From My Perspective

Below are a couple of shots I took from my windows and/or balcony of my upstairs apartments, above the Centro Cristiano. It's a pretty interesting world out there, in a slow small town sort of way. I'm not always sure what's going on, but it's interesting to watch.

There's always the never ending parade of people coming to buy their lottery ticket at the local "banca" just across from me. And, just in case you don't want to walk very far, it seems there's a 'banca' about every 200 to 300 feet in this town. For some reason the poor always seem to be the victims and trying to buy a dream comes easy. But only the owners of the "bancas" ever get rich.

This house below stores recyling of beer bottles. And, Presidente (local Dominican beer) rules the day. Dominican's do love their Presidente. I've never tried it; beer's not my thing.

My house sits at an angle in the street, so you can pretty much see down the street from both sides. The below picture is looking north up the street from my balcony. I'm in a fish bowl. People tell me, "Hey I saw you in the window last night." People watching I think should be the official past time in the DR. We are always being watched. You get used to it.

Getting to Be a Real Missionary

I don't think you get the official "missionary" title until you have to kill a rat in or near your oven. Well, I've finally made it into the club of rat killers. Well, more properly stated, I supervised the killing of the rat in my kitchen, but I still think I'm in. I have to confess I sorta ran in the opposite direction when it first popped out of the oven, but then realized it was a Kodak moment, so headed back into the kitchen to watch the battle and subsequent killing. It was pretty amusing. Kevin and William were the real killers! You may have to click on the picture to get it big enough to see the varmint.

And then there's the never ending mosquitoes, see below. This is just a small fraction of mosquitoes I kill seemingly on a daily basis. And for what ever reason, I am choice meat for them. Others, including my Mom when she visited, were uneffected, but I get bitten on a daily basis. It's another battle between the forces of nature. And, the really funny thing is that it's just part of what you have to do. It becomes "normal". I think I killed about 50 that time, but you only see half in this picture. I'm guessing dengue fever is in my future. Kinda surprised I haven't already had it. And, one of the things I look forward to each time I go home, no mosquito bits for a week or two. Pretty nice!