Tooth of the Dog golf course, one of the world's top ten courses, had just finished their annual upkeep when Hurricane Irene decided to move in. When we strolled unchecked across this beautiful golf course in La Romana, we were amazed at its beauty--every blade of grass was neatly clipped and every stray leaf was quickly gathered up. It must be a mess now with all Irene's wind and rain!

Sometimes I can't access this blog! I need a bridge like this to take me where I need to go!
I couldn't get my camera out quick enough to catch the first of two identical bridges that cross an insignificant river in eastern Dominicana. This second one should speak for itself, though, a very fancy, expensive bridge in the middle of nothing on the way to La Romana.
It sort of exemplifies the disparity in this country--excessiveness vs beggarness.

It seems half the people in the Dominican Republic are involved in security issues. Here we have barbed wire being added to a block wall around the back of the Mission Office.
There are guards everywhere at every apartment building, bank, public offices and in the parks. It's the culture of "if I see something I need, I should (and can!) take it". It reminds me of the Book of Mormon phrase that things become "slippery" as the culture decays.

Monuments to peace seem to abound almost as frequently as monuments to Christopher Columbus. This one overlooks the coastline in Santo Domingo and encompasses the world globe at its base and is in the center of a very busy traffic pattern. Not many people feel "peaceful" here as might be expected. Worse, though, is the uneasy feeling that seems to permeate that globe right now over the state of world economics. Why is living within a budget such a hard principle to understand?