Dominican Republic

February, 2018

I am off again with my Habitat buddies on another mission (my sixth), to the Dominican Republic! I will be enroute for 12 hours to Santo Domingo, a large capital city of three million people in a country that supports an overall population of 11 million. Santo Domingo is famous for being discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 and the site of the first Spanish settlement, and the first cathedral, castle, monastery, and fortress built in the Americas. From what I have read, Santo Domingo is a fairly modern cosmopolitan centre, but I really do not know what to expect upon arrival!

The DR is the largest economy in the Caribbean and Central America, with an average growth rate of 5.4% between 1992 and 2013. The economy has been growing since by over 7% per year, continuing its trend of rapid economic growth, the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Recent growth has been driven by construction, manufacturing, tourism, and mining. The country is the site of the second largest gold mine in the world, the Pueblo Viejo. Private consumption has been strong, as a result of low inflation and job creation. The DR is the most visited destination in the Caribbean, with year-round golf courses as major attractions.

The current story for DR is a lot different from other Latin American countries! So, why am I doing a build in the DR? When I was on vacation here in 2006, one could still see poverty taking the bus from the airport to our all-inclusive beach resort. I am sure there will still be a case of those who 'have' and those who 'have not', depending on whether someone has been able to latch onto the new wave of 'middle class' jobs. Wikipedia mentions three major issues: national government corruption, foreign economic interference, and the rift between the rich and poor. One contributing factor to poor living conditions and poverty is the fact that there are close to one million Haitians living in this country.

The other country on the Hispaniola Island is Haiti which also has 11 million people, but is the poorest of all Latin American countries! How can such an island be so extreme?! Both countries were part of Spanish rule, but Haiti was ceded to the French during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. Any native Haitians were slaves of the French until they gained independence in the early 19th century. There is a strong correlation between corruption and poverty, and Haiti ranked first of all countries surveyed for levels of perceived domestic corruption. Haiti's GDP has been flat or trending down, especially during that horrible major earthquake of 2010. 

I have mixed feelings about ever going to Haiti. If one considers the DR to have a corrupt government, well Haiti is so bad that Habitat cannot even get established there! The closer you get to the Haitian border, the more the DR takes on the problems of Haiti, and this is the direction we are going on for the build, which is west of Santo Domingo, a place that should give us a feel for its culture, for what it is really like to live in this country. We will be managed by a local experienced Habitat team with security and health being their first priority, but whom have a bit of a reputation from previous builds for not being that well organized. 

A geographically diverse nation, the DR is home to both the Caribbean's tallest mountain peak, Pico Duarte, at over 10,000 feet, and the point of lowest elevation, Lake Enriquillo, a salt lake that is 148 feet below sea level. The island has an average temperature of 26 °C and great climatic and biological diversity. There is one nasty strain of malaria at isolated locations in the country, where most tourists do not go, but where Habitat people do, and so anti-malaria pills are in order. The DR has a tropical rain forest climate, but fortunately February is in the dry season and the mosquitoes will hopefully give us some freedom! It will be interesting to learn if the country has occurred any damage from recent hurricanes and earthquakes!

As a bonus, I will be joined by daughter Michelle in Santo Domingo just after our build is completed for some R&R time, then four days vacation on the beach in a safe area named Las Terrenas on the north side of the island. I am looking forward to spending some quality time with Michelle and whether she wants to be or not, she will be part of my log for this trip! I will do my best to keep you updated on my adventures and experiences! DR here we come!

Note: these log notes are based on emails sent to an audience and were done during each day.  The notes are often short and to the point with choppy sentences.  I have not taken the time to edit properly since they still report my observations.

Day 1

A 1.5 hour delay from Calgary means we missed our connecting flight in Dallas!  Not the best way to start our journey.  An overnight in Dallas at a budget Motel 6 with jetliners roaring overhead along with free food vouchers was in order with American Airlines picking up the tab.  I could count over a dozen jets in the dark sky from the distance when outside and it reminded me of a mass of fireflies.  We did not have to be in Santo Domingo until the next day anyways as we had planned for having problems getting there.  In Calgary before departure the cockpit door did not close properly and security regulations state that the door needs to be locked before takeoff.  With the temperature outside at minus 30, this probably had nothing to do with the door, unless the plane frame shrank ever so slightly to avoid the door locking properly!

When we arrived in Santo Domingo the next day finally, it took us two hours to get from the plane through customs, and so about 36 hours in total for the journey.  All we could do was look at the warm greenery and ocean blue, staying cooped up inside the plane for an hour until it was our turn to unload.  When in the airport standing in line for customs, they conveniently opened up a third station to speed things up at the same time that I had finally worked my way to the front of the line.  Meanwhile those leaving from Toronto took only five hours enroute with minimal delay through customs and they had left one day later, having lunch in the hotel while we were still enroute!  I was not the least bit envious, eh!  We quickly put this story behind us, because what could we do as we were caught up in the process.

The airport was true Latin American  disorganized chaos.  It was so nice however to be freed of red tape and to step outside into the steamy luke warm weather and even breathe in the diesel fumes from mini buses as we took in what the outside was really like, with people and vehicles everywhere in total confusion.   On the bus trip to the hotel I found Santo Domingo to be junky but not dusty since it rains here a lot and the side roads showed puddles of water.  Just look at the choppy blue ocean water!  Nice palm trees in what otherwise was typical Latin American dwellings that you find anywhere in Central America complete with graffiti.

Our luggage miraculously arrived with us at the airport and I hugged my suitcase in appreciation.  Our luggage was placed in a rickety old trailer (picture) secured by a rusty old padlock and chain.  When we arrived at the hotel they could not reopen the lock and so started to beat it with a tire iron.  This did not work and so we gave up and checked into the hotel.  They apparently found a big sledge hammer from the hotel, then they obliterated anything in its path to free up the suitcases.  

We are off to San Juan de la Maguana in the morning, a three - four hour bus ride to stay where our build is to occur, taking over from a Habitat team from Minnesota.  

Day 2

A nice sunny morning with warm sunshine!  It is so good to be alive!  Before our bus trip, we did a guided tour of Santo Domingo.  You simply must do this tour, so informative, and very interesting!  This is where western civilization all started in the Americas and this was rather an earth shaking important event!  I can only mention a little of what was told, so overwhelming.  

The first official Spanish settlement after discovery was in 1496.  A hurricane completely wiped out that settlement in 1500 and so they had to start over!  For the next settlement, they made blocks out of coral reef glued together using egg whites!  Can you imagine how many chickens and eggs were needed to get enough glue?!  Come to think of it, we have had nothing but chicken here for lunch and dinner.  Some colonial buildings are still standing, but deteriorating.  We saw hundreds of green parrots that have nests in the original hospital built in the early 1500's.

In the mid 1500's when pirates became the norm at sea, they started to build a wall around the city for protection.  They became more active with this whenever they had an experience with the pirates.  There was actually a pirate with only one eye and leg who retired in Santo Domingo and created the first pirate cavern that was managed by pirates and its customers were all pirates.  Sir Francis Drake was a pirate and he used to come in for a drink or two or who knows how many.  He did not exactly die of natural causes as he was killed in Panama, 

The road to San Juan de la Maguana used on our trip became narrower as expected as we got further from SD, but actually the quality remained very good, unlike other countries I have visited, such as El Salvador.  

It took a long time to see any agriculture activity during the bus ride as it was all forest and rugged mountainous terrain.  We finally did see a tremendous variety of different crops but nothing of great significance.  There were crops of potatoes, tomatoes, plantain, rice paddies, tobacco to name a few.  We saw scenes of subsistence farming practice and in one particular case I saw a work horse really straining to pull a plow through a field of what looked like muck, poor thing.  This would now be called animal abuse in Canada but is still a way of life for the older culture.

