ACE Caribbean Real Estate (ACRE) will be one year old at the end of July 2010.  The company is owned by an astute local Dominican and I am his partner.  We take this opportunity to thank all of our vendors for using www.acecaribbeanrealestate.com to advertise their properties and the purchasers for being vigilant and constantly supporting our website.

In this modern day and age, most businesses log in to the immense scope of the internet.  What on earth would we do if the internet broke down worldwide for more than a week?  The thought – however absurd – is inconceivable.

Although the main thrust of ACRE business is conducted online there are at the same time strong personal links forged with the many vendors on the Nature Isle.  We are also really happy that many clients who purchase from us are returning Dominicans who are very aware of property prices overseas; also the local Dominicans are now realizing that they do not have to sell all their land in order to free up some funds for their families benefit.  This means that Dominica will always be Dominican. We at ACRE endorse this policy whole heartedly.   Many of the other islands do not have the luxury of having as much land available as Dominica and not surprisingly, a great many Dominicans own fabulous properties. The diverse make up of terrain on this island ensures there is ideal land for private & commercial building plus ample scope for eco driven ventures and organic agriculture projects in general.

There have to be real estate agents in every country and we feel that in our first year, ACE Caribbean Real Estate has created a benchmark in a competitive market place without sacrificing the birthrights of many Dominicans even in these fragile economic times.

We try to give our customers good reliable service.  Sometimes, we work seven days a week if needs be to achieve this.

We make purchasing and selling your property easy for you.  We deal with every legal aspect of the sale for both seller and purchaser alike in an efficient and quick manner, taking all the stress and worry out of the process of buying and selling. Dominica is blessed with an efficient Land Registry and has recently upgraded its software for swifter and more accurate transactions in line with many international land registration systems. For more on this check out [email protected]

We pride ourselves that we have the biggest variety of properties in Dominica for sale on our website.    Through search, endeavour and word of mouth we are getting more properties to sell all the time.

If you wish to buy or sell a property please contact us through our website: www.acecaribbeanrealestate.com

Thanks go out to all of our clients and customers for being so supportive and helpful in our first year.  We are here to give you an excellent service and help you find your dream property right here in the Nature Island of Dominica.

We chose a property in the Syndicate area because of the climate, fertile soil, wildlife, and the fact that we had 2 streams that bordered our property. Given that we had never been to Dominica, we were a little nervous because we only saw the pictures that Lisette took of the property. We had also requested additional photos of the streams on the land which Lisette promptly did and sent them right to us. We decided to move forward with the property and could not wait to visit and see our land in Paradise. Lisette made the whole process to purchase the land extremely easy and in no time we had an agreement with the seller. She also guided us through the procedures necessary when purchasing more than one acre of land in Dominica.

This process was very easy as well. Eventually the time had come for our visit to our property. Excitement and anticipation filled our bodies. When we finally saw our land I was speechless. It was more than we expected and better than the pictures, of course!

I cannot begin to tell you how happy Lisette has made my family and me and how she made our dreams come true. Lisette is one of the most happy and outgoing people I know now and I know we can always count on her for anything. My wife and I plan on retiring in Dominica, but this will take a while. In the meantime, we cannot wait to go back to Dominica to visit our property.

Please feel free to call us if you have any questions on our experience with Ace Caribbean Real Estate. Our number is 412-427-9943. We live in Pittsburgh, PA USA.

Matthew and Hayley Maxovich

From Jamaica: Jakoostick Band

A social observation by Laurie Stevens, Ace Caribbean Real Estate

“ ….I think we should have more events like this…maybe 2 or three a year?” said Arti Martin, the more than capable MC,  from the colourful stage at the State House Gardens this past Saturday evening, to a loud acclamation from pretty much everyone within earshot. The occasion was the Second Year of the Child Concert in Dominica – dubbed ‘Music for Life’ – involving a magic mulch of musical styles and regional accents to whet the appetite of any Caribbean audience, especially the few hundred gathered in the gardens under a starry, starry night. Proceeds were in aid of children living with HIV/ Aids and I’m sure in a few days’ time, glowing reviews of the show will be written by more knowledgeable scribes than I. So with respect to the organisers, performers and paying guests at this gala presentation, I’ll return to my opening headline.

The idea of the event is bigger than the event itself. Think about it for a moment. To have the spacious location, easily found, easily reached and adequate parking for some and a short walk for others bodes well for State House gatherings in the future no matter what cause one is supporting. Too often when outdoor concerts are planned, it’s common to see everyone standing and milling around – nothing wrong with that, but one factor of Saturday’s show that stood out was that most people were seated and in good humour; people shaking hands, food and drink within reach, it resembled a ‘cabaret’ evening almost, in the open air, loads of space but still intimate, savez?

Dominica is not short of adequate sound systems and the expertise that drives them; so on Saturday, through Showtime it seemed the vocals and instruments were clear & concise with plenty of decibels in reserve – for musicians visiting from other islands, besides Dominica’s other attributes, this must enhance further sojourns to the Nature Isle. Plus as one guitarist put it, “I thought Jamaica had the prettiest women in the world – Well Jamaica, you got competition. Dominica’s got the edge – (to the crowd) you guys out there, look after your ladies!” Yes ‘glamour in the house’ is a magnet and the presence of one of the hosts, namely Leah Marville from the HIV/Aids charity ‘The Love Campaign’ created a jump in several testosterone levels.

So whether the fund raiser is for well-established charities or new emerging causes, the atmosphere of a well-organised outdoors event is something special – and deserving space in your social calendar.

PS

The downside?…. How do you plan for rain when you’ve hardly seen any for 3 months? Yes, it did pour for a while, but afterwards spirits soared and dancers danced when – at last – the headliners came on and started blowing away a storm…literally!

