Cocotal and our new Villa in Punta Cana 2020-2022 – Part I

In late 2019, I had decided to leave Abu Dhabi and retire to the Dominican Republic. I need to write an entire entry about that decision and the process that followed as it became very stressful and convoluted.

Nevertheless, we arrived in Santiago, Dominican Republic on the 9^th of March, the twins’ second birthday. They were celebrated in business class on the flight. It was special. I should write an entry on retirement as well.

Anyway, Covid had just hit, and we barely made it out of the UAE. The world was in a panic. Shortly after arriving in San Francisco de Macoris, where Denny’s parents live, the city was put in a quarantine, as it was ground zero for Covid in the Dominican Republic. Her father had prepared an apartment above his small store (Colmado…I have an entry on that also). It was for me a very nice time although we were pretty much locked down, rarely leaving the property. That is when I started this blog for something to do. I will write about those three months at another time as well.

In the beginning of June, buses were starting to travel again, and I hopped on one of the first ones to look at properties in Punta Cana. I was robbed in Santo Domingo on the way (I have written an entry on that), but eventually arrived to look at houses and ended up buying a Villa in the Cocotal Golf and Country Club.

There was a lot of psychology involved in this impulsive purchase. We had been locked down for three months in a small barrio. When I first saw the villa and walked around the vacant golf course, I felt I could breathe again and imagined my kids having the freedom to run around, even during Covid. I brought Denny there the next week and after spending a night there, we decided to buy it.

It was a huge what they call Duplex Villa, around 4,000 square feet if I am not mistaken with an immense second floor deck looking out into our tropical garden and the golf course. It seemed to good to be true. We also had access to a five-star resort, Melia, just across the street from our development. We also had access to a nice pool within our community. What more could one ask for?

Unfortunately or maybe, I could say fortunately, we soon learned that our young son, Robert was autistic. It was a traumatic, troubling, challenging time. We had just bought a huge house with cash and were looking at a situation that might require us to move out of the country. I will write on that later as well. That is how our time began there.

The Villa was immense. The kids could actually bicycle around inside on the bottom floor. Beautiful wood was throughout the house. Mahogany, I believe. The wooden stairs curled up to the second floor landing, where there was a big open space with a highly arched ceiling. There were three bedrooms off of this second floor landing as well as a room designed for live in help on the bottom floor. The large sleeping room that some refer to as the master bedroom was huge, with a large balcony off the front. You could lay  in bed and watch the coconut trees sway in the wind. It had a very high sloping ceiling and a double shower made in the local stone called Coraline. It was fantastic for showering the kids. We had four full bathrooms and a half. Pretty luxurious.

The yard was simple, but it was enjoyable to plant exotic flower and fruits in the garden. We had a few types of banana related plants, papaya and others as well as a couple of towering coconut trees that served for a hammock as well as producing large coconuts that needed to be harvested from time to time to protect our heads.

The kitchen was rather odd and small for such a large house. It was narrow and was shut off from the main room in the house by two sliding doors. We ended up buying lots of new appliances. Refrigerator, gas stove, dishwasher and more.

We purchased a Toyota Rav 4 vehicle from our real estate agent, and it worked out well except for the unfortunate situation that it had no air conditioning that was working until we repaired it. Hot and sweaty for a while.

On top of everything else, my residency application had run into problems, so I was an Illegal alien, driving around the country with no license and no legal status. It was very stressful, but we had to drive to get to any stores to buy food or anything else. There were roadblocks in many places during Covid, so when I saw them, I had to quickly react and re-route. I always carried extra money in my pockets to bribe the police if I was stopped as that is what most people did at the time. Unnerving to say the least.

Regardless of the many challenges we settled in. We were doing everything we could to address Robert’s autism within the country, but resources were minimal. Ultimately, after about nine months, we made the decision to apply for Denny’s immigration to the USA as we thought it would be best for Robert. It was a difficult decision at the time, but it has turned out best for him. I eventually received my residency there after a year and half and having to change my name legally from James to Jim, but we were already in process to move to the USA.

I loved the Villa, and I was happy there, but we had to figure out how to part with our life there, our house and car there and move our belongings to the other side of the country as we exited the country. I think that deserves an entry as well.

Sharing some photos from our time there.