Welcome to another monthly blog.

When I started writing these blogs, I was not very focused on how regular the blogs would be written, but it seems to be working out to be about once a month. Last month I actually did a video blog for the first time. Next time I think the blog will be a video again.

At the end of July, I had been thinking about possibly travelling to Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Around June I had seen return flights from Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, to Bogota in Colombia for US $225, so I was seriously thinking of doing a trip down through Colombia Ecuador and Peru. I took some time thinking about it, as I wasn’t 100% sure that I wanted to do it this year, and also one of my main reasons for staying here in Sosua was to work on my writing. By the end of July or the beginning of August when I checked the travel websites again, I discovered to my shock that prices had now risen to $800! So the decision then became an easy one :-)

Having decided to stay here and work on my writing, has been a pretty good decision. I did also get tempted with an option to travel up to New York as a cousin was travelling near there, and it looked like it could be fun to meet her nearby in Maine where a distant relative lives. If I had done that trip, I also intended to attend a Hay House convention in Philadelphia. However, the options of just staying here and saving money won the day. Given that I am not doing paid work this year, living as economically as I can, is something that I often try to keep as a priority.

I have been down to Santo Domingo. I was there about two weeks ago for an environmental film Festival. I stayed there for two nights. Relative to hotel prices in other countries, I suppose paying 1000 peso per night, similar to US $25 is pretty good. But when not working, staying in my apartment in Sosua is even more economical :-)

To get from Sosua to Santo Domingo, I take a bus with Caribe Tours. The journey takes about five hours, not too bad really. I think there may be buses which do not stop in Santiago, and if this is the case, that could make the trip four hours.

The film Festival was held at Agora Mall in Santo Domingo. As a gringo, I find myself feeling very cynical about such shopping malls, mainly because almost no one frequents them. This is the reality of living in a country with much poverty and corruption. To make things even more ridiculous, there are many stores such as Armani which are expensive even in gringo countries. The reality becomes that when you look into the expensive stores, you usually do not see any customers, but just one person working there. There are exceptions though. At Agora Mall, the food hall is reasonably busy, but again, nothing like what you will see in other countries. Something about this which is additionally strange, is that a normal large pizza at Domino’s will cost between $15 – 20! At this mall, one other store is reasonably busy and that is called Jumbo. It is a bit like Kmart or Target, a cross between a department store and a supermarket.

Anyway, the film Festival premiere movie was screened at the cinema at this mall. I was pretty proud of myself managing to find my way there. On a previous visit to Santo Domingo, a friend who lives there showed me how to get from zona colonial to the mall using public cars and the train system.

I got to the cinema about 4:30 PM as the premiere was scheduled for 5 PM. I had found the information on the website to be a bit confusing. Not everything was in English, many things were only in Spanish. I was not sure whether the film would be screened in English or Spanish, and whether people attending would be speaking English or Spanish. Inside the cinema waiting area, many people were doing a photo shoot for models, as the film was about the clothing industry. I found myself feeling awkward on my own, but also noticing others a little bit similar. I went and spoke to a volunteer only to discover that she spoke no English, but she took me to meet one of the key organisers who is generally based in New York or Washington DC. DREFF organised the film Festival and various meetings and activities, and from what I understand they organise similar festivals in other developing countries. We spoke briefly as I understood that he would be busy with many people to assist and greet. I told him of my Facebook page and other activities to develop environmental education and action while I am in the Dominican Republic. He told me that he might have someone useful to introduce me to later in the evening. I then returned to the space where I had been standing, noticing a fairly regal gentleman who looked like he was probably Dominican but also quite middle-class and educated. Next thing a waiter appeared offering large glasses of white or red wine; I gratefully accepted a glass of red. My first sip told me that this was good wine! I think the truth is that wine can relax us and make it easier for us to socialise. I also felt that because I had been given something nice for free, I wanted to do something good in return. And what I could think of at that moment, was to step out of my comfort zone and go and talk to a stranger, this regal gentleman J.

