January

January

I know.  I am way behind on this yet again.  But better late than never or so they say.

We began January all moved into our new apartment and since the world was closed for New Years Day, and as it turned out that entire week, we went for a walk down to the Zona Colonial where we found Columbus' home and where Cortez and all the important guys lived.  None of them were open to go into but we got pictures of the outsides of them.  Since most of you don't read what I write and just look at the pictures, here you go.

Typical houses in the Colonial.

Ruins of San Francisco

For those who read Spanish, here is a description
 of the Ruins of San Francisco.

More of the Ruins

It is sad they do not have the funds to maintain,
 let alone fix up many of these historic places.

The place was very large.

This girl is kneeling among the pigeons.  She did
 not stay there very long as the pigeons wanted fed!

Mom taking a respite from the heat.

Nicolas de Ovando, a famous Friar (1451-1511).
First Governor of this Island in the New World.

1500's building in the plaza.  Residence of
Ovando, first governor of the island.

Sundial.  Eldon read the directions and figured
 out how it works.  Something about choosing the
correct side to read the time depending on the season.

Statue of Christopher Columbus.
The pigeon on his hand is real.

On the 2nd we discovered that the entire office staff was still vacationing.  We went home to wait for the internet guy to come and I made chocolate chip cookies.  He didn't come.  Oh what a surprise.  We found out he had come but was looking for apartment 64 not C-4.

On the 6th we found a new produce market down on the melacon (boardwalk? by the ocean), apparently where vendors go for their vegetables.  It is close and has very fresh and quite inexpensive vegetables.  Meat and eggs also are there.  You can get fresh chicken. Just pick the one you want and they kill it on the spot.

We drove out to San Pedro de Macoris, not very far east of town, and found a lovely beach.  Sandy beaches are scarce in this part of the country.

Small beach but lovely

On a weekend this would be a crowded place

Barnacles growing on ??

We went to Bani on the 14th to introduce ourselves.  We got tired of waiting for managers to show us the ropes and decided to just dive in ourselves.  They were delighted to see us.  I am not of much help due to my language limitations but I'm there listening intently.

On the 20th we went to the museum of natural history just a block or so from our apartment.  Pretty awesome!

Murals on the Natural History
Museum building

Skeleton of Whale head

Head and part of the backbone of whale. 
Couldn't get it all in one picture.

Elephants Tusks

Sharks

Dinosaurs.

From the museum we went down to the old docks in the zona Colonial.  There was a small cruise ship there.  We also toured the old fort.

Local Island cruise ship

Outside of the fort

Down a hallway in the fort

From the top of the fort looking at the
old wall (reddish one closest) and the newer wall behind.  Everyone use to enter the city through this entrance.

Barracks building 

These were everywhere.  Maybe for
the soldiers to shoot through?

View from the top of the fort.

One of the fun things we get to do is have a return missionary seminar for all Dominicans returning from their missions.  We spend 2 days with them helping then use the training they have had and been using as missionaries the past two years to plan the next 5 years of their lives.  We go to the temple for a session the first night, house them at the Huespedes (temple housing) and feed them all meals while here.  It is a delight to work with these energetic kids.  We have special speakers come talk to them as well as the classes we teach.  I say we but it is Eldon in reality.

Eldon training the return missionaries

Elder Zivic from the Area Presidency.
He just spoke in the April Conference.

Class Picture!!

Clara's normal spread.  She brings tablecloths,
centerpieces and all the plates and utensils. 
No plastic for this lady.

Meal after the temple at 9pm. 
Smallest and simplest one Clara makes.

On the 27th we went to Barahona.  Because of distance (4 hour drive) we stayed Saturday night at La Saladilla hotel.  It was recommended but we will check out others next time we go.  In fairness they were doing a lot of construction.  There is no beach at this place to speak of.  A little disappointed with the place for the price.  We had time Saturday so drove south along the coast.  What a lovely place.

A friendly lizard posed for me.  There are
a lot of them in the Dominican.

The total beach at the hotel!

The ocean is beautiful and the color astounding.
This view was from our drive down the coast.

Pirates of the Caribbean hotel in one of the small
villages we drove through on our little excursion.

The coast is rugged and beautiful except in the few
places where there are sandy beaches.

The definition of a tourist is someone who drives
500 miles to take a picture of their car!  This is our car!!

Poinsettia trees growing along the road.

Not many places are safe to swim.  The tide has a tremendous
undertow and the waves can be brutal.  But oh how lovely!

We even found the white cliffs of Dover.

As with Bani, the people of Barahona were happy to have us come.  They don't get administrative people there very often due to the distance.  They invited us back whenever we can. It was their branch conference.

Arriving for the branch conference.

Eldon loved the traffic in Barahona.

We drove to Bani on the 29th for an afternoon meeting where Eldon gave a great presentation to the leadership. And on the 30th Eldon began an accelerated job search for 5 young people to help them get a job quickly.  The classes are great but there is no follow up and we are concerned about the successes of the participants.

Well I will stop here and continue February on the next one.