San Juan de la Managua city was a pleasant surprise to see where we are staying for the build as it is probably the cleanest and most advanced city I have been in for a Habitat build.  This is still not saying much however compared to the luxuries we have in Canada.  

Looks like we will be doing miscellaneous projects at three different projects this week and so not focused on completing just one build.  Looking forward to seeing first hand how they build a Habitat home here using prefabricated walls as we head off to the build site in the morning.  Everyone is busy using WiFi after our latest dinner and information session held ( as per picture).  Are they ever out of it, eh.  Well, so was I in typing this log!  The windows behind them are louvered as per Ralph so they are always open to the outside on a nice day.  Pigeons though are too big to pass through the glass vanes.  Absolutely beautiful lobby compared to the rest of the hotel.  

Tourists do not come here as there is nothing that interesting to see or do other than getting completely immersed into their culture, and therefore is the most rewarding.

Day 3

The first day of work had us going to an acreage outside of the city where they make 3 x 2 concrete slabs 1 1/4 inches thick.  A mix of cement powder, sand, gravel, water is poured into metal forms, smoothed out, then left to dry, which take four days in the humidity.  Each slab weighs 180 lbs.  The slabs are then inserted vertically on edge into vertical aluminum channels to make all walls supported by a cement foundation and floor.  So the walls are quite thin, but still strong enough to withstand any hurricane test.  For a strong earthquake, a slab may crack, but the slab is simply replaced by a new one.  The slabs are piled three high in a wall and so the top two need to be removed first in order to replace the bottom slab if cracked, then everything is put back into the aluminum tracks.  The house is finished off with metal doors, windows, corrugated metal roof on top of  mahogany wood beams, the only wood in the building due to termites.  The cement has a high concentration of lime and because the mineral is somewhat acidic, a strong bond is formed when dry such that the slabs do not need to be supported with a metal mesh.  Due to the simple construction, the homes are often made with more rooms, including a functional kitchen.

Now for an interesting part.  Homes constructed using these prefab concrete slabs take 1/2 the time to build vs. standard cinder block rebar construction and only 1/2 the cost!  Maybe Habitat Dominican are smarter than they are in Central America.  Based on DR's cost of living index, a prefab home costs $9,000 USD compared to $18,000 USD for cinder block.  Despite the significant cost saving Central America does not use such technology!  Countries like Nicaragua, the poorest country in Latin America outside of Haiti still use cinder block.  There are two reasons for this:

• Central America trusts cinder block  construction because they have done it this way for years and know what to expect.  Education and testimonials are needed to change their way of thinking.

• Secondly, this technology comes from Columbia and is patented and owned by the Catholic Church.  This should not be a problem but it sure is!

I have been told that the Catholic Church are generally using this technology as a means to convert others to Christianity.  You get a home using this type of construction to save thousands of dollars, then you are expected to support the Church.  Now I am part of the Christian group myself but this strategy is totally, incredibly, absolutely insane!  This technology should be rolled out to the masses everywhere!  Are we not one?  How could this be happening?  The average Nicaraguan would only have to pay one half of what they pay for a home otherwise!

We had a productive day in the outdoor factory.  Habitat said that the best group so far were able to make 13 forms in a day containing 5 1/2 slabs each.  Despite starting the day with a tour, then waiting for the local workers to finish their lunch after we had ours, we were able to complete 15 forms by 2:45 PM!   They had no more forms left and so we were done for the day!

We took one hour after and had a tour of the city.  Very interesting!  There are definitely things to see here, quite a fascinating place actually.  The mayor really promotes art work and statues, very colorful university, etc.  No tourists come here though since there are no all inclusive resorts and no beach.

Day 4

At our first real build site, we needed to haul dirt in between the cinder blocks using shovels and rickety bashed in wheelbarrows so that it could be compacted as the base for the cement floor.  This task proved to be challenging due to the rocky compacted dirt, the state of the shovels, and the need to purge the bigger rocks and garbage.  This task plus rebar work proved to be the day in the hot sun.  Bruce had enough at the end of the day and went to a hardware store to buy two sturdy shovels with a sharp point that are actually made to dig dirt.

