Not Yet

Sorry to disappoint, but we're still not letting the cat out of the bag regarding the changes mentioned in the last couple of posts. The reason is timeline related. We can't make it known until the timeline is definite, and the timeline is very dependent on a lot of variables... so....

We spent 1/2 the weekend getting the house spruced up for a potential re-visit to the real estate market; up on the roof, touch up painting, cleaning, gardening, etc., etc. Still a bit more to do before we contact an agent, but it looks as though we will attempt to sell again.

The second 1/2 of the weekend consisted of a trip to Seattle yesterday. Coffee at a favorite spot we spent much time at while Ev was in massage school, a trip to volunteer park, then on to the Rhododendron garden, and we finished up with a look around the shops at University Village and a lovely bowl of noodles at Zao.

We realize the posts aren't as exciting as of late, but hang tight, we will be ramping it up in the not too far away future!

"The day you decide to do it is your lucky day." (Japanese Proverb)

Post DR - update

Since we’ve been back from the Dominican Republic we’ve been plotting some more. Can’t say too much at the moment, but we’re getting ready to make some pretty big changes…. Stay tuned – we’ll write about it as soon as we can let the cat out of the bag.
In the meantime we’re getting ready for our next trip to the UK and Iceland this summer. Plans already made or in the making include a summertime festival by a cathedral, a trip to Cornwall with Andy’s mum and dad, and a trip up to northern England to see Aunt Shiela and Uncle Alf, stopping on route in Hull (where Andy used to live) and Nottingham (to visit Nottingham Forest). Iceland plans include visiting some of the un-spoilt wilderness there (maybe skipping the volcanoes), a trip to the world’s oldest parliament and Viking remains, and the highlight, puffin spotting!
We’re also seriously considering another try at selling the house and moving into town and to somewhere smaller, to make life and our future plans a little easier.

That’s all for now. We hope to post some of our Dominican Republic pictures soon.
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“We choose to give up something we want for something we want more” (Unknown)

Las Terrenas

Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic. Sitting on our patio outside our bungalow, listening to the birds singing in the tropical trees as a bright green gecko watches me watch him.... Lovely.

So we have quite fallen in love with Las Terrenas, a local town at the end of a winding and pot-holed filled road on the northern coast. A mixture of locals, expats and the more adventurous tourists. There's plenty of local color that is tempered by, but not overrun by, the fairly minimal presence of westerners - but enough that there are amenities that we would need (such as wifi!), but no huge resorts and throngs of westerners. We have spent the last couple of days walking the long long stretches of beaches, sitting under palm trees and getting a bit silly on the cheap rum and cokes. We like it here so much we actually cancelled the next stop on our tour (Caberete)as we don't think we need to see anymore (and had enough of the driving too).

Today we have been plotting and scheming, and if it all turns out (as it usually does), there are some ch-ch-ch-changes coming down the pipe pretty soon ... not that we're quite ready to set up shop (figurativly and literally), but we are ready to get on now with the next phase in our life-evolution. Time, we say, for some more adventure before we start again. Visiting the Caribbean and experiencing it, we are now finally able to put the final piece into the puzzle and set off to begin the next four years ...

The full details to follow, plus some pictures, once we are home.

Curious What We're Up To?

Well, it's been quite the adventure thus far. The first night we arrived late and drove a rental car in a downpour trying to find our hotel... which we did but couldn't find the exit from the freeway to get there. After alot of trying, we did get there. So glad we sprung for the more expensive hotel near the airport for the first night!

Next we were off to Bayahibe. It was lovely, but didn't seem a good fit for our project. Too mellow, really. The tourist presence is nil except for those in huge entourages from the nearby resort... and they pretty much just parade through town on their way to excursions... no stopping by local vendors. Big adventure here with our tire going flat and loads of ahrgy bargy to get a new car. Ended up having to phone the credit card company to make use of our travel emergency benefit to get an interpreter to help sort it out (yes; our Spanish needs a lot of work if we are to make the project happen!)... ended up putting on the spare and driving to the nearest Europcar office about half an hour away. Got it sorted, though.We did visit a couple of local bars/cafes that gave us some good ideas for what we might do if in the DR.

Today we drove for about 4 hours to reach the beautiful town of Las Terrenas. Looks promising so far, but we've only just arrived. If we do like what we see the next day or so, we may well just finish out our DR time here.... we shall see.

Lots of driving has meant seeing lots of the country in a short amount of time. This gives us a fairly good overview in and of itself. Andy has done all except that first night (Evan was put off with getting lost and all). It is challenging, but not impossible, and it really is letting us see the county more freely.

We'll sign off for now. More later.

