Warning - DR related but otherwise off topic for any forum I have access to...

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
8,671
1,133
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It's another beautiful sunrise on the North Coast, harbinger of another day of scorching heat, mucho sweating and a few other not so pleasant realizations.

I've been here a month and my body is still complaining. I have resigned myself to the fact that from the time I get up until the time I go to bed, I am going to be soaking wet. I am so glad that my sweat doesn't stink or maybe I'm just oozing water so fast that it doesn't have time for smelly bacteria to grow before it forms large droplets and falls to the ground. By 9 am I have completely soaked my first handkerchief and am on to my second. I was lead to believe that my body would adapt to the high heat and humidity, but I guess someone forgot to tell my body that. Oh well, I will endure.

Both dogs have the runs. I'm surprised they are not dead after watching both of them eat all sorts of insects, vegetation, lizards, something I have yet to identify and guzzle gallons of pool water. My kingdom for solid stools to clean up each day. See, my expectations of the DR aren't all that unrealistic!

I'm a barefoot kind of guy around the house. I suspect I'm a closet nudist as the less clothes I wear the happier I seem to be. I read up on the indigenous fauna before I arrived to make sure I wouldn't get eaten or otherwise incapacitated as I staggered home after a night of drunken debauchery. Much to my chagrin, there are no places within staggering distance for me to engage in any sort of excess consumption so that is not really an issue. I digress. Last night while out with the dogs in the yard, barefoot of course, I spied with my little eyes some movement a few feed to my left. What did I see? Crap, one of those 6 inch adult centipedes with a bite that packs a wallop. We dispatched him or her in short order but now everywhere I look I see these miniature versions out looking for mom/dad. Great, now I have to check my shoes even more closely before I stick my feet into them. Scorpions, can't be far away.

What's with all the freakin flies? I sit down on my terrace to enjoy my morning coffee & baileys and am surrounded by a hoard of copulating house flies. Does the good Lord not care that I am already dealing with all manner of twisted nature and would appreciate a little bit of a break from these common annoyances that when added up tend to make one a tad grumpy?

It's now 07:30 and the sweat is just a pouring down my forehead and all I've done is consumed 4 cups of beans and baileys and pounded on a keyboard. It must be time to don my bandanna and go clean the pool before it gets too hot to even venture into the scorching UV rays of mid-morning.

Despite the trials and tribulations of my new home, it's not all that bad. I've met some really nice people, I'm not starving, I've managed to sweat away about 10 lbs and apart from all of the annoyances that I've outlined above, at least I don't have to worry about the frost warning that is in effect up north. All in all it's been a pretty good experience, just different and that was to be expected. My opinion is subject to change based on a whim or some external factors that I have not yet recognized.

I'll keep you all informed.

Carpe Diem.
 

LTSteve

Gold
Jul 9, 2010
5,449
23
38
It's another beautiful sunrise on the North Coast, harbinger of another day of scorching heat, mucho sweating and a few other not so pleasant realizations.

I've been here a month and my body is still complaining. I have resigned myself to the fact that from the time I get up until the time I go to bed, I am going to be soaking wet. I am so glad that my sweat doesn't stink or maybe I'm just oozing water so fast that it doesn't have time for smelly bacteria to grow before it forms large droplets and falls to the ground. By 9 am I have completely soaked my first handkerchief and am on to my second. I was lead to believe that my body would adapt to the high heat and humidity, but I guess someone forgot to tell my body that. Oh well, I will endure.

Both dogs have the runs. I'm surprised they are not dead after watching both of them eat all sorts of insects, vegetation, lizards, something I have yet to identify and guzzle gallons of pool water. My kingdom for solid stools to clean up each day. See, my expectations of the DR aren't all that unrealistic!

