Sorry about the color & weird yellow lines. Collins emailed me what he wrote & when I copied & pasted it to word, I got this & couldn't get rid of it.
Don't forget, you can double click on the pictures to make them bigger.
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| View from our balcony |
On Jan 4th we returned to our favorite winter get away, Juan Dolio,
Dominican Republic. Karen discovered this location on the island’s south
side just east of the capital in 2014 & we have come to love it so much
that we are planning to return every winter for the foreseeable future.
While most places have me ready to leave after three months, we gave serious
consideration to staying a fourth this year. The white sand beach has the
typical beautiful Caribbean blue & emerald waters, but equally important is
the lack of crowds & daily gentle breezes. Six days a week you
won’t see 50 beachgoers at any given time along the mile long stretch or at the
condo’s pools.
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| Our complex |
If you need an active night life & continuous
interaction with others, this is NOT the place for you. The condo complex
typically has two or three dozen North Americans, mostly Canadian, at any time
from December thru the end of April, many of whom gather Tuesday evenings for a BYOB & snacks to
socialize & watch the sun set.
From our balcony we enjoy our morning
coffee & evening cocktails and, on occasion, spend the whole day reading
there.
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| Collins & Snuggles taking a nap |
To say it’s incredibly relaxing is an understatement.
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| Karen's Pool |
Otherwise, it’s to the fitness center for Collins & 10 round trip laps in
the pool for Karen (& these are huge pools).
We then spend a
few hours lying about either the pool or under the palm trees, recovering from
our stressful morning. Evenings are very laid back although we sample one
or two of the local restaurants a week either by ourselves or with some of the
North American gang. Hence the need for the five days a week work
outs. Note: all condo balconies at Marbella face, and are a stone’s
throw, from the ocean.
We had a couple of visitors during our stay. Our son, Doug came for a winter getaway.
Karen's friend Sue, came for her annual visit.
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| Fire in the condo below us |
Four days before we left, we did have a
little extra excitement. The unoccupied condo directly below ours caught
on fire. It was around 10:30 PM, while watching TV, that Karen smelled smoke, quickly replaced by the
sight of flames & sparks outside our balcony. While I closed the
double sliding doors we always keep open to enjoy the ocean breeze, Karen
grabbed everything from the safe, our computers, Kindles & Snuggles.
The comedy of events then started: first the fire alarms failed to function,
then the fire hose on the lower level had no water pressure, and finally, the
responding fire truck knocked off one of it's nozzles trying to get through the
gate. Since the complex itself is made of cinderblock, there was little
overall concern but, had we been asleep or still out for dinner, the degree of
smoke damage to us & the dog could have been extreme. Needless to say
the unit owners, all wealthy locals & expats, were extremely upset with the
glitches & were taking appropriate steps for a detailed analyses of the
situation as we left. It should be mentioned, the building's manager
supplied us with a lovely replacement unit for our remaining days.
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| View from our kitchen |
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| Our last day in the Dominican Republic |
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