February 19, 2012 Luperon

Sunday, February 19, 2012

This morning started out with the water as smooth as glass.  About 9:30 the wind picked up and a great tropical breeze flew into the harbor and it has been like this all day.  It did the same yesterday and I found out it is always like that here.  Wow, what a place!  Surrounded with mountains, Luperon is considered to be one of the finest and safest Hurricane hole in these islands.  I believe it.  It is protected by mountains all around.  This place is amazing.  Not like the islands of the Bahamas or Exumas or Turks and Caicos.  It is completely an island of it’s own.  It’s going to be hard to leave here for me.  Nothing special, just the beauty and lifestyle.  Friendly people, lots of sailboats and plenty of locals who I have attached to already, or perhaps they have taken me under their wing, I am not sure, but it was a certain bond!  We dinked over to the Puerto Blanco Marina and checked out their flea market per se.  This is where to meet people if one just opens their mouth and starts a conversation.  That would be me.  I have never met a stranger, not for long anyway.  Before I knew it I had a handful of ladies sharing stuff and funny stories.  Although we didn’t buy anything, we did have a great cup of coffee, found a table and I asked if we could join them since most of the tables were full.  “Sure” and the next thing we knew, English speaking people were sitting next to us.  They live here also.  Came and never left.  I understood why.  Miss Ella was one of the eldest ladies I met, proper lady with a flower corsage and a beautiful smile.  Her daughter Margie, had a table of charts and jewelry and we struck up a conversation also.  Next thing you know, I was invited to Yoga classes by Susan from s/v “Voyager”  and I took her up on it, thinking another way to meet new people not to mention that I needed some Yoga anyway.  Susan’s husband, Ron, is in the states right now at a friends wedding.  He will be back in about a week or so.  We are planning to have him make a new dodger for Casa Mare’ and perhaps a few repairs on the job sail.  Bruce Van Sant came upp and he and Fred met and talked for about an hour.  Fred seemed excited to meet him.  They have a lot in common and enjoyed each other.  Bruce wrote the book, “A Gentleman’s guide to Passages South”, which happens to be Fred’s favorite sailing reference book.  Bruce introduced us to his wife Rosa and we hit it off big time.  Rosa said she would like to show us around this afternoon.  She took us to a fantastic beach near a resort that went bankrupt and is now closed.  We traveled along dirt roads and she gave us the .50 cent tour of her neighborhood oh Gringo Hill.  The homes were simple and the views were breathtaking.  We also went to Evelyn’s piece of property up on the hill which is now in the process of being built.  We ended up at Bruce and Rosa Van Sant’s home, taking in the panoramic view around them.  We spent an hour on their patio laughing and having a grand ole time.  It was time to go if we were going to make it back to the boat before dark so we took advantage of the downhill trip to the boat and walked instead of having Rosa take us.  Downhill meant back roads and short cuts, through poor neighborhoods, goats and cows roaming along the sides and in the middle of the roads, Roosters perched on walls, maintaining their guard position for any intruders.  It was hard to see the landscape because I spent a lot of my time avoiding animal poopie piles all over the dirt road.  Evelyn didn’t seem to mind it a bit, she obviously had a bit more practice than I did but I am sure I will get better at it.  Evelyn is also the local road repair lady.  We all had to pick up a nice big rock in each hand and carry it until we reached the part of the road she had been working on for the past three years.  A piece of art indeed.  She had her own method of where to place them and it looked very similar to a cobblestone road growing bigger and bigger.  She has done this all herself and people like us who were with her to help.  Now I can say we have made a difference here in Luperon, helping build a road up to Gringo Hill.  We finally got to the marina and made it back to the boat as the sun was setting over the mountains.  It was a lovely day.  I also met a lady named Lois who actually started beach church in Georgetown years ago but now lives here.  There she was, the perfect lady to ask about churches around here.  I couldn’t believe how well I fell into the comfort zone of Luperon.  I absolutely love it here.  I bet we end up staying more than a month, we will see.  Rosa Van Sant gave me almost 2 dozen  key limes so I am going to search for a recipe to use them in.  Can’t let those go to waste.  It’s nice to know that we now have someone to ask about where to find things and where to go and what to do.  Although we are going to do some work on the boat ourselves while it is on the hard, we will probably need a place to stay for about a week so we are checking into apartments for a week or so.  They are very reasonable here, 400.00 a month.  I can’t wait to see the country!  The Lord has blessed me with new smiling friends and a beautiful day!