Plans... check / Clearing... check

Finally, I have managed to start clearing up the property! So I arrived with my shovel, brush, gloves and bags... my first thought: I am going to need more bags. Its hard to explain how much trash and debris there is lying around the place - the pictures do not do it justice. 

Trash everywhere

As I have mentioned before when I bought the house there was a local Dominican running a bottle collection downstairs, basically he sells the bottles back to the brewery that people bring him - he pays people something like 1 peso for every 3 bottles they bring him. He had about 7 dogs living in the garden which attracted rats - the dogs food was just thrown in the back garden which is when all the rats would come out and feast, nice! He has been there about 10 years but when I purchased obviously he had to move the business - he actually moved right across the road, which was actually good news as he now looks after the house for me.

Over 50 sacks of bottles

It became apparent that all the bottles that were broken or the brewery would not take were just thrown in the back garden. The same back garden that I am now attempting to clear. As I have plenty of time on my hands and like to get my hands dirty I decided that I wanted to clear the place - now I know I could pay someone 300 - 400 pesos a day to clear it but wheres the fun in that? Where to start? seriously it was a mess everywhere, the actually concrete floor was buried under 2 foot of bottles and trash in places. So I started inside in the back rooms, disgusting was not the word - luckily I am not squeamish. 

I can see the floor!

Luckily I have not seen one rat all week, I am hoping they have moved as there is no food for them to eat now - wishful thinking I guess. One thing that I have come across a lot of is cockroaches! My god there have been thousands, one actually ran up my jeans... I hope the neighbors were not watching as I have never got my jeans off that fast.

Almost there...

So after that experience I pushed on and made good progress on the first day. I should be talking Spanish in no time as my caretaker and his brother keep coming in to check on the progress. I have been asked by about 10 people if they can help me but its something that I want to do - the locals do not seem to get it, they just laugh at me and say I am a crazy gringo! My caretakers brother does keep me supplied in material sacks at 5 pesos a piece, he makes a little on it and I share a beer with him at lunchtime as a thanks - my caretaker joins us and I practice my Spanish - hopefully I will improve a lot as they know I am not very good but they just keep on at full speed, its actually quite fun.

Uncovered an outside toilet

The first two days were backbreaking, no need for the gym whilst doing this. By Wednesday I had filled over 50 sacks of trash piled up near the front doors along with a lot of old wood. I had an offer by someone to collect all the scrap metal in the place for free, he would make a few pesos in scrap and I get rid of some trash for free. There wasn’t much and most of it was rusted but he took it all.

I did accept some help from my caretakers brother on the Wednesday in return for a beer and some fruit off one of my trees as I was shattered. I did not realize how many fruit trees I had in the garden. I have a Jagua tree which has a ton of fruit on it. I have never even heard of it before, but apparently you can put it in drinks, maybe I will try it one day. We also have an orange tree, a guava tree, a few plantain trees and apparently an Avacado tree but I did not see any Avacados. I will be keeping all but the plantain trees as they are in the way.

Had to stop my caretaker from burning the trash when I popped out for 5 minutes

My caretaker lent me his wheel barrow as I had so much dirt and rocks it wasn't feasible to bag it all up. So we wheeled it down to the front doors - I am trying to get everything to the front of the house and will get a truck to come and collect it all. 

The cleared back garden - ready for work

I received all of the plans for the house - I have to say I was shocked with the amount that they gave me - but it cant be bad I would rather be well prepared. So we went to Patrimonio and handed in all the plans. It feels so good to finally apply for the permits, I know it will be a long process but at least its started. I have heard so many bad things about Patrimonio taking ages to agree on plans but I suppose I will just have to wait and see. 

The front two rooms full of trash waiting to be picked up

The encouraging thing is that they have already seen the house and we are just restoring it to its original state so it should not be to hard a decision. We will hear back in two weeks if everything is ok with the plans so fingers crossed. We have three departments to go through - first Patrimonio (Unesco) have to sign off, then Ayuntamiento and finally Obras Publicas. But at least we have started the process...

The completed plans

Bahia de las Aguilas

Bahia de las Aguilas

I have been waiting to go to Bahia de las Aguilas for long time but finally we decided to make time and arrange a trip over a weekend. Its been a busy week with the house and we decided to take a break. 

Bahia de Las Aguilas is in the South West of the Dominican Republic and is know for its virgin beaches and crystal clear waters, its right next to the border with Haiti.

The night before we went we had tickets to go and watch the Cirque De Soleil that was showing in the city. We were running late and as with any concert and event in the city the traffic was crazy. The parking in DR is also and experience, we could have done the normal thing and parked where there was spaces far away from the entrance or you can pay one of the many guys hanging around to find you a space right at the front. After a very stressful parking experience which saw us squeeze through a gap that I swear was smaller than the car we made it into the Cirque De Soleil. These guys are incredible the amount of strength and control they have is amazing - it actually made me feel a little queazy watching them do some of the high acts.

