Around Town

There are places along the street where these guys are selling BBQ chicken.  They have a grill filled with chicken that they sell for $6 or $7 each. 

 Come to find out, there is one guy who cooks the chicken back in this woods and all of the street vendors buy it from him.  The vendors keep it warm and maybe add some of their own spices. 

There are restaurants catering to almost any country you can think of...



USA

English

Irish

Caribbean

Surprisingly, there are a lot of German restaurants here.  In fact the first time we went out I had wienerschnitzel.   Here is an example of one of their menues.

The selection of good restaurants is seemingly endless. 
And you can always get fresh fish.

Tonight we are going to a place called Kings.  It supposedly has the best hamburgers in the area.

Our Condo

Being in a third world country you can't expect everything to be perfect.  Little things that we take as normal can be something that nobody really cares about down here.  For example, drawers and cabinets that close all the way.  Here, it just doesn't matter.
Having said that, however, our condo is not too bad (the drawers don't close all the way though).  It is very spacious, overlooks the pool and the ocean, and they come and clean about every third day.  We have two leather couches and a nice chair.  Our dining room table doubles as our computer desk.  There are no outlets in the wall to speak of but fortunately they did put one in the post.

(If you notice all of the windows overlooking the pool in the living room and master bedroom....only one of them has a screen!  Fortunately, we leave them all open during the day and no bugs come in and, at night we open the one with the screen and one in bedroom.  The one in the bedroom we put a lighted citronella candle in front of it and….no problem.)

Our kitchen has everything we need.  In fact it has even more.  Today they came and got our waffle maker to give to someone else since they noticed we kept it under the sink and were not using it.

It is hard to see in this picture but the ceiling light has maybe one twenty watt bulb so we brought a lamp from the bedroom for more light.  That blue thing is our water dispenser (we had to buy one, it didn't come with the condo) because we can not drink the water here.  Also, the refrigerator and freezer are very small and the freezer is not self defrosting so we are defrosting it about every other week or so.  The bar stools look really nice but they do not go up and down.  (Another one of those things that really doesn't matter here.)
We have two bedrooms.  The master overlooks the pool and is really a good size.

The second bedroom is also very spacious.

You will note that both bedrooms have televisions but none in the living room.  We have only been able to figure out the one in the second bedroom so that is the one we watch.  We do get quite a few English speaking channels and some movie channels.  We don't get FOX News though so we don't really know what is going on in the world.
We also have two bathrooms.  The master has quite a shower.

It looks pretty impressive but again, one of those things that really doesn't matter, the only thing that works is the hand held unit and it won't stay put unless you wedge it behind the holder.

The other bathroom is nice but we really don't use it  There is only a bathtub and no shower.  You could not fill the tub with hot water since our hot water heater is only about six gallons.

We have a large closet by the front door where we have stacked our suitcases.  The closet in the second bedroom has the hot water heater and our water purifier.

There is a walk in closet in the master bedroom.

Much more than we need.  Overall, life is good.
I'm going out to the pool and work on some Sudoku!!

SOSUA Beach

We spent today at Sosua Beach.  It is a beach that is in town just down the street from the grocery store (Playero).  It is a beautiful beach with calm blue water.

 

 

The beach actually is comprised of two parts--the beach and the "Boardwalk".  This boardwalk is amazing and it would take multiple blogs to show everything that is there.  There are probably a hundred "restaurants" serving everything from lobster to hot dogs.

There are people going up and own the pathway all day long.  They will stop at a table under a tree and have a beer or a sandwich.  If you bought a beer they would bring it in a special container that would keep it cold.

Looked a lot like a portion of a hollow bamboo tree to me.

You can get a tee shirt, beach towel, hat, cigar, dress, fruit, homemade candy,...just about anything you might need at the beach. 

 

 And, because the vendors all seemed to like me and would always offer a special price just for me, I got some good deals.  I got a tee shirt for $6 that they were asking everybody else $12.

 

They worked on this guy for a long time.  He had to feel really good when they were done.

There was a lot of local art work as well.

 

 

There was fruit of all kinds.

 

 

All of the locals that are at the beach are either playing in the water, trying to sell you something, or just trolling the beach.

 

They charge 25 pesos to use the bathroom.

So some of the restaurants use free bathrooms to draw in customers.

We have been to the beach several times now and we always see something new every time we go.

We Walk

Just about everywhere we go, we walk.  We walk to the grocery store just about every day.  We walk to restaurants whenever we eat out.  We walk to the beach.

I thought I would try to take you on a walk with us.

Most of the streets are paved and are in very good condition.

Most of the streets, at least where we walk, are lined with shops and restaurants.  One of the first things you notice is that there are no fast food restaurants like McDonalds or Burger King.  There are also no chain restaurants here like Olive Garden or Outback.  Everything here is local and there is a lot of competition.

Everybody is trying to make a buck.

The streets almost always seem to be busy.   There are lots of cars but far more motorcycles.

There is a lot of beauty to see also.

No matter the time of day or night, we never feel intimidated when we are walking.  And when we get home all of the complexes here are gated and very secure ( I think it is a little much but it looks good).

Ball Game

Last night we went to a baseball game.  Actually, it turned out to be a very entertaining fast pitch softball game.  It was free so we thought we had nothing to lose.  We got there a little early and they were lining the baselines with chalk.  To conserve chalk they only put down dots of chalk every five or six feet.

 

We noticed that the home plate was not fastened down and the bases were a little worn/



There were two local teams playing against each other.  The bleachers were concrete and did not hold a lot of people but the people were very enthusiastic. 

 

 

They only had one umpire but he was a good one. We talked to him before the game and found out his name was "Rumble".  I also noticed that the teams shared gloves.  When the shortstop for one team left the field he left his glove on the ground so the other shortstop could use it. 

 

There was to be a double header but the two teams were not evenly matched.  The one team had all big guys while the other team's players were smaller and not as talented. The first game ended after three innings when the bigger team got ahead 15 to 1. 

 

The second game was also mismatched.  In fact, during the second inning, the pitcher just threw down his glove and walked off.

 

There was a food truck out on the street serving what looked like ham and cheese sandwiches but we didn't eat anything.  You could bring your food and beer if you wanted.

 

Here are two short YouTube links to the ballgames.



 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y9n4l31lWk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGMuga7aMAk

 

 

It was a very short but entertaining evening.



Cabarete

Yesterday we went to a little beach town called Cabarete.  We took the "public taxi" which is a minivan that is always white.  You stand by the side of the highway and they see you there, they blink their lights, you wave, and they stop and pick you up.  It cost us twenty five cents per person each way.  At one time I counted sixteen people in the van.  The guy in front of me, who also spoke English, said he had counted twenty three people once before.
Cabarete has a beautiful beach with extremely soft but firm sand that is easy to walk on.

It is famous for the kite boarding and wind surfing there.  We saw a couple dozen people out but even though I did not take the following picture it gives you an idea of how busy it can get.

I think it must take a lot strength to maneuver one of these things.

There are a number of places along the beach and in town where you can rent the equipment and get lessons.

Along the beach there are many, many restaurants of all kinds with tables set up on the sand.

 

The restaurants have all kinds of food and entertainment.

There are always vendors on the beach selling everything from jewelry and fruit to cigars and a place to sit on one of their chairs.



The town has only one street about four or five blocks long full of  all kinds of shops, hotels and condos.

There is a very large, modern, and clean super market.  And even though I didn't see one, I am sure it has a gas station too.  It is really a nice beach town with everything you need and a fantastic beach.  It was a really enjoyable day....we will be going back!!