Luperon, DR
19.54.031N
70.56.897W

You know, you really don't exercise on a boat the way you do on land. I figured that running up and down our stairs on the companionway half a dozen times a day would put me in pretty good shape. However, today I feel each and every one of the 365 steps I climbed yesterday.

Dale and I went for a walk over the hill to the beach today to help loosen my legs up. Elaine and Roger joined us. We walked by 'Gringo Hill' where the ex-pats live and through the resort over by the beach. Then we followed a dirt road up the hill to the plateau that marks the way to the entrance channel to Luperon. From up there the view was magnificent. We could see the ocean to the north, the channel to the east and the harbor to the south with the mountains in the distance. Intermingled with all of this was farm land. Roger, Elaine and Dale deferred to my farm girl judgment in passing a herd of cattle that lounged in the middle of the road. So I picked up a stick and took the lead. I'm happy to report that nothing happened. Even the two Brahma bulls laying in the middle of the road ignored us as we passed by. (I have to admit, after wacking them on nose if they had challenged us, I'd run like hell. I try not to mess with bulls.)

If you only saw this little corner of the island, you'd live here in a heart beat. At the top of the hill looking down, there was a small house tucked below the plateau yet still quite a bit higher than sea level. It had a beautifully tended lawn and a rock fence surrounding the property. There's something about that house that's stayed in my mind. A lot smaller than the gringo houses but so peaceful and serene.

Later, Dale & I walked into town and stopped into Steve's Place where he checked our e-mail and I rocked Stephanie, Steve's 4 month old daughter, in a wicker rocking chair on an open air veranda. We met MTNest and Moon Goddess for lunch, then we dropped by the local bakery on our way back to the boat for a couple of loaves of freshly baked bread for slicing up and dipping in olive oil sauces for appetizers on MTNest later this evening. We were joined by our regular group plus Edgar on Nine-Twenty-Four (Jenny wasn't feeling well) and Marc and Louis, a couple of French Canadians on their way to St. Martin to pick up their wives. It was a wonderful day for enjoying the simple things in life.