This house is not being done by prefab slabs since the family can afford more, go figure.  The Dominicans however just might be more advanced than the rest of Central America.  Habitat Dominican for instance has a real cement mixer and a motorized tamper, but this did not help us any for the shoveling.  The truck used to haul dirt was in the worst shape I have ever seen with holes and cracks in the truck bed.  They placed a fibre glass tarp in the bed before filling with dirt since the dirt would otherwise all fall through the openings and be gone when driving back to the build site.

The ancestors of the local Habitat leader were slaves of our ancestors.  So the leader was yelling out to us to hurry up so we could be finished our day and be out of there.  He was kidding since we had been so productive anyways, but I was thinking afterwards that his ancestors would be proud of him to have turned the table!

There was a handful of Haitians working on this build site.  They needed to work so that they had something to eat to survive for another day.  The Haitians would load up the truck with dirt, then we unloaded when the truck was back.  What a harsh life they must have said Brenda.  It all depends how lucky you are as to which culture and area you were born.  These missions always make me humble and thankful for what I have.  The Haitians were in awe of us and being volunteers from Canada that they knew nothing about.

Financial arrangements are completely different in the Dominican as opposed to how they are done in Canada.  Habitat homes are financed by a bank that they partner with and the interest rate is set at 15%.  Families are ecstatic that the rates are so low since borrowing otherwise from the bank could cost you as much as 29% per year!  So for those with condos in downtown Calgary consider yourselves lucky to have such a low mortgage rate!  This is what inflation can do for you.

I was advised by a Dominican lady on the plane to try rice with beans and Presidente beer since she claimed it was so good and something she missed while living in the States.  Well, I can state now that the rice with beans is the best that I have had in all of Central America.  It was not a bean paste but a lighter colored bean in a broth.  The Presidente beer is also very good and I think even better than a Mexican Corona.

Yesterday at the factory site, they had been cutting up some mahogany tree to create some material to be used for beams to hold the roof.  The wood was so incredibly red that I thought it was pressure treated but it apparently is its natural color.  The beams made were so heavy and hard.  Talk about strong!

I noticed there are not that many kids around compared to other third world.  This must be because they have more control of the population and all kids are actually in school.

Day 5

More physical labor needed for our current project site to haul in and compact subsoil as the base for the cement floor along with doing more rebar work for the cinder block build.  

I have certain observations nonetheless and comments/ opinions to share:

• All vehicles have a manual transmission.  Automatic transmission seems to be a North American thing anyways as most of the world prefers manual.  Vehicles look like they are in better shape than Central American countries.  Then along comes a real clunkier like the Habitat truck.  

• Insurance for theft is generally non existent and so locals do what they can to secure their belongings with rolled barb wire on top of jagged fences or rugged walls.

• There were five kingdoms of indigenous in Hispaniola before Columbus, each having their own king and queen. One was the Managua that this city is named after.

• The city San Juan de la Managua where we are staying at is the closest city to the centre of the whole island.

• Western civilization simply destroyed the identity of the whole island as local people  were considered to be second class.

• In my opinion the whole island should be reunited over a transition period as one country, not forced.  Haiti has everything to gain if they are influenced by the Dominican.  Locals do not necessarily agree due to a different background, constitution, and apparently religion.  Haiti was influenced more by the French, DR more by the Spanish, both have indigenous.   Reuniting as one country of 22 million gives them more clout in the world.  Substitute Spanish for English, then you would have a country like Canada with its diversity, but not as big.

• There are  no screens on any windows in the hotel or restaurants and so insects must not be that big of an issue.  Geckos come in and go out, pigeons do come in with a big enough opening but they stay by the opening and are quite polite.

