Inaguration Party at Hostal Nomadas

Went to a grand opening party last night for Hostal Nomadas. This is a new hotel in Colonial Zone. the owners Freddy and Marion are great people and wonderful hosts. The party was very nice atop their terrace. They had Lenny Abreu, Carlos Luis and Jose Antonio Rodrigez playing and singing music. There was also a woman that sang (I can't remember her name) with a wonderful strong voice and even Freddy sang a few songs. All the music was perfect. I met many new people and saw some old friends as well.

I forgot to take my camera. Dumb stupid dumb me. but some of the people there said they would send me some pictures and maybe even a video. As soon as I get them I'll post.

This is a picture of Maribel and I at the party.

Teeth Shooter

I was sitting in front of a Colmado at Parque San Miguel drinking a beer Sunday. Taking a little break from my Sunday walkabout.

The owner is a nice guy and he invited me for a few beers. We were drinking, telling stories and having a nice ole time when a friend of his joined us. Mr. Teeth(as I'll call him throughout this story)was a bit drunk already and started telling me how he was in love with me. He kept putting his hand on my leg while talking. He was getting a bit too familiar so I asked him very nicely to please don't touch me. I don't like it. He would stop and then a few minutes later start again. I moved my chair a little away from him and he followed. Finally I decided I had to be a bit more forceful so maybe he would bet it through his head I did not like being touched. So I told him a sentence that I learned my first time on vacation in Santo Domingo, "Quintas sus manos sucios de me"! (roughly translated "Get your dirty hands off of me" and I'm not sure if I say it correctly or spell it right but you get the idea).

Mr. Teeth opened his mouth in shock ready to say something. When he opened his mouth his false teeth flew out and landed on the sidewalk! He had a look of shock on his face. I had to do the ole double take going from his face to the ground where his teeth lay. After the initial few second shock, I didn't want to embarrass him, I turned and started talking to my friend. Mr. Teeth grabbed up his dentures and hurriedly put them on the chair between his legs.

I was trying not to laugh. I really, really tried not to laugh.My friend was snickering the entire time and I was holding it in as best as I could. But when I looked at him, he was putting the teeth back in, I lost it. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. Many times when I laugh too hard I snort and this was one of those times. My friend and I were laughing so hard, we couldn't stop. I tried to stop because I didn't want to humiliate Mr. Teeth but I couldn't help it, especially when my friend was laughing just as hard as I. I decided it was best just to get out of there. I told my friend I had to go. I tried to say goodbye to Mr. Teeth but I just couldn't. I had to walk down the street alone laughing aloud to myself all alone.

All the rest of the day every time I thought of it I started laughing. People probably thought I was a bit off walking alone and giggling but it could not be helped. I'm even laughing now just picturing good ole Mr. Teeth and the look on his face when his teeth shot out of his mouth. Am I a bad human for this?? LOL!

this is a little added on note I had to get permission to write about from my mom:
The thing that really made me laugh when I could not hold it in anymore was thinking of my mother. My nephew, who was very shy and afraid when he was young as he was adopted and not used to our boisterous style of family, was playing with my mom. She was holding him above her balanced on her feet. All were laughing and having a good time when her teeth flew out! My nephew got this look of fear on his face and a giant scream came out of his mouth. He wouldn't stop crying and yelling for a while and it took him days, maybe months before he was able to sit with his grandmother without being afraid her teeth were not going to come out.

This is what made me laugh more at the Mr. Teeth guy. I laughed at my mom as did the entire family (except the frightened nephew) so I think I had a right to laugh at Mr. Teeth didn't I?

Concert for Los Haitises

The Concert for Los Haitises held at Plaza de Espana on July 19 was amazing. The bands were great. The turn out was unbelievable. There were so many people there, more than I have ever seen for any concert or gathering in the Plaza since I've been living here. There is said to have been over 5000 people, mostly young, attending this event.

The main goal of this concert was to make people aware of the bad effects to the environment the cement plant will do to this unique park. There is a plan to build the factory on the park lands and the youth of Dominican Republic have been showing their disapproval and trying to make people aware. Los Haitises is a beautiful and unique natural park on the southern coast of the Bay of Samaná. There are mangrove swamps where manatee swim. caves and a humid tropical forest. The park is full of strange and interesting rock formations that emerge from the sea called mogotes.

To see what you can still do to help by donating, buying -shirts and more go to their blog. There are also some great pictures of the event.

