Pictures of the inside of the New Gym

This is the inside of the new Gym opening up next month in Sosua! This is only the first level and there is a second level that they are working on now! This is what a gym looks like when all the parts are being assembled! I remember how much work it was putting together the pieces I had in my home gym! I had a stairmaster and a recumbant bike that was professional equipment and had great graphics! They will also have 3 stores in front where you can but clothes-weight belts-sneakers etc-a health food store selling stuff to help you bulk up I guess and another store which I forgot what it was! This place is going to be AIR CONDITIONED and have a sauna which is going to be nice! They are also going to have TV's and different other things to keep your attention! I know it look a mess and it surely is right now but they swear that they will be open for business on the 1st of September! I hope so because now that I have the time I am going to join and get my fat ass back into shape and become the leaner fitter fighting machine I was before! The Name of the gym is D'Lois Gym and this is one of the managers who was very friendly and helpful and answered all the questions I had to ask! I will probably be one of the founding members of this place! Man I have been threatening to join a gym after closing the restaurant and now I am going to do it!

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Hasta Pronto!

Great way to get Started in the Morning!

Well when I got out of my bedroom after a shower this morning and on my way to start my day I came out into my living room to see my favorite 10 year old little girl on my sofa! This is Disnalda who I have had the pleasure of knowing for many years! I put her in a English/Spanish Private School "Garden Kids" for 3 years! She now speaks a bit of English and is still the sweetest little girl in all of the Dominican Republic! What a super treat to start off my day seeing her! An absolute pleasure always!! The first picture she was trapped! I came back in the house after leaving camera in hand and grabbed off the first shot while she was trying not to get her picture taken:) This second shot she knew it wasn't worth the fight and this is one bright little girl! She picks the battles she is going to win:)

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Hasta Pronto!

Pictures from my Finca Today!

Ok guys here you have a Cherry tree! Been picking them and making fresh squeezed juice lately from my two cherry trees! There isn't many ready now because they have already been picked! These different plants are growing out of a Rotted stump and looks lovely! I took a woman up to the Finca today to show it off and man was she impressed! When I take someone up there you don't even get to see 1/3 of what I have planted because you have to walk through a jungle to see everything that is there! Today I walked through another property I have in town and found many fruit and flowering trees! Someone must have planted all this stuff there at some point! This was the first time I walked the entire property line of this property and it is only a little more than 1/4 acre! I walked it with a Machete chopping away little sapplings as I went and cleared a bit! I was truly exhausted after about an hour on the property! I don't know how these Haitian workers do this all day long and live to tell about it! This next picture is of a GUESS WHAT? Of course it is a pineapple silly! Thats how they grow! That sucker will make a half pitcher of freshly squeezed juice in the next few weeks! Can't wait to eat some of it! Last one from this plant I brought in to the restaurant and served it to a few of my friends that were there for dinner one night! Herbert-Edd-Dawn to name just a few enjoyed it and it was sweet as you can possibly imagine! Great stuff fresh from the garden! Of course the last picture is my extended family:) Goats and now sheep are mowing my lawn which takes up the center of the finca! To the right are two more goats that you don't see! One of the ones you don't see is pregnant! I love babies whether kids-goats or sheep! Can't wait to see these bad boys when they come out of the oven! If she has females I am going to keep them! If she has males I am going to sell them! Just so you know-Goats are more fun than the sheep are! These sheep are so scared of people they would almost rather eat one of their legs off than to be touched! My goats while they don't encourage you to pet them they don't shy away from you if you do! I think next time around I will try some cows just to see how they are!

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When I lived in the states I raised a pig and that was a fun experience for sure! My pet pig was a real friendly gal! Problem was that she was so big and liked hanging out with people! I also raised and trained German Shepherds at the time but when I was showing people my attack trained dogs in their kennels the pig would run over to hang out! Problem was the people tried to climb into the kennels with the Shepherds rather than have to face a 450 pound pig running at them even though I was trying to tell them the pig is friendly:)

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Well that's about all for now folks! I have more to post but not in this bit!

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Hasta Pronto!

New Homes ProjectI am involved with in Cabrera Dominican Republic!

This picture is looking at the back of a big 5100 Sq Ft home I am involved with in Cabrera! This home has 4 large bedrooms with in suite baths-Huge Office with Private Entrance-Huge Great Room with a lot of volume because of vaulted ceilings that add up to two floors in the center! There is a Huge Lap pool with a bump out at the end so people can enjoy the pool as others are swimming laps-Ends as infinity pool where the water flows over the end looking like it is dropping into the Atlantic Ocean! Lovely landscaping through out with NO expense spared to make this a truly lovely Estate! This picture is taken from the cliff and if I back up and climb over a 3 ft wall I would go down a few hundred feet!:) The next home below is also in the same project! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\\ Hasta Pronto!

