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?

My favorite color must be green because I'm always taking pictures of green things! This scene is an alcove in our living room. These things grow without much attention!

Altos de Chavon is a charming re-creation of a medieval European hamlet, complete with homes, shops, a church, statues, fountains, 5000 seat amphitheater and winding cobblestone streets that lead you to beautiful views of the flowers, trees, and the Chavon River gorge below-- and wondering how the vision for all of this came together in 1979 for a very wealthy man for his 16 year old daughter's birthday.

What do we have--new style earrings? colorful weights? Or is this just some ordinary Dominican mangoes? You would have to taste these to believe how unbelievably smooth and sweet they are!

Swinging free and easy, leaving all cares behind. Life is good in a swing. Man is that he might have joy!