Santo Domingo

My Darling Joel thought that it would be a good idea to take me away on the weekend following my other darling, Carlota, passed away. He planned us leaving Panama on Friday and spending the weekend and Monday somewhere. He was very right. It was a very good idea, because I was able to re-direct my mind into other shores, into other stuff, into lands never seen before... and off we went to Santo Domingo, capital of The Dominican Republic.

If you want to pronounce it as a Spanish speaker does, you must use any tiny itsibtsy Spanish knowledge you might have in your veins and pronounce it thoroughly, pronounce every letter of both words, have your mouth full and say “Santo Domingo”, as if you really want everybody around you to know you are talking about Santo Domingo!! They all say the city’s full name, no nicknames here, just the full name. Even the pilot, who for sure is not Dominican, pronounces it in a way that hints he is proud to be taking all passengers to Santo Domingo!

Joel was quite clever when he chose our destination, because I was terribly sad, actually still am and only few things can temporarily drive me away from the thought we no longer have Carlotinha with us. Early European History in the Americas is one of them.

For us, people from the New World, Santo Domingo is very important and even if one is not into History, one has to recognize that The Dominican Republic was the door to Europeans in the Americas. That is where Christopher Colombus or “Cristobal Colón” as he is called in Spanish speaking communities, first arrived back in 1492. Christopher did not anchor in Santo Domingo as his very first port of call, but according to the archives, Santo Domingo is where he decided to start a village because it was the prettiest place. So my friends, voilá, in Santo Domingo you can find the first cathedral of the Americas, the first paved street of the Americas, the first university of the Americas, the first house or palace, pharmacy and off they go with a long list of firsts. So completely cool that it’s not even funny! I LOVED it!

Then, after we had done a whole load of History, we went to the beach in the Caribbean for some more suffering, LOL!

It's hurricane season, but we manage to leave the island one day before a hurricane arrived. Phew!!

And to finalize it all, do you know what is the name of the airport at Santo Domingo? Because they can afford it, it is called “Aeropuerto las Americas”! Never mind that there are many other airports throughout North, Central and South America that handle thousands more flights a minute, but… they are not in Santo Domingo therefore they have to settle with a less exciting name and go for “XYZ International Airport”.

The palace where Christopher Columbus's son, Diego Columbus lived

America's first cathedral

The ceiling of the cathedral has never needed any restoration!The official entrance to the cathedral
life on a Saturday afternoon by the
cathedral's plaza!
In nowadays, we rarely go to a bank, but should you need to go to one, how about going to a bank located in this atmosphere?

Flavoring the streets of the Historical
Santo Domingo

Ambar Museum

Fancy a fruit at Las Bocachicas beach?

Mother nature leting people know that a hurricane was on its way.

Governor's palace, built in 1512

The view from our room

Happy tourists

Thank you darling husband, thank you for your sensitivity in realizing that we were going to have difficult days ahead and therefore planning some very interesting distractions. We still miss her, but now, we can add to the sadness, a huge satisfaction for having enjoyed these days in Santo Domingo!

Handcuffs x Wife

My friends, I am in total shock, I am paralyzed, I am petrified, I still cannot believe that such a beautiful and sexy language like Spanish is, could carry in its dictionaries such a huge inaccuracy and gaffe, not to mention people’s mind!!

This morning, after Joel and I woke up but were still in bed, I turned on the TV to watch some nothing, just to get our daily Spanish exercise going. Before I go any further, let me bring you into the Panamanian TV picture. Here they have many channels with shows ran and produced in Panama, therefore all in Spanish and like everywhere else, we also have cable. The shows through cable channels come in its original language and have Spanish subtitles. These subtitles have been a great source of learning for Joel and I during this "learning Spanish" phase as well as, have been the local channels in Spanish. This way we sometimes hear Spanish and sometimes we read Spanish and it has all been working well.

So, in this morning’s exercise, we learned that the Spanish word for wife and for handcuffs is the SAME, "esposa" for wife and "esposas" for handcuffs and what is worse is that their word for husband is a whole new word, nothing to do with the idea of imprisonment!!

I am in shock... have loads to say should I ever bump into Cervantes!!

A bit of my Panamanian day for you.

Today was one of those days that really “pinched” my emotions, with plenty of ups and one down. My heart survived it all, so here I am, still alive, talking to you and that is good.

I met new people which was exciting. Four of them were Brazilians and the way I got to them was because they have a hobby… which is… guess… guess…. yes bingo, you got it… scrapbooking! Panama City has three scrapbooking shops. One is actually an art shop that has a small scrapbooking corner. The other is really good for stamps and the third one is pure bliss, pure scrapbooking and that is how I connected with one of these ladies who then introduced me to the other ones… you know how it goes, it’s the domino effect all over, really cool!

The other lady who I also met, is an American married to a Panamanian who has lived in Singapore. There, by chance, they met some good friends we have, who have, via the virtual world, introduced us to them. The chemistry was also a great one, especially when talking to each other, we found out that we had both lost long loving dogs in the same week. We lost gorgeous Carlota and they lost Bobby who was 13 years old. We also discovered that her hobby is photography, that as most of you know, is something very close to my heart too!!