Tulips, movies, and DR dreaming

With now only a week to go to our trip to Dominican Republic, we have been busy preparing. We have chosen to focus our research on three main regions – the south coast (includes Boca Chica and Bayahibe); the east coast (Bavaro and Playa Uvero Alta – avoiding the stretches of all-inclusive resorts around Punta Cana); and the north coast (Las Terenas, Cabarete and Santa Barbara). We are staying in local B and B’s with the hope to make connections and build bridges with other small businesses and organizations. Other areas sound great, but we need to focus our energies on tourist areas that have the ‘right kind’ of tourists – i.e. ones who are out and about in the local communities and who are likely to stop and shop at a charity business. Although many tourists go to the Dominican Republic, the majority of them stay on the infamous all-inclusive resorts, rarely straying out of the safety and confines of their created paradise…. So while we are heading of to a Caribbean island, there is not a lot of emphasis on vacationing and sitting around drinking mai-tais (maybe one!)

Life continues in all other areas. This afternoon, when we have completed yet another garden project, we are off to visit the tulip fields of Washington – it is the annual tulip festival where there are acres and acres of tulips being grown across the fields of Skagit County – and now is flowering time – quite a sight!
Our treat has been to buy two more of our favorite movies of all time (used copies of course!) – Big Fish and Up, to add to our small but powerfully inspirational collection, which includes Love Actually, Magnolia, Beautiful Thing and American Beauty!

We have also been getting to know one of bird neighbors very well – a young robin is intent on getting in the house and spends several hours a day tapping on the window or sitting on the sill and looking in. In Native American symbology, the robin is an animal totem that represents springtime and new life. We have tried telling him we’ve got the message, but he’s still there – tapping away as I type!
We’re off next Tuesday early morning, so look for our next post from the Dominican Republic.
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“Following you dreams may be hard, but ignoring them is disastrous” (Ingrid Collins)

DR plans and impossible things

It can be challenging balancing the daily needs of living in this culture with our dreams and projects, especially finding the time to do all the things we want to do. And of course to work on many of our goals requires money, which we have to work for, which takes time, which means less time for our projects, etc. Anyway, we continue to try and find the optimum balance between dong and being.

Most of the plans are now completed for our upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic to investigate the possibility of setting up our charity development project there. We are going to be driving around several of the areas popular with tourists, avoiding the all-inclusive resorts where tourists rarely leave the compound, and staying at local bed-and-breakfasts along the way. We are driving around the country, which sounds like it will be an ‘adventure’. But it is pretty much all sorted out and we are now looking into other organizations that we could make contact with (including one with a connection to Monterey, CA – thanks mom!).

Took a day trip to Seattle yesterday – our first day off in a while. Did our favorite things, including coffee (naturally!), walking in one of the glorious Pacific Northwest waterfront parks, second-hand book and CD shopping, and ethnic food! Lovely. We also finally got around to seeing the ‘Alice In Wonderland’ movie (Andy is a Big Tim Burton fan). Evan liked the movie, Andy was disappointed with the large liberties that were taken with the original stories. The correct ‘impossible things’ quote is therefore listed below as our quote for today (which was said by the White Queen actually, not Alice … says slightly obsessional-sounding Andy).

We continue with long-term plans also, and with more garden projects designed to make it easier to care for the house. And we have been planning our side trip to Iceland, which should include Viking remains, puffins and laying around in white mud and hot mineral water…..

……..
Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast …” (Alice Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll)

Keeping On

We’ve been working this week on a thorough plan for our Dominican Republic trip. It’s going well, though taking a bit longer than we’d thought. We have pretty much ruled out the southwestern portion of the country due to a lack of tourism and accessibility. There is a lot left to plan, but we are still on course to be set and ready for our nearing departure date.

Andy continues his volunteering. The dog walking at the Humane Society is still going strong, while the Literacy Council winds down; one student has decided to leave the program having put in a solid two years, and the other has moved away. Andy is considering increasing his time spent with the dogs both because there is a great need, and because he thoroughly enjoys it!

Also this week, Evan made an announcement to his mom; we had eluded to the fact that he has been doing quite a bit of learning, but we have held back on the specifics, because it was important to him to settle into this new pursuit without outside influence. The short version is that he is completing his bachelor’s degree. This week is spring break, so he has spent some time away from studies and now is getting organized for next term: sex and gender, primate studies, statistics, and social psychology. He was already half way to a degree, and since returning to his studies, he has completed two terms at this university. The degree he is completing is in Anthropology/Sociology (Anthropology emphasis) with a minor in Religious Studies.

We are spending more time enjoying the lovely place we live as well as focusing on lovely places abroad. In that vein, we went out the Mt. Baker Highway to an eagle nesting park yesterday. We missed the season to see the eagles, but it was beautiful and scenic, and it felt really good to be somewhere so lovely having traveled only 20minutes from home.

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"and if we are not willing to listen to our own voices, then why should anyone else bother?" (Toinette Lippe)