thursday, so we took advantage of not having to be here to run to Santiago. There were a number of things we needed and could not get from the stores here. And since we were going anyway, we decided to go to a few furniture stores and see if perhaps we could find a table & chairs for our dining area. We mapped out our route and headed out early Thursday a.m.
It was definitely a lot easier this time – with Steve having more experience driving with the maniacs. We didn’t find a dining room set, but we were able to find about
95% of what was on our list - and several items that weren't, and poor Zuki was stuffed to the gills again. Hopefully we won't be going back to Santiago, or at least PriceSmart (it’s like Costco), for quite some time!! You know it’s bad when the PriceSmart people bring you a second cart because the one you have is so full! Here are a few pictures of some of the interesting sights along the way:
On Thursday, our neighbor Linda came over and asked if Dusty was ready for a haircut. She trims her dog Archie and had offered to do Dusty as well. He was getting pretty shaggy and since he’s already a warm blooded guy anyway, he was definitely in need of a trim so he would be cooler. I’m happy to say that although his “do” is not anywhere near what it would look like if we’d taken him to a professional, he doesn’t look anything like the first time I tried to groom our last dog, Coco!! Steve says that she looked like she had been through chemo because she had many bald spots where the clippers had decided to dive rather than glide! I won’t say that Dusty doesn’t have a few areas that are shorter than others, and maybe it’s because his hair is lighter that it’s not as noticeable, but I think he looks pretty darn good…considering! Poor guy was exhausted when I took this picture. Once we figured out the clippers weren’t going to do the trick, Linda ended up using scissors and it took about 2.5 hours to get him done!
While I was over at Linda’s, work continued on the casita. Not sure what the technique is called, but it’s basically flinging a very thin mixture of concrete on the walls – apparently a sort of priming for the finish, which we have been told is called pañete & is similar to stucco, but is smooth.
Poor Raphael was covered with concrete after a day of flinging!! On Friday, they started applying the pañete, which is a mixture of 4 parts very fine sand (they actually have a screen that they sift the sand through) and 1 part concreto. It’s then applied with a trowel & leveled out. After it sets up a little, they go back over it almost like they are sanding it – but use a damp piece of foam similar to a sponge (kinda reminds me of grouting tile!). Saturday was more of the same…but they worked on the back side of the casita, so we cannot get good pictures of that. Here’s what it looked like at the end of the day.On Friday afternoon…everyone in the neighborhood received a hand-delivered letter from developer’s agent with their proposal for a maintenance fee. Needless to say, that stirred everyone up again. So we’ve agreed to meet Monday evening for dinner at Al & Glenda’s and put together our response. We’ve done some comparisons with what other developments are paying & what services they receive…let’s just say that it’s like comparing apples and toadstools – not even close to the same. Should be interesting to see how this all turns out!
A few other miscellaneous items. We spent some time last weekend getting more unpacking done & furniture arranged. See…it’s actually starting to look more like a home. It will be much better once we have the casita for our tools – some of which are still sitting in the dining area! And I hope to get some pictures on the walls yet this weekend. I was also tickled that the bedspread that I had bought when we were staging our house in Denver works quite nicely with our “tangerine” bedroom walls!
We’ve also decided to try our hand at some gardening. Al & Glenda have told us you can pretty much put anything in the ground here and it will grow (keeping the insects from eating it after it starts…well, that’s another issue). So we saved some seeds from a cantaloupe and some jalapenos. Check out my little cantaloupe sprouts! This is only three days after I planted them.
They had sprouted a little bit in the bag I had them in, but they have gone gangbusters since I put them in the cup of dirt!! I planted the jalapeno seeds today. They hadn’t begun to sprout yet, so not sure how they’ll do…but we’ll see! Next up – cucumbers!!And finally, here are a couple of cool pictures. The first is a bowl of fresh fruit – typical of what you can find everywhere here.
The pineapples are luscious and we use limes by the dozens. The two yellowish-green things are mangos…starting to like them more even though they are a pain in the rear to cut up. And in the bottom left corner, an avocado. They are abundant here as well – and are huge compared to what we used to get in the States. The bowl they are in was a gift from Steve’s sister and her husband from Hawaii. It definitely fits our tropical motif!!
This is a flower that is commonly found here. It grows on a kind of shrub/vine – and we have some in our back yard as well as along the sides of the front yard. Don’t know what it’s called but they sure are pretty!
That’s it for now. I think Denver may have gotten as warm – or warmer than it was here today (Saturday)! I’ll bet we had more humidity though! It was MUGGY!! We were happy to see clouds move in this evening with some rain showers to cool it off. And yes, we get thunderstorms here, too! We had quite a lightening show tonight.
For those of you in Denver, hope you enjoyed your summer preview day…and wherever you are, we hope this note finds you to be well!
Hasta luego!!
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