Project in Cabrera Dominican Republic I am involved with!

This nice looking home you are looking at is about 4200 Sq Ft This home is professionally landscaped with no expense spared! ----------------- Stone wall surrounds the house and it is up to 8 ft high in the rear so you have privacy in the back yard! The house has outstanding ocean views-3Bedrooms-3Full Baths-Utility room-Laundry Room-2Covered Car ports and tremendous front/back/2nd Floor terraces! Almost forgot to mention there is a nice size office upstairs on the 2nd floor with the Master Bedroom and a huge Walk in Closet in the Master! All Wood Doors and Kitchen Cabinets! All bedrooms have Split A/C units-back yard has a lovely pool and the project is gated for your security! This project sits on top of a cliff overlooking Cabrera and the Atlantic Ocean and you can see forever! ---------- Price on this lovely home is just 370K US dollars! Tiling the pool this month and can be lived in with in 3 weeks! Close to many beaches and the nicest golf course in the Caribbean-Robert Trent Jones Designed with 12 holes directly on the Ocean-Playa Grande!

The Town of Cabrera is a middle class calm community with the predominent Toursism being High End Villa Rentals where people rent mansions for as much as 30k for a week or MORE! Plenty of room around the big beautiful pool which is going to be tiled real Soon! IF you would like to see this lovely home send me an email and we can take a ride up! This is the second home just about finished here and for sale and I may just take one myself after the other one sells! I love this place! This is a view from the roof of another home which is a Ranch Style with High Cathedral Ceilings taken on telephoto from the highest point so you can see the privacy you will have!

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Hasta Pronto!

Ok Folks you heard this here first! A new gym is opening up in Sosua and the building is brand new and not even finished yet! Here are some pictures of the place in construction and also some pictures of the equipment which is already there! I will go back tomorrow and try to find out who is going to be operating the place! / We already have a gym although it is for sale and very old on the other side of the HIGHWAY in El Batey! This is easier to get to especially if you are walking and heck even if driving since the road is so bad to get to the other one! ; The new gym is just past El Toro Steak House on Pedro Clisante going away from the beach about 1oo meters! Hasta Pronto!

New Family Members!

Until I eat them of course:) Only kidding! ' Broadened my horizons and now have an additional breeding goat and a new pair of sheep both a boy and a gal to breed! ' Guess I am going to make the place look more like a farm:) ' My experience with sheep is basically non existant but I notice a few things different about them from the goats I have raised for a few years! They don't eat a lot of other things besides the grass and have NO interest in the Yuca tops like the goats do! ' Less social animals with people than the goats although some of the goats are more social than the others! " I look forward to getting to know them! I wonder if they taste different than goat? They look alike! ' Since I closed the restaurant I have been to Punta Rucia-Monti Christi-Dajabon-Santiago-Boca Chica-Santo Domingo-San Pedro de Macoris-Nagua-Cabrera and plan on more traveling even as soon as next week! I need to go to Nagua and will try to go to Miches which is on the bay of Samana! I don't think you can go there by car from the North Coast and Believe it is only accessable from San Pedro de Macoris inland! Too bad I was just there and have no plans on going back! I will take a ferry from Samana which didn't look to cool from a picture I saw on lifeinthedr dot com/forum but I am adventurous and will probably rent a motorcycle there as they don't take cars on the ferry! ' This place is supposed to be beautiful and relatively untouched because it is convienent to no where! I will let you know after and if I get there but am looking forward to it! ' I ran into a fellow I know for many years last night! He said he was glad I was back to blogging and I didn't even know he read my drivel:) Henry this buds for you! ' Hasta Pronto!

As Arnold once said

Well guys/gals I am back to Blogging Sorry but my back up computer can no longer print a period or comma so it won't look great but thats what I got until Herbert brings me down another charger for my other computer ' This is my newest Goat She is a gal I had 1 gal and 5 boys which doesn't make for many babies which I want:) ' Traded her for the Black and White boy I had Had to give an extra 500 pesos but who cares I want more breeders I also traded Billy which was my oldest boy for a pair of Sheep Young boy and girl Figure I should expand my horizons Funny thing is that sheep here look exactly like goats without horns No clue as to why When I went to my friends farm in Cabrera I thought for sure that they were hornless goats and of course I was wrong He even had one for dinner and I asked him if it tasted like goat:) He has no sense of humor that Shad let me tell you! ' I am going to start blogging again and now that I don't have a restaurant to deal with I have plenty of time You are going to be sorry you asked me to blog again folks/ Now you are going to say I have too much to say again Hasta Pronto!

