Day 8

Things are starting to hit a plateau – no major intensity today. I went to the verizon store, I finished a book about people working for the UN in third world war situations, and I watched the weekly ex-pats / Dominican soccer game.

Lane is having some rough edges. I can’t tell if this is a reaction to the trip, or a reaction to being 10.

I have to write about the French sometime. They have such a worldwide reputation, and I’m starting to understand why. This community has a large French population, and they seem to make no effort to mingle with the non-French community. I don’t have a lot of experience to go on, but their behaviors are starting to fit in with all the Faulty Tower gags I’ve known.

We’ve been here one week. The internet connection saga has taken up a larger than fair chunk of time. I want to start taking advantage of the limited time we have in a tropical community. I’d like to snorkel at least once a week. I’d like to improve my Spanish. I’d like to get better food. I’d like to take walks at night.

The Super Bowl is this weekend in the U.S., and I haven’t heard a single peep on it. This IS paradise.

Paul the Boston policeman who lives here fulltime and sits in the corner restaurant each morning with a beer and a cigarette told me that the people we were considering buying land here from last spring don’t have the best reputation. As he put it, “If you shake their hand, you better count your fingers afterwards.”