• According to Bruce, the Dominican has the highest death rate per motor vehicle accident in the world.  I am just relaying what I have been told from a reliable source.  Come to think of it, there is no control at intersections in the city.  Only one intersection actually has a traffic light.    We did see one pedestrian laying on the road as we drove past and he did not look to be in the best of shape, but at least he was wiggling his limbs!  I have no idea what happened to him but he had two others giving him attention.  All mini vans/ buses have an extra 'cattle guard' bumper in the front to protect from bender benders.  You should have seen the scars on our bumper, plus lots of scratches on each side of most vehicles.

• There are three trail/ mini motorbikes for every car.  There are no rules at each intersection.  The golden rule is keep moving forward and eventually you will break free from the bottleneck on either side of the road.  At one intersection, we were on the wrong side of the road and like a fullback in a football game trying to break free!

• I noticed in all of my builds that the streets dramatically deteriorate at the edge of the city until any construction is completely finished and stable with families in place and taxes paid to justify upgrade.

• Haitians speak Francais, Espanol, or Creole.  I tried to speak French crudely to a Haitian and he just ignored me. 

• If a Haitian man is caught to be in the Dominican illegally, he is taken back to his country.  If he is with a family the government will be more lenient.  The best option for s single Haitian man is hook up with a Dominican lady, get married, and/ or have a family ASAP in order to gain citizenship.

• We saw on our tour yesterday a golden statue in a park which was for the indigenous people as representation of the five kingdoms.

• Several people have commented that there are no souvenir shops here.  Once more...for a third time...there are no tourists who come here!

We had 28 people mulling around our build site in the PM, but only 8 or 9 working at any point in time.  This was partly due to the project stage where we could not proceed full force, but I blame management for failing to keep us productive.  We had to continue building up the floor base with sub soil so that it could be compacted, leveled, and readied for the cement pour.  They chose not to haul more soil in but rather scrape the hard ground in between piles of gravel, sand, and garbage to loosen up some small rock and clay.  This proved to be a challenge in the 90 degree heat with high humidity. 

After spending hours to complete, we learned in the next stage that we had placed too much sub soil in the house and so we then had to scrape the tampered floor and shovel dirt and stone out of the house!  They they had to dig up some of the base to install plumbing pipes.  Why was this not considered to begin with?  Something not right here with management.

Day 6

Such a noisy city most of the time.  Being so warm in the evening, windows are open which adds to the noise level.  People holler, horns honk, noisy scooters roam the streets, car radios blare with sub woofers shaking the walls, and then the religious zealots make use of their megaphone trying to make a difference.  There is about three hours where the city does sleep, and the silence is quite eerie.

A fully grown tan colored grasshopper blocks my way along the shiny tiled hallway floor of our hotel.  I carefully sidestep, not wanting to know what it will do next.  Through the glass vaned windows, I see the sun rising above the hazy gentle mountaintops to faithfully greet us, like every morning before.  I feel the cool breeze penetrating through the vanes to remind me that the morning is when the world here is at its best.

The friendly persistent street shoe shiner waves when I peer out as he waits outside to put a shine on my dusty boots.  I pretend to ignore him as it is too early for his sales antics and so I look the other way.  I see an abandoned lot full of decayed brick rubble, its harshness softened by the greenery of creeping vines.  I notice that every tree in this area has never been cared for ever and they struggle to reveal their true beauty since scarred by mankind's negligence.

I scamper up the steps of the hotel terrace, dining hall where I meet up with my Habitat buddies for another round of comradeship and a full scale hearty breakfast.  The fat pigeons are in their normal perch along the edge of the hall.  Everything is at it should be.  One buddy reveals that the US had another massive killing of the innocent.  It is safe to say that this will never happen in the Dominican as they are too busy doing other things to cause issues.

Today was going to be different.  We went to another build site, a prefabricated home that needed its cracks sealed, then a major paint job inside and out.  The morning was spent filling in the cracks so that we could go to it with the paint in the PM.  We met the lovely family at lunch time who are to move into the home.