So we had a 5am start the next morning as it is a bit of a mission to get to Bahia de las Aguilas. It is only around 300km but I have heard it takes around 5 hours to get there due to the road. We set off heading west through Bani, Azua, and Barahona. The road was fine until we got to Barahona but after that it started to get bad. 

Me and Katherine

It was so interesting driving through the barrios along the way, the road hugs the coast so there were some amazing views, its hard to believe that this part of the island is so untouched - I am sure it wont be long before the big hotels start setting up shop. This would be perfect for a beach house and I am guessing the prices are really cheap although getting here is the problem - it a bit of a drive. As we passed though the barrios I noticed that there was no gas stations, just people with plastic containers on the side of the road... I was glad we filled up in Barahona! We saw locals betting on cockfighting, kids playing in the streets and shacks with a cows head hanging up outside, I am guessing to let people know they have fresh beef for sale. It was great to see yet another side of this island, seriously there is so much to see and do here and everything is so different.

Cock Fighting

Once you get into the national park you are on your own, we must have seen one car in about and hour. Finally be made it to Cabo Rojo, this is where you stop off the get a boat to the bay. Now there is a road to get there however it is really bad and we have heard you need a serious 4x4 to make it - people say that the owners of the boats try and make it impassable to ensure people us their boats. To be fair I wasn't going to risk it as we were in the middle of nowhere - definitely not worth the risk of getting stuck.

Amazing fresh fish

So we stopped at a restaurant and asked if it was ok to put our tent up and stay there overnight - they were fine with it as we were buying dinner from them. The boat was 1500 pesos which is a little steep as its not actually that far but to be fair we have driven all this way - we didn't really have a choice and it was a nice boat ride. Now Bahia de las Aguilas is known for its crystal clear water - unfortunately when hurricane Sandy passed through it made a mess, all the waters were still churned up in the bay, it was a bit of a shame but at the end of the day it was an amazing beach. We spent the day next to the rocks on the beach drinking rum - cant really think of a better way to have spent the day to be honest.

We got picked up around 4 in the afternoon and got taken back to the restaurant for our dinner and to set up the tent. 

Now as we were camping I thought it would be nice to have a camp fire. So as soon as the tent was up  the fire was lit. It was a really good night and the four of us had an awesome time but it soon became apparent that it was not going to be a good nights sleep, at first I thought it would be due to our new neighbors blaring out Dominican tunes until 3am but no... Mosquitos! I have never, repeat NEVER seen so many - I am not sure if it was the time of year but it was crazy I had been bitten about 20 times and our tent was full of them. 

Drinking rum in the sea

At around 2am I gave up and went to sleep in the car (which apparently was also was buzzing with mosquitos). It was not a good nights sleep but I didn't end up getting the worst of it, Katherine's sister was covered in bites - arms, legs, face! I counted 22 on just one of her arms! I was the first to say lets get the hell out of here in the morning, there were no showers and I was itching like crazy as the mosquitos were still out in force. It was a mad dash to get the tent down and packed up.

Camp fire

On the way back we stopped at Los Patos (The Ducks) which is a little town on a coast. We stopped for lunch at an awesome little place that is next to the river on the beach. People were swimming but it was freezing, like ice cold, so I thought Id give it a miss. You get to pick you fish at the little shacks and they will fry it up for you, its pretty cheap with a fish costing you around 250 DOP. It was interesting to people watch as there was so many people passing through, the highlight for me being when all the bikers turned up so I dragged Katherine out to the parking lot to go and pick out my future bike hehe.

I was jealous when the bikers turned up!

So in total it took us 11 hours and 45 minutes to drive a total of 614km for the round trip. Shattered is not the word to describe it although it was an amazing weekend. If I was to do it again I would probably do it over two nights and there is not a chance you would get me in a tent again with all those mosquitos there. 

What a coast!

Trip to Santiago

My first baseball experience

I was supposed to get in the house this week to start clearing up but unfortunately the guy looking after our house has been a bit slow in rehoming the 5 dogs that we inherited when we bought the house. I went around on Friday and they were gone... it was sad though as he said he could only find a home for 2 of them so he had the others put down. I felt really bad as I didn't want them killed but he had been trying to find homes for them for 2 months and no luck so he made the decision. 

So on Monday I will be in there with my shovel, brush and crow bar clearing the place out. It hasn't actually felt like my house yet as I haven’t spent much time in there - I am sure after a week of clearing it will feel like home. We also get the plans in a couple of days so we can finally apply for these permits! I cannot wait to get the ball rolling.

Me and Fabio

I decided to go up to Santiago for the weekend to see my friend Fabio that I met in the states back in 2009. I have decided that I haven't seen enough of this amazing country so I am going to try and go somewhere new every month. Santiago doesn't really fall in this category as I have been there before but Fabio was telling me about this waterfall we could go to so that counted as somewhere new. I also decided to try and do the trip on a budget. As I was going alone this would mean having to leave the car at home and get a bus - it made sense as its about $2500 DOP in gas for the round trip in the jeep compared to $560 DOP on the bus. So about 2 and a half hours later I was in Santiago. When I got there we decided to go and see a Baseball game. Santiago ‘Aguilas’ were playing Estrella and I have never been to a proper baseball game before so thought it would be good to try and get interested in the national sport of the Dominican Republic.

