When we left you last time, we had decided to bite the bullet & pay the duties/taxes to get our stuff. Maria had given us a ballpark amount and we were just waiting for a final number so we could run to the bank & wire the money. Well, as we have discovered (and you along with us), nothing is that easy here!
Since we knew we wouldn’t be getting our things right away, we had called Michael, our German electrician, to come and install those ceiling fans we bought in Santiago & put in an outlet in our laundry room. We were so excited to get a washing machine – amazing the “little” things we take for granted! That was all fine and good, until we discovered that there was not an outlet in the laundry room! There were wires coming out of a box, but nothing to plug into. So we had to wait until we could find & buy a heavy duty extension cord (of course, we only sent a regular one when we came down). Luckily we found one a couple of days after the washer arrived and we were making do with the extension cord running out to the kitchen. Not optimal, but it was functional at least!
Oh, and check our DR dryer. Might as well take advantage of the sun and breeze, true?!So here are Steve and I and the dogs are tucked away in the office while Michael is working on the fans. A something to keep in mind as you read this part of the story…our ceilings are about 20 feet high. We walk out into the living room to find Michael standing on the very top of his 14 foot A-frame ladder – wearing sandals – stretching to hook up the fan! Needless to say, OSHA is not even in the vocabulary here (sorry Dave – we didn’t get a picture for you!).
Luckily, Michael didn’t fall off the ladder & Maria got the info we needed to us shortly after noon. The kicker with making the payment to get our stuff out of hock, however, was that now Maria tells us that supposedly a wire wouldn’t be acknowledged by their bank for at least a day (?!). Instead Maria asked if we could deposit the funds into their account – which of course was at a different bank than what we use – and send her a copy of the receipt. Luckily there is a branch of their bank in Sosua, but we had less than 30 minutes to run into town, get the cash from our bank, go to their bank & deposit it, and get back to the house to let Michael back in since he had left for lunch and had no idea we needed to run out. Mind you…this is a country where most people are NOT in a hurry and it can take 30 minutes just to get cash at the bank (unless of course, it’s a payday, then it can take over an hour!).
But again, the DR gods were smiling on us. We got the whole transaction done and were back with about 5 minutes to spare! We also needed to scan the receipt…and we don’t have a scanner. I had been helping Al & Glenda with their computer a few days before & thought I remembered seeing one in their office, so fortunately we didn’t have to run back into town for that. Whew – email with a copy of the deposit was off to Maria by 1:30 on Wednesday. Next step…wait (and wait and wait) for confirmation of the delivery date.
We really have been trying to be patient, but by mid afternoon on Thursday when we had not heard a peep from Maria (not even confirming she got the email re. the deposit that was made), I called. She assured me that the funds were in the process of being sent to the Customs office and she would be able to tell us on Friday when the container would be delivered…which would most likely be on Monday. I asked her to send an email confirming the day and approximate time once she had the information.
Well, you guessed it…Friday 10:30 a.m….no email. We decide to drive into Puerto Plata (more on that later) and get back around 2:30…still no email! Here’s our dilemma – we are waiting to find out when the delivery is so we can schedule Michael to come back to put up the rest of our fans. He is only available Monday or Tuesday – then he leaves for a 3 week holiday back to Germany! And we don’t want the movers and him to be tripping all over each other.
Off goes an email to Maria, as well as our US moving coordinator, Crystal. Lo and behold…Maria had called HER to let her know the delivery was scheduled for Monday – but neither of them felt compelled to let us know?! Not sure who dropped the ball, but at least now we know (or think) our container will be here sometime today – YIPPEE!! What time? Who knows – or as they say here – manana! Maria said the truck would leave Santo Domingo at either 4 or 6 (a.m.? p.m.?) and should be here around 11…we’ll see! Keep your fingers crossed that everything safely makes the trip across the island and arrives in one piece!
So let’s see…what else happened since the last update? We met Peter the Plumber. He’s from Switzerland – been here 21 years after living in Minnesota for 15 years prior to that. He is quite the character! (Have you noticed there are a lot of those around here? We have!) He installed our tankless water heater which runs on propane (vs. the 40 gallon electric tank that came with the house). He also fixed the faucet in the kitchen & moved the hookups for the washing machine so that we could gain about 4 inches of space between it and the wall. He and his helper were here for 2 hours – and the cost, including parts - $33!!