The PM saw us really go to town with the painting.  Pictures show the progress made before and after which will continue on in the morning as we close out our week of volunteering at noon to take a few days off and head back to Santo Domingo and beyond.  It is in Santo Domingo on Saturday that I will need to track down daughter Michelle coming in on a flight all the way from Vancouver.

Day  7

Two Habitat organizers kept us in check to make sure we were properly taken care of during our stay.  One young lady, Natalie probably weighed less than a bag of cement (picture).  But there she was (our fearless leader) running out into the middle of the street on several occasions to stop the traffic so that we could walk across uncontrolled intersections. 

Other than some minor frustration experienced on Wednesday, I would seriously recommend a Habitat build in the Dominican to anyone.  They really did try their best to keep us productive but there were not expecting our level of energy and work ethic and so were challenged to keep us busy.

The street shoe shiner got me before I boarded the bus from the hotel.  He really needed the money and I had no change and so I gave him 100 pesos, or 4 times the going rate for his service.

Someone mentioned this was the year of the dog as per Chinese New Year happening just now.  Meanwhile Dana commented that the average dog in DR is definitely better off than those in  Nicaragua and you just have to look at the street dogs to make this determination.  In Nicaragua, they are starving to death, but they look fine here.  More on dogs later.

We finished painting the house in the morning, watched two windows get installed, said our goodbyes with some tears shed.  

It was a long four hour drive back to Santo Domingo.  After settling into the hotel with supper, we headed outside in the cool ocean breeze to have a nightcap at the pirate's tavern and experience a little of the night life.  There was the street dog that followed all 11 of us through the colonial city to the tavern, stopped when we did, took in the views when we did, kept with us through the crowds, waited for us for almost two hours at the outdoor tavern, and then escorted us back to the hotel.  i looked outside the hotel just now but he must have done his job and left.  Dogs do not take tips.

Michelle has landed in Punta Cana and has checked into her airbnb and I am looking forward to seeing her tomorrow.

Day 8

We started the day taking a more detailed tour of the historic part of Santo Domingo while waiting for Michelle to arrive by bus.  I had to take an imodium to settle down my system and so was not slowed down any.  There was a smattering of rain to make any stone wall, brick, or stucco from historic land sites glisten, becoming brighter with color which allowed for quality pictures to be taken.  We went down street markets that only locals venture to learn about the fruit and vegetable produce that is for sale.  Some weird looking stuff on display.

The rains came back to get us soaked farly good, but the rain was warm.  Michelle had checked into the hotel by then and so we met up when we went back to put on drier clothes.  Thank God for cell phone text messaging service to make our rendezvous so much easier!  

It was a good thing for Michelle that we caught up because we had the most awesome tour of caves and underground lakes in the city that proved again to be a camera paradise.  My cell phone really picked up the color in the water despite it being so dark in the cave.

Michelle became one of the group in short order as expected.  She proved to be a social butterfly compared to me.  After a late lunch, Michelle and I broke away from the others and strolled down the street mall to pick up a couple of items, one being a little purse handbag as a gift. It was good to get her opinion in the process.

We had a farewell supper with Natalie from Habitat Dominican that evening whose picture I had sent yesterday.  We had a most delightful Dominican meal going to a local 'real restaurant' that was paid for by Habitat.  Rice and egg in a big tortilla shell with seasoned chicken, mushrooms, and beans.  We saw live Spanish dancing and it proved to be a nice evening of celebration and thankfulness. Then came a nightcap at a tavern for Devon who was heading home in the morning so he can go to work on Monday and help pay for the pension of those already retired.  We are off to Las Terrenas at noon tomorrow to spend two and a half days on the beach.

I understand there have been more mass killings in the US, more snow in Alberta.  We are not giving much attention to this type of news lately.  Hot here when the sun is out.

Day 9

Devon got up at 5 AM to catch his ride to the airport and when he was checking in, he realized he also had his roommate's passport!  He had to hire a taxi and race back to the hotel, wake up his roommate Ralph, and hastily head off again.  This would have wound Devon up a bit!  Fortunately he made it to his flight okay to start his 12 hour journey home.

