Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Our New Condo

























Hi everyone,


In early December we moved from our small (but cute) 1 BR condo, to a larger 2BR condo on a golf course in a community called White Sands. It's a bit further from the beach, but the fully furnished condo is much larger, has higher end appliances and furnishings, and has a beautiful view of the golf course and large resort-like pool area. It is much quieter too. We can now better facilitate our arriving guests. Hope you can come visit us soon to see it as well as the hundreds of attractions this amazing area has to offer! See you soon!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Transportation & Car Pooling in the Dominican Republic







No waste of gas or space here! Common scenery now. Wait till ya see how many people you can get on a small motor-conch here ... Photos coming soon. Can you even imagine this kind of transportation being legal in the U.S.?

Gotta love it!

My signs are UP!









Hey, check out my new bulletin boards! There are 15 total, all with different messages. You'll have to come down to visit us if you want to see the 13 others.

Also have our magnetic car signs... Since many communities are gated, having a well-known real estate brand name helps us get in an out with minimal questions asked.

Thanks to Santiago... a local Dominican entreprenuer, who was fantastic to work with, quick and affordable. Using my key phrases as a start he captured exactly the look I was hoping for.

Todd says in just days after they went up, people have associated them with my business card by reciting the "catch phrase". Todd's also seen tourist stop by to take pictures. Especially the one by the airport that says... "WELCOME FELLOW AMERICANS"

Ok, since I just gave another "phrase" away... now you only need to see what the remaining 12 say!

Humanitarian Journey

DETROIT COP AND GARAGE SALE DONATORS GO THE EXTRA MILE Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

About a month ago in October, shortly after relocating to the Dominican Republic, we found ourselves lounging on a beautiful hidden beach in Punta Cana with some expat* friends from Canada, the U.K. and the Dominican Republic; replenishing ourselves after a long hard week of working. (* Expats is short for expiate, a foreigner who lives and/ or works in a different country).

Shortly thereafter, we met a police officer on vacation from Detroit named Wayne, who was strolling down the beach near his resort. Wayne explained that before coming here, he had collected a bunch of donated kids clothing from various neighborhood garage sales. We were very touched by his goodwill. Since Wayne was not familiar with the area, and had no vehicle, he was hoping we knew of some needy local Dominican families we could deliver the clothing to… We said we would be most obliged to help and picked up the suitcase and Wayne’s email address from his hotel on the way back home.

The problem is, although there are poor Dominicans in Punta Cana (according to American standards anyway), Punta Cana is really a hot tourist destination with tons of attractions and new booming real estate; there are very few “really poverished” areas, and delivering clothing to families we might consider poor, who are quite proud of their economic progress, could be considered insulting. The more “needy” Dominicans, we know of, live along the rural highway towards a larger city called Higuey.

Because my husband and I have been so busy over the past couple of months, trying to get established in our new jobs and adjusting to life in general here (this is a book in itself) the opportunity to go to Higuey did not become a priority until I lost my cell phone, and discovered that in order to keep my same cell number I would have to go to the primary “Orange” cell phone office in Higuey, about 45 minutes away. Boy does God work in mysterious ways in getting our butts moving…

On the way to Higuey, we noticed a Dominican female hitchhiker. As we slowed down to give her a lift, she quickly knelt down, pressed her palms together, lifting her eyes, head and hands to the sky as an obvious “Thank You Jesus” prayer. When she got into the car she immediately and hysterically started rambling in Spanish about her situation. Unfortunately, with our little Spanish, we were only able to understand some of what she was saying. What I did understood was that her name was Elvia; she had been hitchhiking from Santo Domingo for nearly two days. NOTE: Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, is about a 3 hour drive away!

Elvia pulled off her sandals to show me the large holes that had worn all the way through, but what I especially noticed were the blisters on her heals that were starting to bleed. She said she had not eaten in two days. She said her 5 yr. old daughter was in the hospital in Santo Domingo; something about her heart, and that she had to come back home, near Higuey, to get more money from her aunt. After about 5 minutes of driving I casually looked back at Elvia and noticed she was quietly weeping... tears streaming down her face. I believe It was, in part, a cry of relief that someone had picked her up and that she was finally going home for hopeful monetary help. I leaned over to hug her, the best I could from the passenger side.

While driving we insisted she go through the suitcase to pick out clothing for her daughter and her 1 yr. old son. She was not greedy and only selected a few articles of clothing for each child. 30 minutes later, we dropped her off in front of her aunts home.

I really wish we could have done more for Elvia, however, on limited funds ourselves, and being on a desolate, rural road there were no restaurants or stores anywhere for miles. Regardless, I hope the ride and children’s clothing were enough to regain new hope in Elvia.

The city of Higuey can be a challenge for newcomers. While trying to find the "Orange" cell phone office in Higuey, we got lost. After asking at least 5 different people of various nationalities for directions, all offering 5 different ways, we realized… although everyone wants to help, not many locals how to give directions expats can understand because they use land marks only familiar to each other and no Street addresses. .

