And another plus…they were all present and accounted for. We spent the next 8 hours unpacking – we got about 75% done and so far everything has been intact – no breakage, no damage! Mind you, we haven’t taken the TVs out of their boxes, or our large computer monitors, but when the glass patio table arrived in one piece, I figure that is hopefully a good indicator that we’re likely to be in decent shape. We’ll find out over the next few days. Here’s what our living/dining room looked like after they unloaded the truck. Oh and check out that great ceiling fan!! : )
Tuesday – our iron work was installed. What iron work, you ask? Oh….well, we found out shortly after we arrived that our house had been broken into at least once (before we bought it)…perhaps due to the empty field behind it which gives easy access? Everyone has assured us that having the dogs here helps immensely…but we thought “what if we want to go somewhere and take the dogs”? Would we be leaving ourselves vulnerable? Plus we didn’t feel comfortable leaving any windows open at night, so we were closing up the house and running the A/C in the bedroom.
Our neighbors, Al & Glenda, had a contact, (the guy who did their house). He came out and gave us a great price. Now all of our windows are protected (so we can leave windows open at night and enjoy the evening cooldowns). We had the patio enclosed – with puertos (gates/doors) that open onto the pool area. We asked them to enclose the front porch as well – so we can leave the front door open to take advantage of the breeze that typically comes from that side of the house. Now we just need a screen for that door to keep the skeeters out!
The iron work looks really nice – it’s got some fancy stuff on it so it doesn’t look like jail bars! And since the houses are all concrete, you don’t have to be concerned about fires, so there’s no problem with the windows being covered. It’s pretty amazing the difference it makes temperature-wise in the house…it’s an easy 10 degrees cooler in here and we can take advantage of the nice breezes we get almost every day. There’s a picture of the patio a little bit further down so you can see what it looks like.
After the iron workers left, I went around to each window to vacuum up the dust from them drilling into the concrete to attach the iron work (yep, we brought the shop vac…good thing!). As I was pulling the shop vac into our bathroom, I heard a weird sound – looked around the corner and a little frog was in the tub! I think I scared it because it then crawled up the tile – almost to the window (which is about 6 feet off the ground), but fell back down when I opened the screen…in hopes it would jump out on its own. No such luck! So I got a plastic cup & covered it – then ever so gently slid it up the wall to the window. I lifted the edge of the cup to let it out…nothing! I KNEW I had captured it, so I turned the cup to look in it and the little guy jumped out and scared ME!
Then he took off toward the closet and I thought “Great, he’s going to get into my shoes…or worse, my clothes, and do who knows what?!” Luckily I was able to again cover him with the cup, but this time, I slid a piece of paper under it to use as a sort of lid. I took it outside and uncovered the cup…again, nothing! I carefully glanced in the cup and here he was, huddled at the bottom. So I laid the cup on its side and went back in the house. Next time I went out, he was gone. Silly frog – I have no idea how he got in, but hopefully he had hitchhiked on something vs. coming in somewhere I don’t know about!!
After going to Santo Domingo to do the customs inspection last week, we realized that we had brought a bit more “garage” stuff than we remembered…and unless we wanted to turn the spare bedroom/workout room into a workroom/shed, we needed think about alternatives. So last week we asked Raphael the “block” guy to give us an estimate for a casita (small house) which will basically be a 8x14 cinderblock building with 2 windows and a door that we’ll use as a tool shed, as well as a small storage area in which we can put the propane bottles & lock them up. We got the estimate – which is when we also learned that these things typically don’t include windows, a door, any electrical or iron work. Apparently here different people do the different parts. Also, you don’t buy premade windows. The building is built – THEN the window guy comes out and measures…then builds the windows to fit. Probably good since very little is square or plumb here!
Our friend, Pam, called Raphael to have him come back to the house & they were going to come over as well to help translate – to make sure that we knew exactly what was included in the estimate he had given us & proceed if all was good. He showed up shortly after 9 – with Pam & Dennis arriving about 30 minutes later! Mind you, Raphael doesn’t speak much English, so it was an interesting time making small talk with our limited Spanish, but with the help of our handy-dandy dictionary, we made it work. He’s really a nice guy and by the time Pan & Dennis arrived, we had agreed that he will help us with our Spanish and we will help him with his English while he’s here!
The rest of the day was a blur…running to the bank to get pesos for Raphael to buy the materials, working a little bit, rearranging things in the back yard to accommodate the delivery of the materials, etc. The first delivery came…it was a load of blocks, rebar and 40 large bags of cement. Another interesting thing we see here is that many people carry things on their head – baskets of laundry, boxes of bananas, buckets of water…and yes, the guys unloading the truck carried the 100# bags of cement on their heads!! We have no idea how they do that and don’t break their necks!!