I'm a barefoot kind of guy around the house. I suspect I'm a closet nudist as the less clothes I wear the happier I seem to be. I read up on the indigenous fauna before I arrived to make sure I wouldn't get eaten or otherwise incapacitated as I staggered home after a night of drunken debauchery. Much to my chagrin, there are no places within staggering distance for me to engage in any sort of excess consumption so that is not really an issue. I digress. Last night while out with the dogs in the yard, barefoot of course, I spied with my little eyes some movement a few feed to my left. What did I see? Crap, one of those 6 inch adult centipedes with a bite that packs a wallop. We dispatched him or her in short order but now everywhere I look I see these miniature versions out looking for mom/dad. Great, now I have to check my shoes even more closely before I stick my feet into them. Scorpions, can't be far away.

What's with all the freakin flies? I sit down on my terrace to enjoy my morning coffee & baileys and am surrounded by a hoard of copulating house flies. Does the good Lord not care that I am already dealing with all manner of twisted nature and would appreciate a little bit of a break from these common annoyances that when added up tend to make one a tad grumpy?

It's now 07:30 and the sweat is just a pouring down my forehead and all I've done is consumed 4 cups of beans and baileys and pounded on a keyboard. It must be time to don my bandanna and go clean the pool before it gets too hot to even venture into the scorching UV rays of mid-morning.

Despite the trials and tribulations of my new home, it's not all that bad. I've met some really nice people, I'm not starving, I've managed to sweat away about 10 lbs and apart from all of the annoyances that I've outlined above, at least I don't have to worry about the frost warning that is in effect up north. All in all it's been a pretty good experience, just different and that was to be expected. My opinion is subject to change based on a whim or some external factors that I have not yet recognized.

I'll keep you all informed.

Carpe Diem.

The good news is that you are heading for cooler weather. Good luck.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
some advice:
don't wake up at 7 am.
don't eat beans at 7 am.
:)

dogs, if brought from abroad need to be treated for parasites. a vet will sell you yellowish paste (in bottle or syringe) for oral application. the quantity depends on size of a dog. at first it is given once a week or once every two weeks. after few applications you do it every few months. you can also inject them, providing they are over 6 months of age. vet will instruct you further. i would also recommend keeping a large bowl with fresh, clean water for them, changed twice a day. they may still drink from the pool but many dogs will prefer simple tap water.

cienpies... i am generally against killing any animals here. but centipedes are fast and their sting hurts very bad. they can also possibly kill smaller animal if they sting nose or mouth. so yeah, dispatch. large spiders, called cacata here, are pretty much harmless, leave them alone or push away with a broom. scorpions are limited to certain areas of DR and also harmless. if you want a more permanent and natural solution to insect issue, get a dominican cat. it will deal with everything.
 

dulce

Silver
Jan 1, 2002
2,524
211
63
This post could have been a cut and paste from Harleysrock. He wrote many of the same things when he arrived.
DV8, he is not eating beans he meant he was drinking coffee (beans) with Bailies cream.
Alcohol will make you sweat like a pig.
Thanks for the chuckle this morning Cn-gringo.
Ain't paradise great? I could have written the same things when I first lived in the DR.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
113
Dear Lord of the Flies. You aren't in "Can-sas" any more. Of course you realize that as you perspire profusely in October. I don't know if you will adapt to the warmer humid tropical weather or not. I am from upstate NY (so I know what really bad weather as in some parts of Canada is like) via California (so I know what fantastic weather is like) and have been here for 11 years full time so for me, I have adapted as much as I will and I would much rather sweat than be cold. That said, the weather in California is far superior.

Do have your dogs treated properly by a veterinarian and yes be careful of those centipedes. I finally saw one of them last year and also dispatched it quickly. Still the only one I have ever seen here in Cabarete. One thing to be very careful of are the toads. If a dog should pick one up in its mouth, the venom can be fatal.
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
8,671
1,133
113
I took a little literary license when typing the above. The amount of pool water ingested by the dogs is not really gallons more like a few times a day. They have a large tub of tap water with a huge chunk of ice in it and seem to prefer that most of the time. Both dogs originated here in the DR. Both have seen a vet recently. One is a rescue from AAASosua and the other was "rescued" from a private individual in Cabarete. I suspect the change in diet, stress of a new home and maybe some Hatian Voodoo curse for the turbulent bowels. We've only had them about a week. If it doesn't correct itself in due course we'll see if we can't find some corks...
 

pelaut

Bronze
Aug 5, 2007
1,089
33
48
www.ThornlessPath.com
Sounds like all the complaints from snowbirds while I was growing up in south Florida.
Some snowbird habits may be just the wrong thing to do in the tropics.