 I took Michelle to see some historical ruins in the morning in Santo Domingo since she missed the official tour earlier.  

The bus ride to Las Terrenas was on a super highway with tolls.  You never would have thought we were in a third world country for most of the way.  The scenery reminded me a bit of Kauai as it was mountainous and lush green with vegetation, beautiful red flowers on big trees, and perhaps too much rain forest for civilization.  Las Terrenas is a well developed resort area focused to cater to tourists and beach activity.  

We are staying in a secure private four bedroom residence with five other group members within a few minutes of the beach.  It had rained a lot here and there are puddles all over the road.  The main roads are quite noisy and congested and it took everything when walking along to avoid getting hit by a vehicle, getting splashed, twisting an ankle on the rough sidewalks or ramming into an obstacle enroute.  Food is reasonably priced and good quality, with good ratings as per internet.  The place is not too Americanized.

 We really are in vacation mode right now with not as much to report as to local Habitat. 

 I was wanting to tell you an interesting story about my Habitat sisters Brenda and Dana, but they have been behaving themselves for the most part along with the others!  So maybe I need to make my own story.   Michelle talked me into doing yoga this Monday morning for the first time.  I thought it best to go with her for a true father/ daughter outing.  Little did I know that it was not exactly a beginner's course!  I ached often when stretching and so had to back off.  The instructor squirted some chemical on me at one point and I fell asleep when it was time for relaxing over an hour and fifteen into our session.

Day 10

We have all concluded that regardless of any comments by trip advisers the Dominican is by far the safest Latin America country to visit as to security.  There is nothing happening here, everyone is laid back and just lives.  Nobody knows how to handle the tourists as well as they do as it is their destiny to take care of us for money.  They know how to negotiate; we do not.  There is less poverty overall and they are not as desperate as Central America, less high pressure street and beach sales people.

Someone mentioned that the Las Terrenas area has not been hit by a hurricane since 1852!  It looks like it, as this area is such a garden paradise.  This may just be good luck?!  I think the mountain range probably has something to do with it, especially when a hurricane passes along the south coast.  The Dominican seems to be perfectly aligned with Puerto Rico and Cuba.  So last year's hurricane complete wiped out Puerto Rico, veered off and missed the Dominican, then came back along the north shore line of Cuba!

This morning we got our 'swim' in the ocean despite what seemed like stormy sea.  I am sure there are always trade winds here but not quite this strong.  The ocean was warm.  The palm trees do a good job of blocking the wind and so you just keep walking along the beach until you get 'around the corner'.  

It is hard to believe it is only February; meanwhile, Canada is experiencing winter.

I am so thankful and fortunate to have been with Michelle for the past three days so that I could get caught up with her life and for her to meet my Habitat buddies.  She opted to stay in Las Terrenas one more night and go with Bruce and Jim by coach and ferry back to Punto Cana.  I am also thankful for Bruce who managed to find a few sea shells that I promised a four year old back in Calgary that I would get, since  I searched hard  myself but did not come up with much.  Meanwhile, seven of us are heading back to Santo Domingo to start our journey home, flying out early tomorrow morning.  

Some parting comments before I sign off:

• Our maid, who also cooked two delicious local meals for us had a pink t-shirt on that said 'best sister ever'.  I commented to her about it, Dana relayed in Spanish, and she did not know what the t-shirt said.  It is a good thing that the t-shirt was not offensive to the reader.

• Setting aside any bacterial issues, the meals here in Las Terrenas restaurants are very good!

• If you have bacterial issues, an alternative to imodium is a good stiff shot of local rum!

• If you are on the beach and you see a rain cloud coming your way, it is too late to seek shelter!

• Michelle gave me a strong hint to clean up the beach sand in the bedroom after I came back.  Good for her to discipline her father!

Thanks for being with me over the past week and a half and for your positive notes and encouragement.  Until next time, take care all.