After they left, Raphael told us that he was going home, but that the
ferrartaria (do you remember what that is?) would be back with more materials, namely the sand and aggregate for mixing the concrete – mas tarde (later). Well, mas tarde came and went and no mas materials arrived. Here’s a picture of the bags of cemento that the guys carried…and that new iron work we told you about.
Thursday morning…the beginning of the work on the casita! So far, everyone who has done work here has come around 9, so we figured that was the norm. You can imagine our surprise when Dusty and Sierra started barking madly shortly after 8…at Raphael and his helper, Luis. As we had guessed, Raphael wasn’t very happy to see that the rest of the materials hadn’t arrived, so he and Luis soon hopped back on their motoconcho (motorcycle) and headed into town…probably to chew someone out!!
It wasn’t too long after that when another truckload of cinderblocks arrived – 247 total – followed by a load of sand & then a big pile of gravel! Raphael and Luis returned and began working on the casita. Each day it has been fun to watch the walls go up – and to practice our Spanish. We’re very impressed with what hard workers and how conscientious both of these guys have been, especially with the stories we’ve heard. They are mixing the concrete by hand in the street in front of the house, then bringing it back using a wheelbarrow. Needless to say, they could be making a huge mess & tracking it through the yard, but they are very careful and each day when they are done, everything is cleaned & put away. They have also been vigilant to lock our gate when they leave to ensure our dogs don’t get out.
Here are some pictures of the casita in progress – day 1, 2 and 3. The footer on the left of the picture from day one was hand-dug with a pickaxe. It is about 3 feet deep! 
Dave, we’ve included a picture you may want to use for those OSHA “things not to do on a jobsite” presentations! Gotta love the scaffolding!! 
Thursday afternoon we headed into Puerto Plata to pick up a FedEx package and get groceries at La Sirena (they have a better selection than our little supermercado here in Sosua). And again, we got to experience another first…being pulled over for a “firearm” checkpoint! There were a number of federales (military police) in full camouflage fatigues with semi-automatics motioning for all cars to pull over. A guy came to our window and asked, “arma de fuego?” Well, I knew fuego was fire, but I couldn’t imagine what he’d be asking for…did we have a lighter? We shook our heads no – I said “no comprende” – and he pantomimed having a gun. We shook our heads no in earnest at that point. He indicated that he wanted to look in the car, which we allowed him to do. He poked his head in and did a cursory look, then sent us on our way. We were glad we hadn’t gotten the guy that had the car in front of us. He made everyone get out, open the trunk, and was proceeding to remove (and search?) the luggage in the back! We decided that “arma de fuego” would be a phrase we wouldn’t forget anytime soon!!
Yesterday, we decided to check out the Saturday market in Cabarete – the next little town to the east of us. It is also very much a tourist town with lots of shops and restaurants as well as a beautiful playa (beach). It caters to windsurfers, kite boarders, and of course, anyone wanting to enjoy the beach. The Saturday market is like a flea market, on a very small scale. We had hoped that perhaps we’d find a few furniture items we need, but there was much in that category. We didn’t find anything we just couldn’t live without – but we did find some organic produce, including jalapenos (which are difficult to find here) and yellow pear tomatoes – one of my favorites. We bought some and we’re going to see if we can grow our own from the seeds…who knows???
We decided to wander around town – and yes, FINALLY go to the beach (although it wasn’t really a plan to go to the beach and do beach stuff. But we did take a nice walk along the water, then stopped at one of the beachfront restaurants called Jose O’Shay’s and had a nice “lemonada frozen” while enjoying the scenery. The straw in Steve’s lemonade had little palm leaves and a monkey…check it out!
And a few pix of the beach and view from the restaurant.
Finally, we have made great progress unpacking boxes. We’ve gone through everything, except the big TV, and have only had 2 casualties – the glass in one picture frame was cracked and the second was caused by me. I dropped a small pitcher that was wrapped with a few other items, not knowing it was tucked in there. All in all, we have to say the DR gods have been very good to us!!
Here’s a picture after a couple of days of unpacking work…with Sierra obviously enjoying having the mess out of the way. She also has decided that her new post is right outside the gates off the patio...enjoying the cool breeze of the day.
Oh…and our neighbor, Linda, brought us some very tasty treats…she was baking in preparation for company from the UK. First was a delicious chocolate & almond torte (Steve LOVED that one) and a luscious carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. We decided it’s a good thing she doesn’t have company all the time – we’d weigh about 800 pounds!!
That’s about it for this week…another busy one! We’ll keep you posted on the casita…and any other new DR developments. Hope all you moms out there have/had a great Mother’s Day!!
Buen dia – hasta luego!!
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