We began talking about various topics discovering we both had concern for the rubbish problem and other environmental issues in the Dominican Republic. Soon a friend of his arrived and she spoke reasonable English as well. She was a veterinarian and he was an architect. Next thing two men walked past us, smiling and greeting us and of course shaking hands. After they had moved on, I once again returned to my thought of wouldn’t it be great if I could meet some government leaders while here in Santo Domingo to talk about environmental issues. I certainly hoped that someone significant from the government would be at the film premiere. I spoke once again to the architect and shared my wish, to which he responded “you just have”. We had just shaken hands with the new minister for the environment! I said to my architect friend, I wonder if we can talk to him a bit about environmental ideas. He was very certain that we could go and talk to the Minister, so that is what we did! The Minister was very friendly and polite, he did not speak a lot of English and had to ask me to speak slowly. Many others were also keen to talk to the Minister, so we did not talk to him for long. I gave my business card to him and he said that he would have one of his associates who lives in Puerto Plata near Sosua, contact me. The associate has not contacted me yet, but many things in the Dominican Republic are disorganised or take much more time than in developed countries. Hopefully I will hear from him soon, but there may be other options for sharing ideas and strategies with the Minister now that we have met face to face. In some ways I do not seek onerous tasks or responsibilities for myself, but I have been involved in environmental education and action most of my life, and I know that I have many smart ideas that could effectively and efficiently move things forward here in the Dominican Republic, especially on environmental concerns.

The film premiere involved nearly an hour of talk which was entirely in Spanish. I did understand only a little bit but the film was in English with Spanish subtitles, so I guess you could say I won on that one :-)

After the film ended I quickly made my way back to the subway taking the two trains to get back to where the public car would go from to Zona Colonial. I was a little bit hesitant about this travelling at night as the time was about 9 PM. But the travelling went very smoothly and I was back in Zona Colonial within maybe half an hour. I have a couple of friends who live in Zona Colonial and met one of them at Parque Duarte where we talked and shared some rum. Like many Dominicans who live in Zona Colonial, his family house is fairly valuable but the family is poor. Zona Colonial is a fairy historical area, buildings of 500 years’ age including the house where Columbus lived.

The next morning, I went to my favourite cafe where they serve a really nice breakfast of eggs, toast, ham and Coffee. I then went to various shops to hunt for various things as around Sosua there are not so many stores. In the afternoon I returned to the mall as I thought there was another film screening, but discovered that any more films shown in Santo Domingo would be at schools and other locations. I explored another shopping mall and also went to IKEA where I wanted to buy a light for my second apartment.

The next day I did some more shopping in the morning but also realised that there was nothing else that I really needed to be in Santo Domingo for. It is interesting to explore Zona Colonial as it is very historical but around that area there is also a lot of rubbish and air pollution plus very hot, so I figured returning to Sosua would be a good decision. I found a taxi who waited while I got my bags and he dropped me outside Caribe Tours at 10:57 AM. I had my ticket by 10:58 AM and they were telling me that a bus for Sosua was leaving in one minute from the first or second platform. I think I was the last passenger on board, and away we went!

One of my reasons for thinking of going to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru was to escape the heat. What I have found is that I am more used to the heat now than I was a few months ago. It is also true that people become more skilled at avoiding the heat as well. People stay under covers as much as they can, and generally use cars and other transport to avoid walking in the heat.

A lot of the time I do get distracted by Internet, Facebook etc, but I have been writing more than before. Many conversations I am involved with on Facebook have also become notes for a future essay e-book.

Most of my days involve waking up, getting ready for the day with shower, breakfast, coffee, meditation, facebook and other computer tasks. Some days I go to the gym about 11 AM and I then go to a comedor in a small supermarket where I get a pretty good lunch for 100 peso. I often then hang out with Irene, a friend from New York who has been coming here to the island for 17 years. We often spend an hour or two talking about many things. Then I return to my apartment where I do some reading, writing and other tasks. I then swim 30 laps of the big pool here, before it gets dark. In the early evening I usually do some more writing and then watch movies in the later evening.

Expect my next blog in about a month. Thanks for reading :-)