A DAY IN THE LIFE

They are called Royal Belgium chocolate thins.  They come three packs to a box and are a bit pricey.  For the box of three they were 500 pesos.  But when  you taste them....you won't care about the price

Bob K

Wonderful. what is the weight?

Do you mean what is the weight gained after eating them. 

I'm already 20 lbs heavier after living here 4 years now!
I don't think a little chocolate will matter much.
Chocolate is good!

Bob, you are most fortunate to be able to travel the world to find & enjoy chocolate from the DR.  Most of us are destined to only eat the Belgian stuff. Glad that you can enjoy the chocolates of your labors.

Sadly I can't eat the stuff but my wife now that is an entirely different story.  Chocolate according to her is a food group

Bob K

Your wife is correct as always....

Hi bob, 2-3 years ago I was with a group and we toured in an around Santiago. One place was a chocolate factory run by women only, 4or5of them. Don,t remember the name which isn't much help but I will get in the near future. And they do distribute on the island, also to a local market in costambar. I never checked to see if it was any good because it' not on my list of likes, get back to you when I find the name

Yes you can get Dominican chocolate and very good Dominican chocolate here but the highest quality stuff (as in many cases) is for Export only

Bob K

Well, let me call this post " 2 weeks in the life" instead of one day !
So we have made our big move to Sosua 2 weeks ago now.. We have been SO busy that I didn't even time to log on the forum.
So far, this is what we have accomplished: Fumigation of the house , hooked up electricity( it took 6 trips to Edenorte !! ), ordered a truck to fill up our cistern which did not have a drop in,  put in a well ( actually 7 days of digging as the first well project had to be aborted due to rocks), scrubbed down the house,  hooked up the well to the cistern yesterday ( yeah !!) got a gardener to spruce up the overgrown garden, ordered iron bars for our windows and doors, had our water dispenser fixed, got a local phone number, got internet et US Channels, learned how to take care of a pool, bargained to rent a car for long term, discovered it was a very bad thing that our inverter ( which is not working!) should have never been placed inside the house, figured out the alarm system and discovered the "gas" station to fill up our tank and took the time to go to the beach twice for a couple of hours to decompress .
The work to put our house back in shape is not over yet. We now have to take care of the inverter issue and a leak in our pool BUT we are getting there, little by little. We had no idea  we were going to encounter so many problems but it is what it is.
Despite all those little and big struggles, we are happy to be here, we met very nice and helpful locals and expats and I know that belonging to this forum has facilitated our move to Sosua..
Happy Sunday everyone !

Glad is it is working out.  Let me know a time and maybe we can get together for a president!

Bob K

Holy crap guys!
Mucho problema!
Feliz Domingo!
Well, get used to it, one day at a time!
Bob is correct!
A few Presidente's fix a lot of stuff!
Tom.

That sounds great Bob ! I am not a beer drinker but anything else will do ! We have several contractors coming Monday morning but we can probably get away for a drink in the afternoon if you are free .. Or another day of the week .

Congrats on surviving this.LOL  It is always more then you think or expect here.......more time, more problems, more money.....   

Sounds like you are doing really well with it all!!!   Good for you.

And speaking of decompressing - I am off for  2 full days of decompressing! IF you don't see me here that is why. YAYYYYYYYY for me............LOL   

Tomas .. This is only the list of the big things !!! I left out the broken oven , the leaking washing machine , the motion detectors that don't work , the broken shower .. I can go on and on ..
I had told our realtor back in August to make sure everything works before I would sign the Power of Attorney. He assured me everything was in great shape !!!!!!! Yeah right !!!

Thanks Planner ! I was telling Bob K over the phone last week that I had learned a new US expression : Bleeding money !!! You would think as a 32 yr expat in the States I would have learned that one ! Nope !! It took a move to the DR ! Lol lol
Enjoy your time off !

Sounds like you guys made the wrong choice for a realtor.
Didn't Bob give you the name of a honest one?
Good luck & welcome to my new country!
Rum does work better than Presidente, in
moderation, of course!
Tom.

Tom  ,
I have a long list of adjectives to describe our realtor but I don 't think I can write any of then in my post ! rated R !

Tomorrow afternoon works for me, at least at this point.

If I am not totally confused I believe your wife Patrice has my number.  Give me a call.

Bob K

Planner have a great break. Those are always soooo good.

Bob K

Thanks guys.....   I  will have a drink or two for everyone....  mojitos pina coladas cuba libres etc etc but no presidentes yuckkkk

Ok now you remember what happens with too much alcohol and dancing.... no more broken feet please

Bob K

Can you post the realtor here so the rest of us can be aware of them.
Gracias!
Planner, you have a great time doing whatever you want1

we were dealing with Century 21 and our no good realtor is Joe ciotti.. what a crook !!!

Be very careful before badmouthing someone here... you just never know

Bob K

Bob is right, his name would have been sufficient.   you can say unreliable, did not perform to your requests or in your case a failure to provide proper service, but don't say he is a crook.  Good luck with your new place, soon things will be OK for you. I agree that it is not a good introduction to here, but the benefits of living here will soon outweigh the troublesome parts.    And thanks for the info.   Continue on into the fray of life & you will be victorious.  The Tinker, Tuba, Gypsy has spoken.

true.. I hesitated at first and then I did it anyway..
And Gypsy401, thanks for your words of encouragement !
ok, Monday morning.. ready for another week to get this house in order !

Are there independent companies in DR that can carry out a building inspection prior to finalizing any purchase agreement on properties. If not, it would be a good business to start.

Building inspections???
Under what countries laws?
Simple common sense should suffice.
Inst... was simply callin' em like they sees 'em.
I am sure they would not call someone a crook
that was not. Truth does hurt sometimes.
Truth always works for me anyway.
Thanks for the name & company.
Have you tried talking to Century 21 head office?
That might be your only solution. Unless you're
just writing it off to a "learning experience", which
I would never do. But that's me. I love justice & revenge.
Have a great day all!

Tomas, I'm with you all the way.  Proper revenge is best upon reflection, not on reaction, best eaten cold, we have a long history of that.

Where, oh where are MP & 57 ?    As they say in the windward isles, .... We need  a Jump Up", with Mocko Jumbies too!

Absolutely! Plan carefully, do it.

A friend in Montreal was going to try and sell his house. The buyer brought in a building inspestor and he discovered that a oil tank had been baired under his house. I dont know how he found it but i would be willing to bet any normal buyer would never discover that. What laws do you need to be told the foundation is rottin or electrical wiring is not to standard. Just like buying a 10 year old car. Wouldnt you want to get it inspected before buying it or are you going to listen to the salesman when he says it is just like new. How many times have we heard that phrase.

Lesson learned for us. We will take some of the blame. we were too naïve, not assertive enough and absolutely trusted our realtor when he told us everything was in working order.

You are learning grasshopper

Bob K

yep we are !! and.. Bob, I am so happy we got to meet today !!

Yes it was nice.  You guys are going to do ok

Bob K

Remember that  realtors for the most part here, work for more then one party!  You need to protect all your own  interests, do not rely on anyone else.  Always get more then one opinion and several estimate for everything.  Find someone honest and reliable - keep him or her close!  Don't share them with everyone or they won't have time for you. 

I had a very nice  2 day hiatus.  I went to a place in  Bayahibe,  only complaint was the lack of internet and NO signal on either of my phones.  Kind of imposed break from the madness. I am back at it again....

By the way  - nothing got broken!