A very wobbly bridge

What made it even better was that we didnt even have to pay to get in! Fabio is a student and apparently it was free for students that night. I have to say I really enjoyed it - ok it goes on for ages but I can see why people like it - I think its just an excuse for Dominican's to dance drink and be crazy as it was a party atmosphere inside the stadium. We had to leave by the 7th inning (3 hours later!) as we were heading out. Now one of my favourite things about life here is liquor stores! Sad i know but it makes for a cheap night - I tell people back in the UK that we are going to drink at a liquor store and they think we crazy. The fact is though you can have a good night on about $7 USD each and in Santiago the liquor stores are really nice and have nice outdoor seating areas.

So I woke up in the morning with the kind of hangover that only a bottle of rum can give you. We were supposed to go to the waterfall at 8am to miss the crowds but we didnt get going until 11ish. The waterfall was good - does not quite compare to the ’27 Waterfalls’ on the way up to Puerto Plata but it was nice and refreshing. It was about a 30 minute trek to get there - we went to the second waterfall - which was pretty cool. The water was freezing which was awesome as you work up quite a sweat getting there. We did try and go up river a bit further as we heard there were four more waterfalls up the river but we were on the way when Fabios friend who was in front started running back - their was a hornets nest on the path and he got stung twice. Preferring not be stung we thought it would be best just to hang around at the second waterfall.

Messing around

So it was a really good weekend and it makes me want to explore this country even more. I was online the other day and read a blog belonging to an expat living on the north coast here and he documented the trips he has done around the island on his motorbike. I don't know why I didnt think about that before to be honest - I did a 6 week trip through Vietnam on a motorbike a couple of years ago and loved it. So I have started to look for a cheap bike, wont be anything to big although will try and get a 250cc enduro bike so I can go on the rough roads on my trips. It will also save us having to get another car when Katherine starts work, not to mention it will be cheap on gas. 

Katherine has decided to open a beauty salon specializing in hair extensions so she has been busy planning everything and we have found a good location for it so its looking like by 1st December she will be ready to open which is awesome. So this week on top of clearing the house I have to start designing the logos and advertising along with making her a website - its nice to be busy again! So although things are moving slower than expected with the property it will be good to get one business going before Christmas.

What a view

Cabarete Long Weekend

Well its been a little while since my last post this is where we are... 

Puerto Plata Cable Car

There has been a few developments with the house. The quote came back from the architects that we were going to use to draw up the plans for the house so we can submit them to Patrimonial and apply for our permits to start work. Unfortunately the quote was out of our reach so a couple of Katherine's friends who are architects are drawing up all the plans for us. We will have them by 19th November which is awesome and they gave us a pretty good price. On the 11th November the dogs that we inherited with the house will be gone so I can finally get in there and start clearing the trash and junk. We got our first quote back for the restoration and I almost had a heart attack - it was more than we paid for the house! I know it needs a lot of work but that just isn't going to happen. I am not to worried though, we will be able to get the quote down I am sure of it and I plan on doing some of the work myself - so not hitting the panic button just yet.

Relaxing at the pool

We decided to go away for the long weekend up to Cabarete - I decided I was to white after living in the Caribbean for the last year so I needed to get my tan sorted. So me Katherine, Fabio and a few others headed up to the North Coast. We left at 6am to try and beat the traffic - its about a 3 and half our journey - its a good road until you get past Santiago - thats when the pot holes start. Now for some reason whenever I try and avoid a hole in the road I end up hitting it, I am like a magnet for them - seriously, my poor Jeep I thought the wheels were going to fall off.

Every time I have been to Cabarete previously it has rained, but it was looking good and we cracked the rum open at 10am - I love the DR! We were staying at the Hotel Kaoba which I would recommend if anyone wants a cheap place to stay, its right on the strip - nothing fancy but cheap; just make sure you call to make a reservation, if you book online its almost twice as expensive. After the rum we hit the happy hours along the beach where I had a bit of a shock - there is an Irish bar there and I was craving a Guinness - it used to be all I drank so we asked the waitress how much one was... $20 USD! Now I know its imported etc but that is crazy - I even sent Katherine to go and ask again incase she got the price wrong, nope.

We went back to get ready - then it happened the heavens opened... I have never seen so much rain - I almost thought that Hurricane Sandy had turned around and come back. The rain put a bit of a downer on the night but a good time was had. We decided not to stay another night in the rain and went to Puerto Plata where there is a cable car that goes up to the top of a mountain. Katherine was a getting scared on the way up (as you can see in the pictures. We went up there and it was surreal as we went up through the fog. Luckily it cleared on the way down so we could see the awesome view. We made a quick stop in Santiago for lunch on the way down to end an enjoyable weekend.

Hopefully by the next post I will have the completed plans in my hand...

A scared Katherine

Reminds me of Brazil

Santiago

El Monumento - Santiago