We finally stopped at a competing cell phone company (Codetel) and “I”… the woman of course, got out to ask for directions. Luckily I ran into a very nice Dominican young man in the cell phone store. His name is Daniel, and he used to live and work in NY for 9 years, thus he spoke pretty good English. Daniel was our angel, and now our new friend. Not only did Daniel get in his car to show us where the ‘Orange store office’ was, but he went into the office with us to help translate on our behalf. He wouldn't accept any money either which is good because as I mentioned, we didn’t have much on us. We discovered he too is an entrepreneur who just started his own flatbed / car transportation company. He wasn't rich... in fact, a bit scared his business won’t make it, much like we, and many other middle class entrepreneurs here… Especially with the trickle down effects from the U.S. economy!

After we were finished securing my new cell phone, we asked Daniel if he knew of any needy Dominican families we could distribute the rest of the kids clothing to... he was so moved to see us doing this on behalf of a Detroit police officer, that he brought us to an over-crowed pediatric unit of a nearby hospital, specifically for the locals. This is not the expiate or tourist hospital, which are actually pretty nice and affordable here. It wasn’t the worse hospital I've ever seen… in pictures or on TV anyway, but definitely reflective of a developing country. The children and their parents were scared and looked so hopeless. One little girl, about 9 mos. old, appeared to have been in a fire. Her entire face had 2nd & 3rd degree burns. With the translating assistance of our new friend Daniel, we visited 4 rooms, with 3 patient beds each and distributed half the clothing. The parents and children were all so appreciative, and with big smiles on their faces said, “THANK YOU or GRACIAS” many times over.

Our journey was not yet over. We still had half a suitcase of clothes left; so on the way home, we discovered a narrow dirt road leading into a very small and poor community. We asked two little half naked Dominican children in broken Spanish, where their mommy was. Within a few seconds, the mom came out with 2 more babies in each arm and another 2 toddlers behind her. We brought the suitcase out of the car, laid it on the dirt road, unzipped it, and again attempted in poor Spanish to say… “here are clothes for your children from a policeman, Mr. Wayne, in the United States”... she looked confused and responded by asking… "?por dinero"? Meaning, “For money?”... NO, we simultaneously responded, "para gratis!" ... “FOR FREE”! Upon hearing this, she dove into the suitcase quickly throwing carefully selected clothing under her arms and over her shoulder. Within minutes, about 3-4 more mothers and a couple teenage girls appeared and started grabbing the clothing too. The men respectfully stood off in the distance smiling. They were all so excited. I swear it was more touching watching them go through that suitcase, than watching most American children on Christmas morning opening their presents. They were so excited and appreciative that we had to hold back the tears so, as not to embarrass them (or ourselves).

So, on behalf of Elvia, Daniel, and all the other recipients of these charitable donations, whose names we did not get, we thank you Wayne! “Mr. POLICIA from Detroit” and all those generous garage sale contributors, whoever you are… May God Bless you ALL!

P.S. if you hear of anyone coming to visit Dominican Republic, or any other developing country for that matter, please tell them to bring a suitcase of used clothing, school supplies, and maybe some Spanish books and Bibles- instead of unhealthy candy… then, get your butts out of the resort complex and meet the locals!!! Trust me, you’ll be just fine, just learn to fit in! Find yourself a trusting expat, who will commit to distributing the clothing on your behalf.
Shipments sent here are very expensive with loads of international duties and customs documentation, so unfortunately, the most cost effective way of getting clothing or school supplies here is to bring an extra suitcase and come visit Punta Cana yourself!

Let’s see if we can start a new “international suitcase delivery” trend and give it some catchy name like the rich and famous do…

I was able to take one quick picture. We didn't want to look like glory-seekers... Unfortunately, by time I found my camera, some of the mothers and their children had gone into their homes to admire their new gifts. This picture is especially for Wayne, since he wasn’t able to personally see the excitement his efforts produced.

Oh, P.S.S. Is it just me? Or is there an obvious Cross in this picture? “Things that make you go hummm”.

Written Nov 20, by: Maria Williams/ Century 21 Juan Perdomo, Punta Cana/Bavaro, Dominican Republic Mwilliams77@att.net Copyrights Reserved

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Hello Family, Friends, Associates and Visitors

Thanks for visiting our site... This blogsite is intended to keep our family and friends abreast and at the same time, an opportunity to keep a journal, or snap shot of our new life in Punta Cana (Bavaro) Dominican Republic. More pictures and updates coming soon! Thanks for visiting our site. We hope you'll personally come to the DR to visit us here in the very near future! God Bless,

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Life's a Beach...


We'll, lifes a beach on the weekends that is... we definately work an average of 12 hours a day so we can actually enjoy the beautiful beaches the Punta Cana / Bavaro beaches have to offer.

Of course, sometimes working includes checking out beach club access to some of the condo developments secured with Century 21. Hey, all in a day's work!