Here are some pictures I took with my new camera (thank you both for the camera - you know who you are) before it got dark as I'm so paranoid taking my camera (#5) out when there are alot of people around, especially when its dark out side.

Independence Day USA in Dominican Republic

4th of July fireworks in DR
Happy 4th to all! The American Embassy put on a nice little fireworks show around 10PM on the 4th. I was home and heard the booming so I got my new camera (thanks to the 2 people that pitched in and purchased it for me..bless you both)and took a few pictures from my window. Enjoy!
American Embassy fireworks in Dominican Republic

USA 4th of July celebration fireworks in Dominican Republic

Happy Birthday Billy Jay 29

Today would have been my son Billy Jay Keys birthday. He would have been 29 this year. He was and still is the best gift I ever received.

To read more about my Billy Jay read my post A Mothers Worst Nightmare
To see the pictures of Billy Jays short life.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY JAY, MY BABY BOY!

Friendly Fight at the Colmado

So you are thinking "friendly fight, whats that"? Well, here I have seen many friendly fights. Yes, there is punching and lots of verbal abusive words but it usually ends with everyone shaking hands and talking normal again.

Sunday I went to meet an American friend his girlfriend and baby for lunch at the
Courtyard Marriott Santo Domingo
(the taxi driver missunderstood me and dropped me at the Mejia first so remember if you take a taxi to the Marriott make sure the guy gets it right as both of those words sound similar to a Dominican). I was planning on walking back for my traditional Sunday walkabout but it was raining, like it has been for the last month, so I had their taxi drop my off in the Zone in front of one of my favorite neighborhood Colmados, Colmado El Arca.

We were all squished inside as it just kept drizzling rain outside. I got the cheep beer 3 grandes for $110 pesos and joined in all the conversations going on. A neighbor guy known for his over drinking started getting boisterous as he does sometimes. He loves to cause a scene especially when he's playing dominoes. Well, his mom came and was yelling at him and telling him to get home. He was yelling at her and all the men inside went out to get involved. Of course, I didn't understand all the stuff being said as everyone was talking way too fast for me and the music was playing inside and i was not going to go outside in all the turmoil. Normally when things like this happen I'm outta there but we all know the drunk guy and I did not feel at all concerned about my safety.

I was sitting on the little patio at this time talking to an Amiga not worrying about the grandstanding happening a few arms length away from where we were sitting. The guy came running into the Colmado . All of a sudden the owner of the place tore off his glasses and came out from the counter and jumped on the guy. The space is really small so all the guys around were falling to the ground while the owner was pouncing on the drunk guy. The guys that were all involved picked the drunk up off the floor and some others got between the owner and the drunk. All within a very confined space. They took the drunk outside and the owner (I thought his face was going to explode as he gets really red when he gets angry) went back behind the counter. This skinny, tall drunk was jumping around and the guys were almost holding him off the ground as he was doing his yelling and punching the air (yes, he was that drunk). A few times he and the interveners went to the ground but they got him under control. They took him home with the mother following.

When the drunk was gone then the machismo stuff started. All the men were telling their side of the story, at least 10 times over. My Amiga and I were watching from the patio and laughing at them. They looked like a flock, herd, gaggle, whatever you call a bunch of roosters hanging out trying to make the most noise over the next rooster. They were all laughing and sharing their versions. It was quite comical.

About an hour later the drunk guy returned, with his mother close behind, to apologize and shake everyones hand. He went back home to sleep it off and of course the men had more to talk about loudly.

I have seen this scenario happen many times in Dominican Republic with only one time the fight getting out of hand. Usually it is just some sort of show for everyone to watch (sometimes get involved in) and to discuss in detail for the rest of the day. Quite an interesting phenomena.

Metro Trip to Villa Mella

Well, I finally decided it was time to take the new Dominican subway called the Metro.

I took a walk from Colonial Zone to Ave. Lincoln and from there decided to go and get some chicharones (yes, I like chicharones) in the place that is known for making them, Villa Mella. I thought that maybe Xiomara and Jana would want to go so I gave them a call. It ended up that Jana and I went on this trip together. So I took my daughter (not really mine but she calls me mom).

The Metro was really nice and clean. I was impressed. It was really strange taking public transportation in Dominican Republic where there was no music being played, people were fairly quiet. It was very organized and all went smoothly.