Ok had to figure out how this stuff works again I have a few other pictures to post here so will have to do it on another entry

Bye

Http://www.lifeinthedr.com/forum

I put this picture up just to give you something to look at. I know the one on the right from a place she used to work at so posted the picture instead of just writing.

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Check out this website if you are interested in or about the Dominican Republic. Http://www.lifeinthedr.com/forum . They just went over a thousand members and now up to 1022 a few days later. I am active and post and moderate the board there.

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It was tough growing to a thousand because there are people who look to detract from a message board and just try to disrupt but it has matured into a great informative message board.

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The fellows that own it also own a Dominican Dating Website so you will see lots of pictures of Dominican women who happen to be stunning. When you sign up just say Escott referred you.

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Business is real slow now and will be till the middle of May when we have a lot of people coming down. Going to try and make some changes at the restaurant soon so stay tuned.

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My project in Cabrera is finishing slowly. Now it is just a question of finding customers to purchase the villas. Getting it together to presale the 17 condos we will be building there also. Stay tuned on that also.

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Hasta Pronto

Finca again

Yesterday while I was up at the finca looking around, feeding my goats Yucca tops and just enjoying myself I got a call from a fellow from Iowa who is looking into moving down here with his family. . It must be an exciting time for the family with the planning of something so different but it is a big move to move to a third world country which is far different than it was back in Iowa. You know the saying, "You ain't in Kansas anymore Toto"? Man "You ain't in Iowa anymore".

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They have never been here before which kind of freaked me out. I would never consider a move without visiting at least a few times. I actually knew I would be living here at some point on my second trip down but on the many more trips down establishing myself I could have changed my mind with no harm or foul. These people are shopping for housing on the internet and already speaking with people. I tried to tell them to walk slower and that all the people you will talk to do NOT have their best interests in mind.

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Most times I feel that people don't want to listen to advice that they ask for and sometimes wonder what is the use. As far as I am concerned the more the merrier here. I love the large and varied vibrant expat population here on the north coast and the larger it gets the more life this place has for me.

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I feel like projecting the sound of brakes screeching to a halt but can't do much other than advise people to be very careful and doubly more so than they would be where they come from.

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I had a customer who got their pocket picked by a Dominican Gal. The strangest part of this for me was that the customer was a NYC Police Officer with 15 years on the JOB! I looked at the guy and asked, "Does this happen to you in NY?" and he answered "Of course not, I know the game". I shook my head in amazement. Sometimes I think people check their minds at the door when they come here and that is the last thing you should be doing here.

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I know they are reading this and that is how they found my number so I hope they are getting what I am saying. I would also love for them to move down, be a customer in my restaurant at least once a week and be friends with them but to be cautious is prudent when moving to a third world country and things here are more difficult at times then they are where you come from.

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I love it here and wouldn't consider moving anywhere else at this point and certainly not back to the United States but... Be safe out there!

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Hasta Pronto!

Veggies you allo

These are from my mini-finca/farm. First is a Pineapple growing, second is a basket of fruits and vegatables I picked to take home and eat.

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There is no much that gives me more pleasure than to eat what I grow on my property.

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That night I had fried sweet potatoes and they were great. Each week we pick a bunch of stuff to eat and there is nothing like fresh!

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I have Cashews growing now and should have hundreds along with a very sweet smelling fruit that comes with it. I love Cashews.

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I just found flowers on a fruit tree yesterday. I was wondering if it would ever grow fruit since it has been years and it is large.

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I am not even sure what type of fruit it is but I have had it. Bigger green fruit and the tree looks like a Mango tree with bigger leaves but same shape as Mango.

Hasta Pronto!

Beaches

These are a few of the beaches I went to on Friday with a couple of friends. One is Ivan who is an Engineer from Boston and the other is Leo also an Engineer from NY. . Had a nice day showing these guys around the entire north coast. . I told these guys to get out of Sosua and see the country. I ended up going with them also. Had a great day which was topped off stopping at a typical Dominican Restaurant on the highway coming back for some fresh fish and beer. I of course had a nice time and I am pretty sure these guys enjoyed themselves also. . These are a few of the beaches we stopped at. First one was Playa Diamonte or actually the first beach in the post is, the second one is La Entrada which is about 15 minutes away. . The last picture is on the master bedroom balcony of the two story house I am involved with in Cabrera. How can I show these guys the North Coast without showing them things I do? Ain't possible:) . Hasta Pronto!

My mini farm

I have been posting pictures of my mini finca (farm) for quite a while and found these two photos from the beginning when I first started doing work up there.

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Today you can hardly even see the small white house and you won't possibly see the field after it. Now there is both a house in front of it and another on across the street from it.

