Teaching my first Yoga class in Luperon

I am in a very happy space today….. this morning I taught a Yoga class in Luperon. I got up fairly early this morning and got organized, the first time in 6 months that I was being able to teach Yoga again. I was very excited, but also a bit nervous. Got all my yoga mats out of the cupboards and other bits and pieces and then I drove with the Dinghy into town. That was a funny feeling, usually I would take a car and these days I go in the Dinghy. I love it. The classes are outside in the middle of town in a little park, not the quietest place, but its ok for now until I find a better spot. Ten to eight I was ready and already hot and sweaty, the weather here is unreal. I had three people in my class, Theresa a white gringo and two Dominican Men, 10 other people watched us doing the Sun Salutation and other beautiful postures. I do hope that the others will join in next time. I am very excited and have a good feeling that it might lead to more, so watch this space…….

Trivial Pursuit Night in Puerto Blanco

Tonight we joined the Trivial Pursuit Night in Puerto Blanco. We had lots of fun and Sven and I make sure that we stay in different teams on those nights, just to scatter the German brains! Sven really loves playing the game and I have as usual volunteered to organize the questions for next week. I cannot help myself. Sven’s team took second place and my team third place, so we are doing not too bad for Germans. These are the rules! Everyone brings a snack along! There are 50 questions and 10 questions for each category. Once we have answered half of the question we do have a little break and enjoy our snacks before it goes into the second round. Last night was a very enjoyable night and Laura the lady of SV “Free Spirit” has done another wonderful job to leads us through the night. After the game, some guys took their guitars out of their cases and played wonderful music to finish off a great night.

Carlos was really taken by the lady with the flute. He asked me if he was allowed to learn that instrument and when I asked him why, he said that the flute makes such a beautiful sound!

iHola! Como estas?

iHola!

Como estas?

Gracias

Hasta luego!

Cuantos Que es esto?

These are a few of our most important words to learn and we are doing well. Yesterday we had our first school day with Liz and a few local children. There were 13 boys and 2 girls that morning, and we all had a good laugh to learn from each other. Julia was not so sure about the whole situation, but Carlos felt quite comfortable straight away. What an experience for all of us. We had lots of fun and enjoyed ourselves very much and I am very much looking forward to next Wednesday to learn more. After school we grabbed our swimming togs and went for a snorkel and a swim on Playa Chiquita (little) and we also had to clean our Dinghy algea growth and barnicles? Even though we have been here just 3 weeks, the boat looks like a living aquarium :)

Playa Grande

On Sunday we went to the Playa Grande. It’s the beach in front of the Luperon Ocean Beach Resort. You can pay $ 50 Us dollar to use their facilities all day, inclusive drinks and food, but we decided to spend our day where the locals go. We liked it very much, a nice beach, lots of shade from the grape seed trees, music and cold drinks and a little Restaurant that is especially set up to serve food to the locals. We had Yummy potato salad with either chicken legs or fried fish. We spent all day swimming in the water or enjoying the shade underneath the trees. This was surely not our last time at Playa Grande.

Cleaning the Dinghy

Well we are here only for three weeks but our Dinghy looks like a living Reef. Lots of grass and barnicle ( I don't know if I spelled this right, I already had a couple of vodka/ Cranberry with Sarah) , unfortunatly we did not find any gold coins on it ( accordingly to Sven). However it was all men on decks to clean our dinghy to make it nice and clean and fast again. After that we did enjoyed the rest of the day on the Playa Chiquita (little) where we met up with Brucy and Rodney and Theresa the Yoga Teacher. She did entertain the children with a little puppet show. Live is good and pleasant in temperature like that, air temperature (37 degree) and water temperature is 30.5. We are off to the Water fall in a couple of days so we should have something to talk about and show you nice pictures. We love you all and even though we miss you all we are having a good time.

Girls Day Out

In the morning I got picked up by boat from Laura and Stephanie. The girls had organized a shopping day on the nearby flea market. We all (7 of us) met at the Dinghy dock and from there we walked into town to catch a ride into the next township Embark,

where the flea market took place once a week. The ride was very interesting and it took roughly half an hour to get there. I am always amazed how green everything is as soon as you leave Luperon. Most of the girls have been living here for a while and knew their way around. Once we got there, we walked up the road and turn right and …… yeah…. We were right in the middle of the big event. One stall after the other mainly clothes and shoes. I was wondering, where they got all those clothes from, as it was not cheap staff from China. I discovered that all these clothes had been donated when the earthquake had hit Haiti and now the people of Haiti are selling it to the Dominicans or they come to the markets to make it to money.

It’s unbelievable cheap, dresses and shirts are ranging from 100 to 200 pesos ($3 to $5) shoes are a bit more expensive. Some of the staff has never been worn and I scored a couple of bargains. After we had enough of that we walked to the veggie market, again what an experience, and thereafter we went to a Restaurant to have a rest before going home again. We had a drink and something to eat, Chicken and rice and all I had to pay is 80 pesos, roughly $ 1.80…..that’s the way I like it. On our way home we are already planning our next trip….. see what we get organized. This was a fun day out and I thoroughly enjoyed the female company.

Luperons Community

We have been here in Luperon now for nearly 4 weeks, and I cannot believe how fast the time is running. There is so much to see, do, discover and to be part of. After such short amount of time our social life seems busier than ever. On Sundays we have got the biggest social event of Luperon, Baseball…. Who is playing?.... Dominican against the Gringos. Everyone is having a turn and Carlos turns out to be a natural. Nearly every second day we are following the second biggest social event at present……. watching soccer. With all nations present, there is always a team to cheer for.

On Tuesday mornings you meet at the Fruit and Veggie market and on Sundays we meet on the Playa Grande near the Big Resort. The beach is lovely and has got a little restaurant that serves yummy food and cold beer! On Wednesday morning we meet up with the local children to learn Spanish and to teach English to them. Here in Luperon we have got a community of round about 70 sail boats and everyone organizes something, whether it is a Karaoke night, Independence Pot luck dinner, Trivial Pursuit Night or just simply sitting together and enjoying each other’s company. We also got invited to one of Jim and Bev’s popular Pool Party afternoons. That was fun. They do live in Isabella and have got a wonderful house with a big pool in the hills of Isabella with a majestic view over the Bay and the River