Tonight's our last of 5 nights at L'Oase Resort & Racquetball Club outside of Puerto Plata. The owner racquetball fanatic Joseph Kruchten is up in his hometown in Minnesota, so his Dominican girlfriend Vashti and her two sons have been our hosts. Every evening -- when there's electricity for the lights -- we play racquetball with Canadian Jamie and Spaniard Luis. We've taken walks along the beach, went all around the Colonial Zone of Puerto Plata, and rode to the top of a panoramic hilltop by cable car.
This place really is an oasis. I could stay here much longer. I wish Joseph had been here when we were here, even though I can only play racquetball with my left hand since I'm babying the tendinititis in my right elbow. It's really frustrating for me. Meanwhile, Andre's game is getting better. He can even beat my left hand sometimes.
This is the perfect place for sports fanatics like us: racquetball, ping pong, billiards, basketball, volleyball, gym equipment, mountain bikes, and swimming pool. They have wireless internet and Vashti is nice enough to let me make phone calls to the U.S. for free because they have Vonage.
When we went into Puerto Plata I asked Andre to take pictures of me and I took pictures of him in the same spots I took pictures of Maya last summer. It's still really sad for me because I miss her so much. It seems to me like there will never be another person like Maya ever again.
I'm still so grateful to have Andre in my life. We're dealing with a lot of challenges, particularly the new news that the average waiting time for fiance visas in the Dominican Republic is 19 months. That puts us in Dec. 2008 or Jan. 2009 before Andre can even set foot in the U.S. I hope Canada will take us. Then we could stay in Vancouver, he could improve his English, we have good friends John & I-Ju and Lisa Lackey, and I'd only be a train ride back to Santa Cruz when I need to take care of things there.
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