We had a nice dinner with our neighbors, Al & Glenda, on Wed. night. They have asked Steve if he can give Al grilling lessons. We haven’t figured out why Al needs grilling lessons, but Steve is happy to give him pointers – and we do enjoy visiting with them!
We walked home from dinner a little before 11 and as we reached our house, the security guard who sits at our end of the development asked if he could ask us a question. Steve went on up to the door to go in and let the dogs out while I talked to the guard. When he opened the door, Dusty saw me & ran out…then he saw the guard and totally FREAKED out and tore off down the street barking and carrying on. Of course it was dark and I was scared to death that he’d keep running and get lost! But fortunately, he made a beeline to our neighbor, Linda’s, house. She is the neighbor who came and let them out while we were in Santo Domingo on Monday. She is also Archie’s “mom” (he’s a white West Highland terrier). Dusty has been over there a couple of times to play with Archie and he has decided that Linda is his new girlfriend (she calls him up on her lap & makes a big fuss over him – which he just eats up!). So apparently he felt like their house was a safe haven. I ran after him & and fortunately he ran back to me so I was able to pick him up and carry him back to the house. Boy, were we relieved!! And luckily Linda and her husband, Tony, were out that evening and weren’t awoken by all of the racket we (and Archie) had made!
As I mentioned, we made another trek into Puerto Plata on Friday. Since there were a few things we had not been able to find there or in Santo Domingo, we had ordered them online – and our packages were in. Even though we had ordered a few things from about 4 places, for some reason, every item was shipped separately. I think the shipping place was happy that we got our 11 boxes (most of them small!) and Pam & Dennis’ 3 out of there! It was like Christmas!
We also bought ceiling fans for the office and spare bedroom, a grande (100#) propane tank for the hot water heater, and found some great patio lounge chairs for when we finally get truly settled in and can relax by the pool! We decided to get the propane tank filled ourselves this time – vs. having one of the propane “delivery” guys come out to the house.
On Friday night just before we went to bed, the dogs were staring intently at something in the pool. I went out to see what it was…and discovered a frog that had apparently swum across the pool and was clinging to the edge! So I called the pups in for the night, thinking the frog would get out after they came in. Well it seems that he hung on (or swam?) all night, but was unable to get out for some reason, so the next morning, Steve did a frog rescue and set him free. He said it didn’t take long for that frog to hightail it away from the pool when he set it and the pool net down on the ground!
On Saturday, Steve experienced his first DR haircut. We had asked a couple of the neighbor guys where they went and following their lead, we stopped at Jose’s barber shop in town. Jose doesn’t speak too much English, but between he and Steve, they were able to agree that Steve wanted a trim. Jose quickly went to work with the clippers. Let’s just say that Steve does like his hair short…but perhaps not as short as Jose cut it! The look on Steve’s face as the hair was falling was classic! But you’ll have to admit, it doesn’t look bad – and I’m sure it will be nice and cool. Plus, it’s only hair and it will grow back, right? Note: I’m not going to visit Jose for my haircuts! : )Since we were out running around, we also stopped by a vivera (plant nursery) to look at the various types of flowers and plants we can put in our yard. It was like walking through the Botanical Gardens – lush, green, beautiful! Glenda tells us that you can pretty much pop anything in the ground here and it will grow...we’ll see! Here are just a few of the plants & flowers we saw. Oh, and check out the tres gatos (three cats) that were lounging out on a table in front!
Finally, remember…life is a beach – just don’t go on the weekends here! If you drive through Sosua on a Saturday or Sunday, there is literally bus after bus after bus parked along the road. What we’ve discovered is that these buses bring Dominicans in from inland towns like Santiago to spend the day at the beach! This is what it looks like (and this is just two of 4 pictures I took to get all of the buses last Saturday). Notice in the first picture...follow the road as far as you can see - yep, that's the last bus in the line!
I can’t imagine what it is like down by the water – but it’s got to be wall to wall bodies…not my idea of a nice day at the beach, for sure! Maybe one of these days we’ll venture down and take some pictures to send. In the meantime, we’ll stay home on the weekends and enjoy the pool with the pups!
That’s about it for this samana (week). Stay tuned for the next update – which will (hopefully?) include the saga of our container arrival!! Have a great week – and be well!
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