Example: don't kill those daddy long-legs brown "house spiders", nor the tarantula.
They don't spin webs, but they DO eat other insect larvae, especially mosquitoes.
Same for most lizards, geckos, chameleons . . .​

So if you come down with Chikumgunya, it might be from the mozzies that lived because you killed their natural predators.
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
8,671
1,133
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Just to be clear, for those who English is not your first, second or third language, I wasn't complaining. I just had some free time and felt like venting a bit while at the same time offering those who can appreciate sarcasm/irony the opportunity to have a chuckle at my expense.

As for slaughtering everything that moves, that's not what I said or implied. I humanely took out one gigantic centipede that posed a threat to me, my family and my pets based on its proximity to our house. I have lovingly convinced several spiders, numerous lizards, three praying mantises (sp?) and one bird to relocate to a more suitable living space with resorting to violence.

Now back to our regularly scheduled slog fest....
 

Chip

Platinum
Jul 25, 2007
16,772
429
0
Santiago
I've been here for almost 10 years and have adapted to the heat. I don't have ac and only find it uncomfortable in July-August. I expect the most common reasons for one's body not adapting to the heat would be being overweight, drinking too much or having poor circulation.
 
Aug 6, 2006
8,775
12
38
Like scorpions, centipedes like damp, dark places, such as shoes and boots. When I lived in New Mexico, which has both, I followed the custom of turning over my shoes and boots and giving them a shake before putting them on.

After a year of doing this, I did shake a small scorpion out of a boot one morning.

Luckily, there is no where to hide in a chancleta.
 

Olly

Bronze
Mar 12, 2007
1,914
104
63
Cdn-Gringo,
Glad to hear you got one of your adopted dogs from AAASosua = Brownie points! So where did you end up living ?

The weather should change at the end of this month when the first cold from from North America pushes through but be warned November is the WETTEST month on average on the North Coast !

Olly
 

wrecksum

Bronze
Sep 27, 2010
2,063
96
48
Those centipedes have a nasty bite for sure. I've been lucky so far and not experienced it here but I have seen some monsters (and despite my pacific,understanding and tolerant nature, dispatched them to neverland.).

Not to be confused with the harmless long black millipedes. They are innocuous and you can pick them up. My kids used to play with them like little trains......

I have finally seen a decent sized snake here for the first time. It was a Hispaniola Boa about 4 feet long but had lost the contest with road traffic unfortunately so was somewhat flat.
 

whirleybird

Silver
Feb 27, 2006
3,264
322
83
I have finally seen a decent sized snake here for the first time. It was a Hispaniola Boa about 4 feet long but had lost the contest with road traffic unfortunately so was somewhat flat.

This is the largest one of those which I have had in my garden being taken away to be disposed of by my worker, Tuly.

5nvhao.jpg
 

wolfdr

New member
Nov 13, 2007
3
0
0
Hey gringo----I feel your pain! I spent two summers in the DR, and swore full-time living here was not for me. And yes, a guy can lose a lot of weight. I'll be back in 3 weeks; too cold up here and very comfortable in the DR. This will be my 9th winter on the North coast, and i really do prefer it to most places I've visited just keep telling yourself "there's no such thing as heaven on earth" and as soon as you stop sweating you'll find lots of reasons to praise the DR
 

cjewell

Bronze
Oct 11, 2004
1,160
0
0
When my aunt came to DR many years ago to visit when I was living in Sosua for a stint she turned beet read and kept repeating "it is so stinking hot"... she said she will never come back because she was never so hot in her life LOL. The heat never hot to me until this past year - particularly the last 3 months before I came back a couple of weeks ago....
 

Bob K

Silver
Aug 16, 2004
2,520
121
63
That thin layer of moisture covering my total skin area from July till late October I call my summer sheen and I have had it every year for the last 9 years. You just get used to it.

Bob K