Well, to all of you that have so graciously sent me PMs, and emails and phone calls, I am "back". I was able to survive the "Taino Terror" ..
Way back last Wednesday the 23rd of March, me 'n the missus and one of young kin took off for that ridiculous place called La Romana to join most of the rest of the family already assembled. Bein' the pore relatives we sorta had to work the first two and a half days of the week..
We left Santiago at 4 o'clock and arrived over very good roads to Romana by 8 that evening. No problems, few stalls along the way-toll booth at Las Americas and the Elevado in Santo Domingo-the road was well marked, and easy to drive. There were some nasty potholes just the other side of San Pedro, after you cross the bridge and before you hit the main highway. D@mn, they were nasty and you couldn't see 'em, since we were driving in the DR and it was Headlights vs. Headlights!!
Cocktails, cigar and wonderful conversation before dinner (An ambrosia of delicious plates too numerous to list, and the wine to die for!) all in moderation.
Golf at La Romana Country Club the next morning where the group included some really great folks. Played a fair game, beat my host by 6 shots and the 19th Hole was fun as he (my host) organized the paella for Friday night.
They name tossing was so funny! What about so-and-so? No, the S.O.B. has that dumb schit from (one of the failed banks) staying there, too. Oh, Okay. The thing is these guys are friends since at least high school, the kind you never, ever, have to "catch up" with.
That evening we had a B-B-Q of Rib Eye (Angus, of course) and had a ton of fun with a bunch of real friends, like young Jean Antonio, Mauricio, Stanley and a few more folks, maybe 20 or so for dinner. And lots of good wine ..too much for me. I hit the sack like a rock...
Golf the next morning was not the best, but any day o9n the golf course is wonderful and the horticulture around the LR CC is just plain awesome. They have a bougainvilla red that I have not seen anywhere else. And the houses! An architect's workbook-and there are good bad and fantastic places to comment on as one looks for wayward golf balls. Everytime I tried to make a decent putt, the d@mn ball kept moving-or maybe it was my "slightly"clouded vision?? :ermm:??
The afternoon went to gathering ingredients for that paella: lobster tails by the kilo, giant shrimp, tiny shrimp, fish, rice, all the ingredients of a super first class true Spanish paella. I slept until almost dinnertime. Meanwhile the kids had been to the beaches and the smaller ones were well turned into little pieces of charcoal...Marco, my own treasure, had been down there for a week when we got there! The others were fast catching up. The "younger" crowd had enjoyed a series of parties as well as all of our festivities. That evening, I was happy to meet and enjoy a long conversation with Kalil Hach?, a well-known polo player and socialite, who was an officer in Trujillo's army and still holds the rank of colonel and "Personal Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces"...I can see why he is so well regarded. About 30 sat down for the paella...It was great.
Saturday was spent with the grandkids roaming around Romana, getting tires fixed for the trip back, then swiming in the pool with the grandkids, and, of course, more eating (no lunch though) with another 20 close personal friends....
Sunday, I was up early to start the turkey we had brought-frozen-and seasoned...got the stuffing in it and into the oven by 9:30 a.m. We had a wonderful pre lunch swim, got every thing ready to hit the road, and sat down to a great last meal of turkey with all the trimmings-sorry Rocky, this was "as good as"--
We hit the road at 3:15 and we were home before 7:00 p.m.!! I could not believe it!! It was incredible!. NO, I mean NO traffic to speak of. Okay, getting out of La Romana was a bit of a hassle with a guy in a Prsche Cayenne hauling a huge twin motor speed boat, but once around him (but not for long!-he "tore up that road!---)but once out in the open it was smooth all the way to Santiago. No potholes! (of course there were! but you could see them in the daylight!)
Got home, plunked down to watch part of the Player's championship and BAM. Uh Oh! What's this? Dang! That hurts. Must have caught too much sun in the pool this morning..Go wash up a bit more. No, still too warm. Temp is 100?F..Whoa..where's the Tylenol?? And that is about all I recall until about 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning when things started getting back into place.
Talked to my son in FL who was also there and it hit him and his wife, too. Do not know if any of the many other guests were affected. Be sort of bad if one of our meals wreaked part of the DR economic structure....
So, things are settling back down to normal-at least for here.
Probably one of the most peaceful and pleasuresome weekends ever ( and that's more that 3400 weekends we are talking about). While it is not "Dominican" reality, it is pleasureable reality. There is nothing else to say. I mean, hey Escott: is there a US$1.2 million lot on the whole North Coast? And we're talking maybe 1500 meters...I don't think so...this is "different" ..And believe me, I love the North Shore..it has just developed in a different manner and by different people. The CFO of Cap Cana was there and he confirmed the $3.4 million check to Jack Nicklaus for the three signature courses there, with the first one opening late this year. And, Nick Faldo is doing a course for a major chain, Western?? I don't know, up near Macau .
Golf will bring major money to the tourist trade fore sure.