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When I first started with my landscaping project people were telling me I was crazy. Why plant trees and shrubs when you have no house there people would ask.

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Today these trees are matured, I have fruits and vegetables to eat every day and the place looks simply amazing. . Whenever I take people to see the property they tell me that this was one of their best experiences since they have been in the country.

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Now that compliment brings joy to my heart because I get so much enjoyment from this project I can't even describe it. Before I opened the restaurant I was on the property every morning for at least an hour. Every day I would discover additional fruits and vegetables I didn't notice the day before. I now have fruit and nuts getting very big on my Cashew trees. Can't wait till they are ready. The fruit is so sweet smelling it is unbelievable. I drove around with a fruit in my car last year so my car would smell nice. I didn't know that it was even a cashew tree and threw away the nut:) NOT THIS TIME!

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This second picture was taken later on when I had more plantings. Possibly a year later. I will try and take another picture today when I am finished at the restaurant from the same angle and post it tomorrow. Man what a difference.

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Last night I hung out with a friend Jackie Quontree at the restaurant. He eventually lost interest in my and found someone a little better looking than me and moved on. It was great to see him though.

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My Friend Mario gets in on the 11th and stays to the 15th. It will be great to see him although he has a lot of plans and I probably won't be seeing much of him.

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The day after another friend gets into town. The BigEarlie otherwise known as Earl.

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Looking forward to hanging out with all of these people. It is always nice to have these guys return to the DR and hang out with them.

Hasta Pronto!

Kids

These are the greatest kids. I love taking pictures of kids.

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They are all special and have their own things going on and it is expressed in the photos! . Hasta Pronto!

Rock house's Brother

This first picture is the artists conception of the home being built in Cabrera I am involved in.

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Go down a bit and you will see a picture of the home developed from this. Very close to the conceptual picture.

. The next picture is of a home being build next to Rock House in Cabrera. It is up on and beside a cliff. I am guessing it will also be a very unusual home and will update the pictures as it grows. I am expecting something different for sure. .

I am guessing it is being built by the same guy also.

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Hasta Pronto!

Congrats John and Wendy!

I want to wish my friends John and Wendy all the best!

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They had the good taste to get married on my birthday in Aruba last week.

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Congrats guys!

I know, I haven't blogged in a while....

This is the big house I am involved with in Cabrera. It is 95% complete and it is turning into quite the home.

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At 470 m2 and over 5000 sq ft it is a large home with 4 bedrooms, HUGE office, 5 Bathrooms, Kitchen, Maids work area, planta room and a GREAT Room.

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It has an pool that ends in a waterfall right in front of the cliff. The pool also starts under roof so if it starts raining you just swim under roof. If there is lightning I recommend leaving the pool:) . The next picture is from a point on the cliff which is perfect for a Gazebo looking back at the house.

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On the right side is the master bedroom suite which is lovely and outstanding views. On the left you can see the guest bedroom wing with 3 large bedrooms right in a row with insuite baths. .

The next picture is looking out to the gazebo which is on the cliff. Magnificant view is all I can say!

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I liked this area so much after going here every week for a couple of years now I purchased a like property on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

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This town Cabrera is known for high end villa tourism with homes costing as much as 16 million dollars to build in this town.

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If you would like information about this home or another home in the same community let me know. Outstanding area and nice homes make for a great place to live.

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Hasta Pronto!

Condo for sale

This is my friend Herberts Condo. He bought this place and renovated it and is now selling it. I have the keys to the place so I am the "GO TO" guy for the realtors that have the listing. .

The first picture is of the Bedroom which has a 18k BTU A/C. Leave the bedroom door open and it will cool the whole condo!

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He is selling the condo for 89,000 US Dollars which is at least 20% less than his neighbors paid a year ago for condos that aren't as nice.

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All the furniture is NEW as well as the tile and everything else.

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This is a view of the living room from the Breakfast Bar.

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Next picture is of the bathroom which is HUGE. The counters are Granite and the most expensive Granite available here. All the tile and cabinets are new also along with the toilet and sink.

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If you want to view the property just stop into the restaurant and we will make a time which will probably be around 2pm most days when I finish at the restaurant. . New pic is of the new kitchen and front door. EVERYTHING is new and this also has a new Granite Counter top along with the Breakfast Bar. Of course all appliances are new. .

Next picture is of the view from the living room and from the balcony. This ocean view won't be blocked in your lifetime! You can also see one of the two pools you will have at your disposal.

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The Real Estate Market is doing great here and we are still WAY under any other island in the caribbean for real estate. The Dominican Republic overtook Puerto Rico as the most visited Island in the Caribbean last year. If you haven't been here come for a visit and find out why that is!

Hasta Pronto!