Then, after these ups, along came the low. I went to the vet to collect Carlota’s ashes that came with a nice card from team there and once again, I was able to talk about her passing, confirming that her actual passing was peaceful without any fits nor painful for her. The infection that started in her intestine was already largely showing in her urine, hence the frequent peeing on her last night here with us. Joel and I will take her ashes to a specific Pacific Ocean beache she visited on a weekend outing we had. This way, we will have Siggy, our absolutely cute, gorgeous and so gentle Golden Retriever, who passed away while we were in HK and whose ashes were sprinkled on that extreme of the Pacific Ocean and now Carlota, sprinkled on this side of the vast Pacific. Who knows they meet halfway, hey?

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.Panama City has quite a few parks. One of them, is right by the sea and it's called "Cinta Costera" or Coastal Belt. It's really nice, loads of space for pedestrians, a bicycle route, playing areas for kids, parking and a wonderful scenery.

The way to Cinta Costera from our place.

Part of Cinta Costera, with the city at the back

Joel and Carlota enjoying the extreme heat (or not!). Punta Paitilla at the back on the right. If plans go as they are now, we'll live in the next Punta along from Paitilla, Punta Pacifica.
Part of old Panama or "Panama Viejo".
Pacific Ocean beaches in and around Coronado

On the way to the beaches, we passed over the famous and indispensable "Puente de las Americas" or Bridge of the Americas, built in 1962. In other words, for many decades, this was the quickest and most used way to cross over the magnificent piece of engineering, The Panama Canal. It connects the two mega huge pieces of land, South America to Central/ North America. Because it has this particular "connecting" feature, in my mind, it would be a massive bridge, with bands playing on either sides, neon signs saying something like "congratulations, you're the Nth car to cross THE Bridge" and a souvenir card would be given to you on the other side", but only in my dreams, LOL!! The Bridge is short, quick with no toll charged to cross it!

... life in the aftermath

And so life goes on and we just live with it!

It’s hard… it feels weird… it feels something is drastically wrong and it indeed is! Carlotinha is not around and won’t be around any longer… coming back home is just not fun now. For the last 13 years nonstop (to this date) I have arrived home to a dog waiting for me. In those days it used to be gorgeous Candy, an English sheepdog we had. She, like Carlota, had no tail, so her whole body would shake, more than a true salsa lady shakes her hips while dancing, when any of us got home. Then along came Carlota, who was ALWAYS so terribly happy to welcome us home, to the point that lately, we had to disguise our entry after a vacation away to avoid her fainting. Two and half years after Carlota came to us, we got beautiful Siggy, a golden retriever, who passed away prematurely at the age of 5.5 years old. So you see, it’s hard coming home where there is no longer any barking nor hip dancing and the only movement is the air shifting around with the door opening movement.

It’s hard not having to go out late at night for the last pee and poo of the day, it’s hard being out and about and not worried to return home so that Carlota isn’t alone for much longer, it’s hard not having her full one meter body ALWAYS on the way of everything we wanted to do around the house, because she was also checking whatever we were doing, it’s hard not having her to check at night and it’s hard us not being checked by her when she woke up as if she were just making sure we were all fine and not needing any help, it’s hard eating an apple and not having her to give the middle bit or not having her for the last slice of the sliced bread from the supermarket, it’s hard not needing to keep small plastic bags for her poos… it’s tough, really tough… and the reason why it’s tough is because dogs ARE indeed men’s very best friends and as best friends, they are always there, always available for what you might need.. they are there, just there, right by your side, ready to be loved and ready to love you! Such an amazing unconditional love they give us, oh how marvelous!

I never realized how much company these dogs have kept me. In the last years, I was NEVER alone, never, I mean never… even when Joel was away, the girls out of the country and the helper on holiday I had them to talk to, to hug and to worry. I don’t mind being alone, but it’s just a new circumstance that I was not used to and that makes her absence even more obvious.

Carlota’s life was mission accomplished and that is a very comfy feeling we are experiencing. She lived life in full, at its max, at all times and that was very cool!

Although difficult for me, because I re-live the whole thing again and again, it fills my heart with immense satisfaction situations like when I called the driver who picked us up at the airport when we first arrived here in Panama to schedule a new pick up with him and as I start reminding him who I was, he interrupts me and says: “Senora Odila, I don’t remember you but I remember Carlota” and gives me a big laugh, or the child who had a “date” with Carlota every afternoon downstairs and sees me without her and goes “au au?” (Spanish for barking in children’s language) twisting her hands as in “where is it? or the senior gentleman who parks his car right next to us in this building and sees me without her and asks: “where is Princesa Carlota?” or even the valet parking guy from a fancy hair dresser in the neighborhood who used to see Carlota and I walking and now sees just me and asks for my “granny dog”… it really fills my heart with delight… it’s pure bliss!

Once again, thank you very much for ALL your very loving expressions of care towards us. As a friend of ours said when she called: “I am calling but I have nothing to say”, she says… “I just want to be there with you and for you” and that is what happened with all of you. It was like you were here for and with us. Thank you thank you!

The one and only!