So, good folks, that is what I have been up and "down" to over the past eight days. Many thanks for all the good wishes.
HB
Way back last Wednesday the 23rd of March, me 'n the missus and one of young kin took off for that ridiculous place called La Romana to join most of the rest of the family already assembled. Bein' the pore relatives we sorta had to work the first two and a half days of the week..
We left Santiago at 4 o'clock and arrived over very good roads to Romana by 8 that evening. No problems, few stalls along the way-toll booth at Las Americas and the Elevado in Santo Domingo-the road was well marked, and easy to drive. There were some nasty potholes just the other side of San Pedro, after you cross the bridge and before you hit the main highway. D@mn, they were nasty and you couldn't see 'em, since we were driving in the DR and it was Headlights vs. Headlights!!
Cocktails, cigar and wonderful conversation before dinner (An ambrosia of delicious plates too numerous to list, and the wine to die for!) all in moderation.
Golf at La Romana Country Club the next morning where the group included some really great folks. Played a fair game, beat my host by 6 shots and the 19th Hole was fun as he (my host) organized the paella for Friday night.
They name tossing was so funny! What about so-and-so? No, the S.O.B. has that dumb schit from (one of the failed banks) staying there, too. Oh, Okay. The thing is these guys are friends since at least high school, the kind you never, ever, have to "catch up" with.
That evening we had a B-B-Q of Rib Eye (Angus, of course) and had a ton of fun with a bunch of real friends, like young Jean Antonio, Mauricio, Stanley and a few more folks, maybe 20 or so for dinner. And lots of good wine ..too much for me. I hit the sack like a rock...
Golf the next morning was not the best, but any day o9n the golf course is wonderful and the horticulture around the LR CC is just plain awesome. They have a bougainvilla red that I have not seen anywhere else. And the houses! An architect's workbook-and there are good bad and fantastic places to comment on as one looks for wayward golf balls. Everytime I tried to make a decent putt, the d@mn ball kept moving-or maybe it was my "slightly"clouded vision?? :ermm:??
The afternoon went to gathering ingredients for that paella: lobster tails by the kilo, giant shrimp, tiny shrimp, fish, rice, all the ingredients of a super first class true Spanish paella. I slept until almost dinnertime. Meanwhile the kids had been to the beaches and the smaller ones were well turned into little pieces of charcoal...Marco, my own treasure, had been down there for a week when we got there! The others were fast catching up. The "younger" crowd had enjoyed a series of parties as well as all of our festivities. That evening, I was happy to meet and enjoy a long conversation with Kalil Hach?, a well-known polo player and socialite, who was an officer in Trujillo's army and still holds the rank of colonel and "Personal Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces"...I can see why he is so well regarded. About 30 sat down for the paella...It was great.
Saturday was spent with the grandkids roaming around Romana, getting tires fixed for the trip back, then swiming in the pool with the grandkids, and, of course, more eating (no lunch though) with another 20 close personal friends....
Sunday, I was up early to start the turkey we had brought-frozen-and seasoned...got the stuffing in it and into the oven by 9:30 a.m. We had a wonderful pre lunch swim, got every thing ready to hit the road, and sat down to a great last meal of turkey with all the trimmings-sorry Rocky, this was "as good as"--
We hit the road at 3:15 and we were home before 7:00 p.m.!! I could not believe it!! It was incredible!. NO, I mean NO traffic to speak of. Okay, getting out of La Romana was a bit of a hassle with a guy in a Prsche Cayenne hauling a huge twin motor speed boat, but once around him (but not for long!-he "tore up that road!---)but once out in the open it was smooth all the way to Santiago. No potholes! (of course there were! but you could see them in the daylight!)
Got home, plunked down to watch part of the Player's championship and BAM. Uh Oh! What's this? Dang! That hurts. Must have caught too much sun in the pool this morning..Go wash up a bit more. No, still too warm. Temp is 100?F..Whoa..where's the Tylenol?? And that is about all I recall until about 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning when things started getting back into place.
Talked to my son in FL who was also there and it hit him and his wife, too. Do not know if any of the many other guests were affected. Be sort of bad if one of our meals wreaked part of the DR economic structure....
So, things are settling back down to normal-at least for here.
Probably one of the most peaceful and pleasuresome weekends ever ( and that's more that 3400 weekends we are talking about). While it is not "Dominican" reality, it is pleasureable reality. There is nothing else to say. I mean, hey Escott: is there a US$1.2 million lot on the whole North Coast? And we're talking maybe 1500 meters...I don't think so...this is "different" ..And believe me, I love the North Shore..it has just developed in a different manner and by different people. The CFO of Cap Cana was there and he confirmed the $3.4 million check to Jack Nicklaus for the three signature courses there, with the first one opening late this year. And, Nick Faldo is doing a course for a major chain, Western?? I don't know, up near Macau .
Golf will bring major money to the tourist trade fore sure.
So, good folks, that is what I have been up and "down" to over the past eight days. Many thanks for all the good wishes.
HB