Ayuntamiento...

Well it has now been 2 months since we got the approval of the plans from Patrimonio (UNESCO) and we are still waiting on Ayuntamiento. Everyone told me it would take along time to get plans approved but said it would be Patrimonio that would take the time.

Ayuntamiento is government run which is is where the problem lies... no sense of urgency and apparently no one in charge! We went into the office in the Colonial Zone to ask about the process and they told us just to bring all the plans in with a covering letter and we will get the approval in 5 days... I thought it was to good to be true!

Front view

So after 5 days we went in to check (1st visit) and they said come back tomorrow (second visit) but no apparently it might take a couple days more to sign off - so they asked us to call. A week later and no answer on the phone we went back in (third visit) - but apparently there is a fee we have to pay but they dont accept payment in the office we went to we had to go to the main office. No problems... so we went to the main office  (fourth visit) but nope, they needed a covering letter, title etc for the property - we tried to explain we had handed all this in already at the Colonial Zone office but that wasnt good enough. So we went back in (5th visit) with everything they asked for - yet again they said we were missing something... now we are starting to get a little annoyed at getting the run around so we ask them to double check everything to make sure there is nothing missing that they need.... no just one more document. 

Rear view

So I was all excited about getting it all handed in but yet again they found something else that we needed. It would get pretty boring if I kept on going on so to cut a long story short it has taken us 15 visits to finally apply for the permit... they really have not got a clue what they are doing - there is no one in charge - the women was so rude we asked for her name and point blank refused! At one point I though her and Katherine were going to go at it!

So it has now been two frustrating months of being given the run around but the light is at the end of the tunnel - I am hoping we should have the go ahead by the end of January so we can finally start work. 

Still having quotes for the work and still haven’t found anyone to put a new roof on... but hopefully by the time we get the permits that should all be sorted. The photos are more or less what the house will look like completed!

Christmas with friends and family

I have just read back through the blog and it seems more like a travel blog of the Dominican Republic than a blog about restoring a colonial house in Santo Domingo but I did a few fun trips over Christmas.

It was a year ago I got married so my mum and a couple of friends from the states that came to the wedding came over. We decided to stay in Juan Dolio for a couple of weeks  so we could be on the beach. Hemingway beach in Juan Dolio is one of my favorite in the country. Its not as busy and seedy as Boca Chica - an awesome place to relax. We cooked a traditional Christmas dinner in the apartment and spent the day soaking up the sun on the beach... I am starting to get used to Christmas in the Dominican Republic! Now everyone wanted to see a bit more of the Dominican Republic so we did a couple trips:

The view from our apartment

27 Waterfalls - 27 Charcos

Now I have been to the waterfalls before and had an awesome time, so this was first on the list. As the name says there are 27 waterfalls which you can slide, jump and swim down. If you dont want to do all 27 you can just do the first 6 or 12. But I recommend doing them all - its takes about 2 hours and 30 minutes.

You pick up your guides and head off - it takes about 40 minutes to get to the top. The guides are less then enthusiastic when you tell them you want to do all 27, I guess they dont want to do all the walking!

The water was pretty cold as it was December and there had been a lot of rain. This made the falls alot rougher than the last time I visited but even more fun. The highest jump was probably around 6 to 8 meters high so its not exactly an extreme activity but its a lot of fun - definitely a must do if you visit the Dominican Republic.

The walk up to the falls

After the falls we headed up to Sosua, now it isnt my favorite place at all but they is an awesome local restaurant overlooking the bay which is a great place for lunch. Its quite a long day trip as the falls are about 2 1/2 hours from Santo Domingo and Sosua another 1 1/2 hours from there. What made our day even longer was that on the way back my transmission on the Jeep decided to break. Luckily it was stuck in 2nd gear so we could still drive - the bad side of it was it turned a 3 1/2 hour return journey into a 6 hour journey. But even with that it was an excellent day out.

27 waterfalls - 27 Charcos

Isla Saona

Being as we were in Juan Dolio we are only 45 minutes from La Romana so we planned a trip to Isla Saona - a national park Island south of La Romana. Now being Christmas meant it was busy... we wanted to go on the Catamaran but there was only one available for the return trip so we took a speed boat to Isla Saona stopping along the way in Starfish bay - a natural pool about 4 foot deep cover in starfish. 

On the way to Isla Saona

We then headed to Saona and spent the day relaxing in the sun on the beach, my friend Bryce even brought a Hammock. The Catamaran on the way back was good apart from it starting to rain - but even that didn't dampen the experience.

Isla Saona

So that was the end of my Christmas break... family and friends dropped at the airport - now back to the house!