Friday, November 3

Buying stuff for the apartment or should I call it room ... whatever

I rented this place primarily because of it's location. The location is absolutely perfect. I am located on the main street in Sosua ... calle Pedro Clisante. Two of my best friends, Tom and Klaus, live right here in the same little complex. Two of my other good friends, Ed and Billy live across the street in a very nice, very expensive complex called Club Residencia. They have a gorgeous pool which I can use in the afternoon. Tom's little outdoor restaurant is right across the street and a portion of each day is spent there since it is a meeting place and I make lots of friends there. Food is good, coffee is great in the morning and the beer is cold. Right down the street is my favorite Dominican eating place called Susanna's. Susanna treats me special since I have been eating there for quite a long time. All the nightlife is also just down the road. The beach is perhaps a 10-minute walk so the location here couldn't be better.

So that is the good news. More good news is that the price is right ... very right for downtown Sosua. The on/off electricity situation , which is a way of life in the Dominican Republic, is not a problem here as there is a 24-hour always functioning generator. There is always plenty of water pressure and we have hot water. Though taken for granted in the states, these things are not a guarantee when you live in a 3rd world country. So to have this set up is something that people do not have in many much more upscale places. Cable TV and utilities are included.

Now for the not-so-good or maybe I should call it the getting better part. This little apartment/room is/was very spartan and at first I was quite depressed about it. Pictures of the apartment coming soon, but not until I get it a little more customized. Enough for today is just to tell you that it is quite small, but it does have potential and I am working on it. I think I will be very pleased with it once it is all customized.

Today Ed, Billy and I loaded into Billy's car and drove to Puerto Plata (about 20 miles west of here). Billy wanted to look at a villa in Costambar (an expatriate conclave outside Puerto Plata). The picture above is of Mount Isabela, the mountain top that towers over Puerto Plata. The sugar can fields fill the plain that leads to the foot of the mountain.

This is a picture of the street leading to downtown Puerto Plata.

This is one of the narrow, congested streets in downtown Puerto Plata.

We stopped first at a department store called Casa Nelson (pictured above). I purchased two pillows, two table clothes for the tables that are going to serve as my computer desk, a four-drawer vertical set up because there is no chest of drawers in this apartment, a shower curtain, three really nice towels for the bathroom, a beach towel and a lamp for the end table next to my bed. There is more that I need to buy, but I am getting there.

We next made our way to Costambar to look at Bill's potential villa. I didn't like Costambar much.

Finally we found a really nice little outdoor restaurant on the malecon (area alongside the ocean) in Puerto Plata. We all ordered burritos and they were awesome. This is Bill on the left and Ed on the right.

I walked across the boulevard and took this picture of the ocean.

This is a picture of the walkway along the malecon. We arrived back in Sosua about 7 pm and all and all it was a great day.