After about 20 minutes we were in Villa Mella, the chicharone capital of DR and looking for a place to get some of that good, greasy and scrumptious pig skin and meat. We walked down a dirt road and stopped in the first colmado. Me for my beloved Presidente beer and Jana got a juice and some gum (she was so excited to find gum for 1 peso). The people sitting outside were very friendly and got us chairs and talked to us a bit. Very nice people. I even had to impress them with my mastery of dancing bachata (seems that people here are always surprised that I can dance bachata half way decent). We asked where was the best place close to get some chicherones and they directed us to a small, nice little restaurant called Tipico Villa Mella. The place is located on Ramon Matias Mella #77 and their phone is 809-568-1131 incase your ever in the area I highly recommend this place.

We placed our order or chicherones (both the hard and soft kind) and some batada (for info on these foods and more) and played with the cat until our food arrived. The food was great and so fresh, for sure different than buying it from the guys in Colonial Zone. The restaurant was playing some old music and the people were all friendly. They even gave us a taste of some foods that I never heard of. Jana has lived here most of her 10 years and she never heard of these either. I even did a search in Google and could not find these foods or what they were made of. But we had some chola and bobote (if anyone knows what the recipe is please let me know). One of these foods is yucca with coconut and the other, who knows. But it was all good. Even better with all the food, a beer and juice the bill was only $250 pesos. What a deal.

We decided to do a walk about but not too far from the Metro entrance so we would not get lost. We fed some pigeons. Talked to some people in different colmados. Then went back to the train as it was just starting to get dark.

We were a little more talkative for the ride back. We were playing with Janas little toy horses and laughing. One guy told us we should be a little more quiet as the police in the train was watching us. Could we be removed from the train for talking and laughing in a normal voice? Well, we weren't removed and got back to the first station. From there we walked back to Colonial Zone. It was a far walk, maybe an hour or so and we were so tired when we got back home. We had some stories to tell Xiomara when we got back all dirty and sweaty with happy content tummies.

Office Monster Rat

Sitting here in the office in Zona Colonial one day working on the web site (www.colonialzone-dr.com) I felt something bump into my foot. I jumped and looked down and this giant rat was scurrying away under the sofa. The thing was a big ole brown rat. Much larger than the pet rats my son used to have. This thing was larger than most cats I've seen around here. He must have been eating really well and lived a long life to get that large.

Well, I hurriedly finished what I was doing all the while holding my feet up off the floor (it isn't easy for this old girl to hold the feet up for long). I turned off the computer and shut down the office and was outta there!

The guys in the gift shop in front of the office gave me a strange look as I came running out of the office and into the gift shop. I told them about the rat and Willy decided to take on the hunt and kill the varmint. Grabbing a broom stick he went to the back patio with me following behind holding onto his belt loop saying "ooh,ooh". I told Willy to shoot the thing and he just laughed at me (I remember when I worked in a warehouse once in USA and we had a rat. We tried everything to capture that thing. Finally the owner laid in wait with his gun and shot that rat dead!).

The rat was there on the patio and Willy went in with the stick while I was making little ewwh and yuck sounds. He was poking the rat and it was darting behind the stuff out back. The monster even jumped up in the air a few times (when he jumped I ran to the kitchen for cover). Then the nasty creature disappeared nowhere to be found. I grabbed some rat sticky paper and covered a hole where the drain was hoping when he went to escape he would get caught.

I went to the Colmado for a beer to calm my jittery nerves and returned to see if that bugger was caught all stuck to the tape. No wonder he was so big and lived a long life, he was a smart big creature. The tape was moved off the hole and he was gone.

I had rat dreams all night jumping at every little movement in my apartment.

the next day the rat was the topic of conversation in the gift shop. He returned that morning to visit the kitchen and see what he could have for breakfast. He was scratching at the office door so now there is some tin all along the bottom. They chased him but he got away again. They covered the hole with a pipe to keep him out. But this was not the end of the rat.

I went to go to the bathroom, very carefully checking all around for the rat incase he was hiding and there he was! Inside a bag on the counter! I yelled and Willy and Mamita came running with Melanie close behind. Willy was hitting the thing while Mamita was trying to block it from getting out of the room. Melanie and I were peeking around the corner and running away every time that thing jumped in the air.

the damn rat got away again, down the hole. So, they mixed up some cement and filled the hole in. I was waiting to see if it held before I wrote the story and it seems like it did the job. The rat has not returned. I keep checking the hole, with much trepidation mind you, and it is still cemented in.

I'm still cautious because you never know when he will return. Maybe he'll find another way in or maybe he will just eat through the cement and return for a visit. If I had my camera (but remember it was stolen)I'd have a picture here of Willy and Mamita after the rat and another of the rat in the bag. I just hope this is the end of the rat story.