Getting here was a little complicated as we booked our flights “late”. Being Easter week, we needed to be creative to keep costs down. Had to fly into Newark, New Jersey and overnight there. Which meant we had to go through security again. I checked with a United Airlines worker hoping he would say we didn’t need the full 2 hours without check-in bags, but he suggested arriving the full 2 hours early. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel and made it through security in 30 minutes, leaving us more than an hour to kill. We had even more time to kill at O’Hare as we hit no traffic from Madison. Just a bunch of expensive tolls (nearing $10). Still have to pay one of those online as we ran out of change. Flying out of Newark we saw the statue of Liberty and the downtown New York skyline. Downtown New York looks so tiny from the air. Flight to Dominican Republic took less than 3 hours. Small (smaller than Madison) airport receiving us and a quick $10 tourist card for each of us and a near non-existent customs and we were in the country. A driver holding our name awaited us. The drive from the airport made it clear we were no longer stateside. Dogs and chickens roaming free, tons of 70’s style cycles with helmetless riders, and men standing in the bed of moving trucks.
The house we are staying at separates us from everyone. Quite upper end here on the DR. Including a cook and her helper, Nellie and Rosemary, a night watchman, Ramone, an on-site maintenance man, Willy. Another, Sandy, that I don’t know his official title and their manager, Gabino. Gus stopped by yesterday and set us up with a few tours… Paradise Island and Jeep Safari and horse riding. He also drove me down to Ocean World on the back of his 70’s style cycle and got me setup for Friday tickets to swim with the dolphins. Interesting to see how much tourism supports here! The house itself is impressive. It’s got to have 20 (or more) different rooms. After the Ocean World cycle ride, I walked by a room with the door cracked open and saw Willy relaxing watching some TV. Here’s a shot poolside.
The house sits hillside with a commanding view of the ocean and ocean breezes in every window. Yet still only a quick 15 minute walk to the beach. I bumped into an older gentleman yesterday morning when going for my run. He approaches me and offered that he’d built the property we were renting. His name was Leo (Allotta). He was born in Italy, worked for and retired from IBM. Bought his house here back in ‘76 for $23,000. Rented it when he didn’t use it and found he could make money doing that. In retirement he decided he could build (as the contractor) properties and sell them internationally. He’s built and sold 17 properties at this point, and certainly is making some money, but seemed to be doing it also just to keep busy. Quite and impressive businessman. He knew most of our staff personally, including training Gabino years ago on MS excel and giving him his start into managing others. Gabino now manages the staff for all Leo’s 17 properties as well as others.
Gus, who set us up with all our excursions, was well connected. He personally phoned a taxi driver who he knew spoke English, and called in a couple of ladies to do bead the girl’s hair and do their nails. That was interesting in and of itself, as the lady who first arrived turned out to be the boss of the lady who later arrived to do their nails. Another middle man. You could see the influence Gus had having access to high-end Dominican spenders in these hillside mansions (and he has access to at least 17 of them, probably others). Much better odds of making a sale for him in coming to the clientele that rent mansions like this than hustling excursions on the beach. His access then equates to the power to pass that money onto others he knows. I find that a very interesting dynamic. Gus has lived his whole life in the DR, and as I sat riding on the back of his cycle as he expertly balanced and avoided the many loose rocks on the unpaved drive up to our mansion, I thought of him as a teen riding a cycle learning the skills that would one day earn him a good living in the DR.
I was surprised to hear also that much of our help is educated, from Nellie’s husband who teaches school, our taxi driver’s wife is a professor at the university, to Sandy who teaches languages at the university.
We spent day one poolside, just relaxing and hanging out. Kate, Jane, Bryce and Zeke went to the grocery store to buy supplies with Nellie. Maeve, Theo and I played in the pull. And got sunburns despite coating down with sunscreen. For supper we walked to the beach. The weather turned quickly and we were caught in a bt of a downpour. We stopped at a beachside restaurant that didn’t take Visa and found out later that we ate at the most expensive restaurant in the area. Oddly enough they were playing songs from Grease and Zeke and Bryce sang along (as they are acting in a production of Greast for Spring).
Wandered home to finish our night with a movie on DVD. Madagascar 2. Love those penquins. You didn’t see a thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment