I have a dream...many think I am crazy but I think I know what I want but am unsure how to get it. MY goal is a life in the DR... not necessarily in the poshest part of Santo Domingo, but a modest place in the outskirts. I have been visiting La caleta for the past 5 years and am very close with a family there. I often help them out. I feel they are on my side and will not betray me. I am 50 years old, and the idea of working in the USA for another 12 years before I can start claiming my pension and full 401 K is daunting.. I want to leave now. I am by no stretch of the imaginiation rich- but have a fair amount right now in 401k plans and I have some savings. The money is going down the drain in NY . I rent, and am single. I have stayed in la caleta and find the people spectacular- very very poor, some richer than others ,but no one is rolling in it, the place is dusty and basic, the lights go out 2 or 3 times a day, and services are definitely not what you would expect here in the USA...but nonethe less I yearn to go back every time I leave to come back home. Right now I am dying inside and can't wait for the weeks to pass quickly till Feb 26 when I return. I feel I am leaving home whenever I leave La Caleta... mainly because the family is close to me now and the kids all know and hug me.Last time I left 10 days ago, there were tears all around.I pay most of the rent on the family's house- 45 bucks a month, and my friend Juan pays the difference of 20 per month. He can;t pay any more- he works as a motoconcho and supports 5 kids and a wife.
The house has no shower , no water except a faucet outside from where they bring in buckets of water for the shower and toilet. It has three bedrooms( well two and a small storage room that I sleep in when I am there) a living room and a kitchen - and if I were there full time I would make the place into a palace. I could quite happily live there. I seriously am thinking about moving there in the next few years, using whatever I can pull from the accounts I have before I am 55, pay the penalties, and deal with it. I wonder what I should do to maybe generate some money. I know Juan and his family live hand to mouth.. he makes money on the moto- brings it back at lunchtime, she buys a few eggs some rice and makes lunch with it- he has abeer, goes out , makes a few hundred more pesos, brings it back , she goes to the colmado, makes dinner, he has abeer, goes out to the parada again...this is how they work day to day. No savings, nothing for the future... as they say it, Que Dios quiere, such faith... can;t imagine ever living like that here in the USA... but there is something about this that facinates me... everyone is like that there and they all look nourished and more to the point- HAPPY AND SMILING- far more than my counterparts here who have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Maybe I 'm looking through rose-coloured glasses, but for all our money and services, it appears to me we are missing a valuable part of living that the poor in the DR seem to know well. They don't get mad about things. They accept their lot. Sure money would be great as proven by all the Pale and Bancas all over where Juan and his mates dutifully pay their spare cash in the hope of becoming millionaires- but when they have nothing- they don;t seem to be consumed by depression. Alright.. maybe I'm a Dominicanophile or whatever it is called, I love the music, the people, the food, the availabilty of cheap fresh fruit, the respectful kids, the smiles, EVERYONE greets when they come onto a bus or into a shop, the havoc on the road, the way people sing on the guagua, the way they are so thankful when you do something so small to help, - somebody help me.... I have it bad... I know I want to go there but am not rich... what are my options???? I 'm throwing this out there in the hope I might get some good feedback - please try not to be too negative- yes I know I am a dreamer.........................cheers Mike
The house has no shower , no water except a faucet outside from where they bring in buckets of water for the shower and toilet. It has three bedrooms( well two and a small storage room that I sleep in when I am there) a living room and a kitchen - and if I were there full time I would make the place into a palace. I could quite happily live there. I seriously am thinking about moving there in the next few years, using whatever I can pull from the accounts I have before I am 55, pay the penalties, and deal with it. I wonder what I should do to maybe generate some money. I know Juan and his family live hand to mouth.. he makes money on the moto- brings it back at lunchtime, she buys a few eggs some rice and makes lunch with it- he has abeer, goes out , makes a few hundred more pesos, brings it back , she goes to the colmado, makes dinner, he has abeer, goes out to the parada again...this is how they work day to day. No savings, nothing for the future... as they say it, Que Dios quiere, such faith... can;t imagine ever living like that here in the USA... but there is something about this that facinates me... everyone is like that there and they all look nourished and more to the point- HAPPY AND SMILING- far more than my counterparts here who have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Maybe I 'm looking through rose-coloured glasses, but for all our money and services, it appears to me we are missing a valuable part of living that the poor in the DR seem to know well. They don't get mad about things. They accept their lot. Sure money would be great as proven by all the Pale and Bancas all over where Juan and his mates dutifully pay their spare cash in the hope of becoming millionaires- but when they have nothing- they don;t seem to be consumed by depression. Alright.. maybe I'm a Dominicanophile or whatever it is called, I love the music, the people, the food, the availabilty of cheap fresh fruit, the respectful kids, the smiles, EVERYONE greets when they come onto a bus or into a shop, the havoc on the road, the way people sing on the guagua, the way they are so thankful when you do something so small to help, - somebody help me.... I have it bad... I know I want to go there but am not rich... what are my options???? I 'm throwing this out there in the hope I might get some good feedback - please try not to be too negative- yes I know I am a dreamer.........................cheers Mike