Ouch, this will be a hard posting… to write about our very dear Carlota and not have our so loving and so beloved Companion around us any longer is very difficult. It’s hard, it’s painful and its not pleasant…

Thank you VERY MUCH for all your warm emails and phone calls on her passing. Although far away from us, you were all very close to us in these last 2 days! She passed away in her sleep in the early hours of Monday. Her heart just did not take the stress and stopped beating.

Of course, there is no need for us to say here, how very difficult this is, because although we are talking about a dog, she was totally part of our lives, a complete member of our family who, by the way happened to have 4 legs. As many of you know, she was simply a human being who looked like a dog (some might even say a Gremlin) and a dog that was so ugly with supersize lips/tongue and a crooked tooth sticking out that she became cute.

These last 3 months after we left HK, were especially great and we mean it, because she REALLY participated in EVERYTHING we did. We have no idea what was going on inside her mind about this whole pilgrimage from Asia to Central America via Africa but, never mind, we were all together and that was awesome!

To say that the four of us (poor David, don’t want to drag him into this “super love for dogs thing”, that some might not see as normal) are grieving is so obvious that it is like saying that the sun will rise tomorrow. In the middle of all this grief, we are choosing, also as a tribute to Carlota’s attitude towards life, to be SO VERY TOTALLY GRATEFUL that she did not die from any of the many flights she had to endure lately, or the extra heat in Miami, or from green water puddles in Angola, or cancer that would have made her suffer for a very long period of time and also for Joel and I never having even to consider taking the decision of putting her to sleep. We are very grateful she went quickly and kind of peacefully for her own sake! Amen to that!

We have been trying to find words in either Portuguese, our mother tongue, English or now in Spanish to express our total satisfaction to have lived ALL that we lived with Carlotinha, but have not found anything that could really express how fantastic these 12 years with her were!! Yes she was a very naughty dog, no she was no saint, yes she did have a bit of an attitude but all these naughty doings of madam, were only good reasons for a delicious laughter just a few minutes after they happened.


Thank you Carlota, Cacá, Carlotinha or Pititica, thank you, it was an amazing adventure to have you as part of our family! Again, we are at a loss for words, so as cheesy as this sounds, you Carlota, will be forever in our memories and you will live forever in our hearts!!

Carlota, we never have a dull moment when she is around!!

Carlota, Carlota, we never have a single dull moment when you are part of our lives! Thank you for breaking our routines so intensely!!

I want to be positive and I need to be positive, that Carlota will get over the present scare, but I am still living hours of a certain anxiety.

Last Thursday night, around 6 or 7 PM, Carlota started showing some clear signs that something was wrong with her. She was peeing every hour and as we went into the night, she clearly was uncomfortable, in pain, pacing all over and even growling at herself or looking at me with a certain lost look. She looked for places in the flat she had never been before, like the guest room’s shower place!?!?!?!

Needless to say that I was at the vet early on Friday morning. After examining Carlota, the vet felt a “mass” and of course the word “mass” brings the cancer ghost into action. Boxers are very prone to have cancer.

On my way to the X-Ray machine, I was thinking about this "mass" and came to the conclusion that there were very little chances that it were cancer, as Carlota went through a thorough physical examination by the Angolan vet prior to coming over to Panama. Here in Panama, 1 week after the Angolan physical, she went through another thorough physical by the Panamanian vet and none of these two vets, felt any mass, therefore, we were talking about a mass that was at the most 1 month old. In my non-medical mind, I thought it was difficult to have such a big mass developed in only 1 month!

I called Joel and asked him for some memory help… “Joel would you say Carlota got much worse with her peeing situation after the “fruits” incident?” After some thought, Joel agreed with me! Bingo, I was 99% sure it wasn’t cancer but seeds from nectarines or peaches.

After the x ray, I went back to the vet and told a story that had happened during the week, on Tuesday afternoon. Joel and I had a meeting to go at 3 PM. I took Carlota out for a good walk prior to us leaving for the meting. Around 5 PM, I dropped Joel back and went somewhere else. I called him to ask if it was all ok when he got in, only to find an upset husband on the other side of the phone… Carlota, in an act to show how upset she was for not having gone to the meeting too, had brought down the fruit plate and eaten: 2 bananas and 1 of it’s peel (the other peel was on the floor), 2 mandarins with all the small seeds and peels, 2 nectarines and 1 peach and of course, their seeds too!! Oh my Lord, help us here!!

Making a VERY LONG day of x-rays and tests shorter for you all, on Friday, at 9:10 PM, she went into surgery that lasted 3:30 hour. They removed 1 peach seed from her intestine, that not only was blocking the passage of feces, but was looped, stuck to the wall and whatever else!

Carlota is now 11.9 years old, and such a surgery has taken its toll on her. Her temperature went REALLY low after the op, almost to a shock level. This morning her urine was quite smelly but clear and her temperature was a bit higher, not yet ideal, but better. Her enthusiasm is zero and her tiny tail isn’t wagging. She is of course, hospitalized.

But in spite of the above picture, I’m positive and sure she will defeat these health obstacles and give us many more fun moments here in Panama! Come on Carlotinha, you can make it, please please!!