Finally! Livin' the life!!

A week ago Tuesday was surfing lesson day for me and Max. While the guys went out with another bunch of people who were surfing, Max and I stayed behind to get our “onshore” lesson first. Then off we went to try our luck in the water. Neither of us were able to stand up on the boards…we seemed to get stuck on our knees (hmmm…knee surfing – new sport??). But we kept trying until finally we were both tired and called it quits. I was sore for a couple days, plus I scraped my shin on a coral ledge as I was coming out of the water...just not a ton of fun. I can’t say that either of us loved it, so it’s not likely we’ll be trying again. I think we’ll stick to boogie boarding for now!

We had decided to take a picnic lunch that day, so after the guys were finished with their surfing, we found a spot down the beach and had a nice relaxing lunch. The guys had a good time and were already planning their next outing. Max and I weren’t sure what we would do while they were surfing, but were pretty sure we could find a way to have some fun as well.

On Wednesday, we joined a group of people for dinner at a restaurant just up the road from us. It’s called Pickerings (you may recall that where we went with Pam and Dennis for her birthday lunch). This dinner was also coordinated by Pam – and was primarily people from the UK – with a few Americans thrown in for good measure. There were a couple of people we had met before, but we got to meet and visit with several others that we didn’t know. So we’ve expanded our network here a bit more.

We also got to experience a traditional British meal – complete with Yorkshire pudding and sage & onion dressing. Just for the record, Yorkshire pudding isn’t pudding as we know it in the States. It’s actually like a bread/pastry that you eat with gravy. The meal was very good and we capped it off with a chocolate/cherry cake that Rona, the owner of Pickerings, had baked that day. It was really a fun evening - good food and good company.

I had my first experience driving to Puerto Plata on Thursday. Since I’d been driving around Sosua for a while, I decided I was ready to face the roads on a grander scale. It really wasn’t bad and all went well. Wouldn’t you know it, though, that the one time we see a new and very impressive moto load, Steve (who should have been the trip photographer as the passenger) didn’t have his camera out. We were quite bummed because this was one you really had to see to believe. This guy had what appeared to be an entertainment center/set of shelves – probably 5 or 6 feet wide and about that tall too – perched on the back of his moto! He should have had a “wide load” sign on the back of that moto. Wow!!

We decided to stop at Hidelisa, the furniture store where we bought our living room set, to see if they had any new dining room sets. They didn’t have anything new that we liked, but we went back to one that we had seen before and liked, but it was priced much higher than we had budgeted. It had 6 chairs then, but now only had 4 – and the price was lower. With a little negotiating to get a discount, based on paying cash, we got the price down to something we could live with. We, of course, don’t carry that much cash around as a rule, but I did have some and offered to put down a deposit. They said that it wasn’t necessary – we could just pay the full amount when it was delivered.

They told us they would deliver the set for us. It would be free if they could wait until another delivery to Sosua – and they didn’t know when that would be but likely in the next few days. Or we could pay for delivery if we wanted it sooner. Since we’d waited this long, we decided we would just wait until they came to Sosua next.

So after all this, we walked out of the store as the owners of the table…or at least we were pretty sure. Since we hadn’t put a deposit down or anything, we didn’t get a factura (invoice/receipt) – just a business card with the salesman’s name and phone number for the store.

We then finished up our errands in POP and headed home. Not long after we got home, we got a call from Hidelisa. They were going to be delivering in Sosua that evening and would bring our table and chairs around 5:30. So I ran to the bank to get the pesos we would need to pay for it.

Five-thirty came….and went. We weren’t too concerned as we’ve learned to accept the concept of Dominican time. Then it was 6 o’clock…then 6:15. Now we were starting to wonder if they really were going to show up. I decided to try calling the store – figuring that it would be closed – but worth a shot. And they were still there! Apparently the driver had been delayed and they were just in the process of getting the truck loaded to head our way. We were still a bit skeptical that they’d show up, but made sure our dining room was ready in case they actually did.
A little before 7, we heard a truck coming down the street. Yep – it was them. They went down and turned around…and almost drove past us before Steve hollered at them! Fortunately they heard him and stopped. Long story short – we now have a dining room table and chairs – yay!!! It’s so nice to being one step closer to having our house feel even more like our home. Now we just need a few pictures to put up on the wall above the table and we’ll be set!!






