Welshman in the sun

This Week In Costambar

2011-05-04T18:19:00.001-04:00

I can say,that the weekend just gone, has been a very good one in terms of people flocking to Costambar
it has been the busiest i have seen for a few years (beating Samana Santa) this weekend was another bank holiday here and it also fell on a pay day, so the beach was packed Sunday, the sun was out very early so
all the plans that had been made to travel from Santiago and La Vega were a go, places to go and money to spend? you can tell here when it's going to be a good day when you see 100 plus people traipsing down the road to the beach carrying chairs, tables and the pans of cooked food prepared early morning or the night before, followed later by bus loads of people and a very large number of cars, all with one thing in mind? having a good time with friends and family. El Carey was as packed as I've seen in a long time and with the music all the dancer's took to the floor large, tall, thin and (not so thin) everybody was out to have a good time.

As Sunday was the bank holiday, as in any country you take Monday as your day off, so again the beach was the place to be,even with the early downpour(and with more rain predicted) they came by foot by car and by bus, not in the same numbers as Sunday( a bit of rain who cares), but enough people did come, to make it a fun time on the beach and put a smile on the faces of the the beach vender's, who have, over the last year? had a pretty hard time keeping things going.

I do hope with a little bit of good fortune we could see a change in the number of people coming to Costambar we could use them.?

Map of the World Drawn Entirely Using Facebook Connections

2011-04-03T22:18:00.000-04:00

The above map of the world, drawn by Facebook data structuring intern Paul Butler using connections between 10 million Facebook friends (full-size link), is interesting enough in itself until you realize that all of the country borders are entirely drawn using Facebook friend connections too. Even if the world was dark and totally unmapped, Facebook could produce a remarkably good approximation of most of its continents’ boundaries, and even the borders of some countries.

It still took some clever math. Butler explains how he did it:

I defined weights for each pair of cities as a function of the Euclidean distance between them and the number of friends between them. Then I plotted lines between the pairs by weight, so that pairs of cities with the most friendships between them were drawn on top of the others. I used a color ramp from black to blue to white, with each line’s color depending on its weight. I also transformed some of the lines to wrap around the image, rather than spanning more than halfway around the world.
…
Later I replaced the lines with great circle arcs, which are the shortest routes between two points on the Earth. Because the Earth is a sphere, these are often not straight lines on the projection.

What really struck me, though, was knowing that the lines didn’t represent coasts or rivers or political borders, but real human relationships. Each line might represent a friendship made while travelling, a family member abroad, or an old college friend pulled away by the various forces of life.

Note the lack of definition in China and Russia, and the relative hole in Brazil. As we explained in a recent post, these countries are among the world’s last holdouts in having dominant social networking sites other than Facebook. (QZone, VKontakte, and Orkut, respectively.)

Support are Troops

2010-02-13T20:49:00.004-04:00

"Support our hard working forces"

Learn Spanish

2010-01-12T14:02:00.002-04:00

THE ANCHOR IS HOLDING A SPANISH LANGUAGE COURSE ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOONS AT 2pm.....THE LESSON WILL LAST FOR 1 HOUR.

THE COST OF THE LESSON IS 150 PESOS FOR EACH HOURLY LESSON, AND YOU WILL NEED TO PURCHASE "SPANISH IN THREE MONTHS"...WHICH WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE FIRST LESSON WHICH TAKES PLACE ON WEDNESDAY 20th JANUARY.

IT IS ADVISABLE TO PUT YOUR NAME DOWN TO ALLOW THE TEACHER TO PROVIDE THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF BOOKS...WHICH WILL COST 400 PESOS EACH.

THIS IS A GOOD WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR GRASP OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE...AND SHOULD THOSE OF YOU WHO ATTEND WANT A MORE REGULAR LESSON....WE CAN ADD MORE DAYS IF NEEDED.

CONTACT THE ANCHOR FOR MORE DETAILS.

Also available on request Rosetta Stone language CD's (full 26 languages)

Available also Spanish Language DVD's

"NEW" Places to Eat and Drink

2009-09-01T07:59:00.004-04:00

A new feature soon to this blog will be a page dedicated to places to eat and drink in Costambar

as a few places have closed down and a number of new places have opened or reopened.

location

Price

and a comment on the food and the service, when i can, so inviting you! to comment on your visit

So keep it clean,no petty snipping, they still need to trade, your view is after all YOUR view.

CAN YOU READ THIS??

2008-11-18T19:41:00.000-04:00

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100

can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd

waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of

the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at

Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht

oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt

tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit

pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can

sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the

huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,

but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and

I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Thanks to http://www.costambarmonthly.com/ for the content.

Odd Pictures

2008-06-24T13:01:00.001-04:00

Concerns on malaria in Dominican Republic unwarranted, report says - DominicanToday.com

2008-03-02T23:21:00.002-04:00

PUERTO PLATA Recent media reports in Canada have created a flood of concern about the risk of travelers catching malaria in the Dominican Republic.

Some travelers with trips already planned consider canceling to the detriment of long-anticipated vacations, though according to the World Health Organization, nothing has changed.
The following links to World Health Organization web pages provide advice about malaria and summarize the situation in the Dominican Republic, and are good reference for travelers and anyone else concerned about the situation: World Health Organization Int'l Travel & Health: Dominican Republic; www.who.int/ith/countries/dom/en/ World Health Organization: Awareness and Prevention Tips, Malaria http://www.who.int/malaria/malariaandtravellers.html;.

One reson why i like it here

2007-12-15T16:31:00.000-04:00

Dominican love drink:
Mamajuan, .
Considered a natural Aphrodisiac, this special blend of 20 roots, herbs, and spices native to the Dominican Republic has been used for centuries as a powerful vitality drink. Tourists and natives of the islands have enjoyed this secret drink for years.Typically, the only way one can get a hold of an authentic bottle of Mamajuana is by traveling to the Dominican Republic. For the first time, it will now be available in the US.This herbal aphrodisiac beverage first came into existence hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus arrived on the island of Hispaniola. It was initially discovered by Taino Indians who inhabited the island of the Caribbean region and utilised it for its vitality and health advantages.Today, Mamajuana is considered by Dominican Republic natives as a National drink. It is referred to as; "The Baby Maker" and "The Male Member Enhancer's Drink".Many of the natural ingredients found in Mamajuana are widely used today in western herbal supplements such as Chamomile, Star Anis, Anamú, Brazilwood, Cat's Claw (Uña de Gato) among many others.Unlike many other traditional Mamajuana found on the islands, Don Ramon Mamajuana is specially prepared to comply with USDA and FDA regulations set for safety and cleanliness of product. Each bottle is tamper-proof sealed and includes mixing and preparation directions.The official product launch will start this February 27 to commemorate Dominican Republic's Independence Day. "We are thrilled that finally American consumers will now have the opportunity to benefit from the ability to enjoy this traditional and long-awaited product," said Ray Payano, 26 year old Co-founder and VP of the company. "Mamajuana is an exciting do-it-yourself beverage that can be custom prepared by the consumer according to their taste preference" said Steve Zabielinsky, Co-founder and President.Arriving just in time for Valentines Day, Don Ramon Mamajuana is the first product of its kind offering consumers a perfect passion liqueur mixer that will help set the mood for intimate moments and much more.