On Friday, the guys went surfing again. Max and I decided to take the dogs (Sierra, Dusty and Archie) down to the beach. This would be Dusty and Sierra’s first outing to the beach since we got here. (I know, we’re bad doggie parents. But heck, it took us almost as long to get to the beach ourselves!)

Before we went, though, we stopped by Ken and Sandy’s – one of the couples from dinner on Wed. – to get some plants from their garden since they were leaving to visit family in the States for a couple of months. We left with mint (think mojitos), rosemary and thyme (no parsley or sage…for those of you who might wonder). So far my mint plant is hanging in there, so we’ll see if it survives and hopefully spreads.

After we took our plants back home and got them tucked into some dirt, we loaded up the fur kids and headed for the beach. Here are some pictures from that outing. This one is Max with Archie and our two on the left.


Sierra and Dusty were initially a little uncertain about the waves coming in.

Mind you, until now the biggest body of water they’d ever been around was Green Mountain Reservoir in Colorado – so the Atlantic Ocean is quite a leap up in size from that!! Once they had studied the waves for a minute, they decided it would be quite fun to run in – and they did.


They had a good time playing in the water and sand as Max and I walked down toward where the guys were surfing. Next thing we knew, the dogs from the surf shop came out on the beach. We had seen them interact nicely with other dogs the last time we were down there, but I wasn’t sure how my two would do (especially Dusty, who thinks he’s a BIG dog and talks a lot of smack). Not wanting to risk a dog fight, we decided to head back to our picnic area.

We brought our portable dog yard with us – got it set up and settled the dogs in. Sierra enjoyed digging in the sand – getting it nice and cool to lay in for a siesta.










After lunch, we headed up to Lomas Mironas – which is where Max and Richard’s villa is. They bought it 3 years ago but haven’t lived in it yet! They’ve hopefully found a renter for their ocean front condo and will be able to enjoy their villa now. They’ve also been house-sitting for our neighbors as well as one of their neighbors. They took us to see that villa as well. Wow was it nice! Sitting up on a hill, it has a gorgeous view of the ocean. We sat on the patio and enjoyed the breeze while watching the dogs – now including two more – Ziggy and Simone, who live at this villa – run around and play. Unfortunately we all had things we needed to do still that afternoon, so we called it a day and headed home.

Saturday was another “work our butts off” day. First I had to do some trimming so I could get back behind the casita to paint the back two walls. Since I was already in the trimming mode, I continued along the back of the yard where the hibiscus and palms were starting to get out of control. As I was tossing the trimmings into a pile, I got thinking…hmmm…wonder if I just stick the hibiscus in the ground, would they grow? I figured I’d give it a try – nothing to lose, right?

So I took three of them and planted them outside our fence back by the cistern where there isn’t much foliage. Keep your fingers crossed…we’ll see how this experiment goes!

While I painted the casita, Steve mowed the lawn and worked on a list of honey-do’s I’d given him. I also got the wall where the batteries used to hang painted…then decided to “touch up” a couple more walls that had faded pretty badly due to the sun. Steve jokingly suggested that I just keep going – and I’d have the whole house done. But since it was already almost 6, we decided it probably wasn’t going to happen – and we were both pooped! But it felt good to get some more of the items marked off our list of to-dos.

We awoke Sunday to a cloudy, grey, rainy day…which was just fine with us. I wasn’t feeling great anyway, so it was a good excuse to have a laze around the house day.

It’s nice that our days have started to settle into more of a “typical” routine and we don’t have the daily drama we had to contend with for the last several months. To that end, it feels like this is a good time to transition this blog…from a weekly recap to a more random “you’ll never guess what happened now” or “check out this wild moto picture”.

I hope you have enjoyed our stories – and will continue to follow the blog (yes, I’ll email when there’s an update). Please do stay in touch (sandkadventure@gmail.com) as we do enjoy hearing about what’s going on back stateside as well!

Signing off for now…Steve and Kelli – your Caribbean connection!!