The answer to the above heading will never be abundantly clear, that’s for sure, as your mainstream cruiser appears to be looking for the good time enveloped in sun, sea, relaxation and escapism from his or her day to day routine. But having said that, a lot of inland island excursions are sold out long before the ship has entered port at any given destination; air conditioned vehicles whisk away the unaware salty traveller into rustic parts that portray a completely different architecture that the inner city mainlander is accustomed to. From this viewpoint it could be deduced that someone on board will take a shine to the passing surroundings; maybe enough of a shine to go on line and follow up on the land and property values of that island.

Most people in the middle age bracket – a time of life where there should be more disposable income – appreciate that a move away from their mother country these days is not considered unusual, indeed a growing number of folk have second homes in well chosen climates. A cruise holiday is an ideal opportunity to cover a lot of legwork through the different stops, and possibly a return visit to a favourite destination could result in a two week stay and then perhaps the purchase of a lifetime.

There doesn’t seem to be any rock solid statistics regarding acquisition of land and property as a result of a cruise vacation, but maybe someone out there who has taken this step could enlighten us as to their experience?

By Laurie Stevens   ACE CARIBBEAN REAL ESTATE

It’s not a well-known fact that at one time the lush nature island of Dominica was the world’s largest producer of limes, the prime ingredient of the famous Rose’s Lime Juice Cordial.

Although in evidence during the 1880’s, the high point of the West Indian green lime trade was between 1903 and the mid 1920’s. This was the most prosperous period that the island had ever experienced, the largest purchaser being L. Rose & Lime Company of Leigh, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Established in 1865 by Lauchlan Rose, whose family was prominent in the Scottish shipbuilding industries; it became famous for its Rose’s Lime Cordial and latterly, its delicious lime marmalade. In those days it was mandatory for ships to carry a supply of lime or lemon juice, to stave off the painful human condition known as scurvy – and Rose’s strategy was to supply enough of this health enhancing cocktail to the world’s transient sailors.

In 1867, Rose patented a process that preserved the citrus juice without the addition of alcohol. While this may have made him unpopular with the sailors, the alcohol free juices quickly became the choice of responsible fleet owners.

To keep up with the ever increasing demand, Rose’s had to buy into Dominica’s lime output in big style. In 1891, the company purchased Bath and Elmshall Estates from William Davies in the south-west of the island and converted an old sugar factory for the processing of limes. By 1906, the company had started to manufacture calcium nitrate and in 1921, a factory was erected at Bath Estate for the production of citric acid crystals, an essential component for the bubbles in fizzy drinks – so it’s not surprising therefore that Rose & Co. became synonymous with limes and lime products across the island.

Two of Dominica’s better known estates, Picard and Soufriere, were added to the company’s business after World War 11, with Aroment (1958) and Canefield plus Wallhouse coming on board in the 1960’s. Lime sales were soaring.

In 1957, Rose’s was bought out by Schweppes Ltd., the largest drinks manufacturer in Britain, and expanded its product line. Schweppes in turn merged with Cadbury, the chocolate magnate, and global marketing for Rose’s became a reality.

The Lime Juice Cordial is, without a doubt, Rose’s flagship in sales and is renowned world-wide for its supreme “mixability”; the bottom line here is that it only takes a little to make a long drink, whether it be sweet or sharp, in mineral water or in a medicinal tonic – such as, according to Sir T. O. Gimlette’s reviving Gimlet cocktail, requiring a splash of gin or vodka and a clean palate – you can’t mistake the class in your glass!

By 1978, changes in world economy, domestic politics and significant investment by the parent group in Ghana and Cameroon, resulted in L. Rose & Co. pulling out of Dominica and an era of advancement within the “Nature Island” was seemingly, but sadly put on hold – for a little while at least.

A million and more words have been written about the festival season of Carnival, so bringing something new to the page could be tricky, but sometimes the brevity of space and a straight to the point type of style can enlighten a few of the wondrous blog readers out there who have never been to a street party.

Carnival literally means ‘farewell to the flesh’ but the origin of the word is still disputed. Some believe it comes from the Latin carrus navalis (“ship cart”) or a float in a religious parade. Others proffer that it comes from the Italian carne levare or similar, meaning to “remove meat” as meat is prohibited through Lent. If the event is linked to a church belief or gathering the scheduled time of the year is pre-Lenten, usually through February and March leading up to Ash Wednesday. But there are other times within the year that are used as a landmark, such as the completion of a local harvest or a centuries old paganish rite that has been revived for the sake of a community knees-up that may lighten up a gloomy winter time in the more northern countries.

When Carnival is mentioned globally, people invariably think of the excitement, colour and party hi-jinx that is Mardi Gras – known as Shrove Tuesday in some Catholic countries, or the last day of a carnival – taking place in Rio, New Orleans and Trinidad & Tobago.  Indeed, these are in the big league when it comes to a ‘money no object’ mix of glitz and spectacle that takes over the respective day to day happenings for at least three weeks, sometimes a month.

In the Caribbean particularly, the Trinidad Carnival is acknowledged as the place to be if you’re a serious West Indian performer or pageant queen as the exposure and rewards are enormous. Carnival follows a well thought out and traditional programme here as it does in other regional islands, with the main shows like Carnival Queen, ‘Dimanche Gras’ – the Calypso Monarch and the Last Lap parades all taking place on the days leading up to Ash Wednesday. This is also the top venue for leading steel bands (pan music) and you can honestly say that you’re on top of the world if your group takes first place in the Trini National Panoramic competition.

Two regional islands I can think of that have carnivals but are not religiously based would be Antigua and Barbados. The Antiguan Carnival is a celebration of music and dance held annually from the last week in July to the first Tuesday in August; similarly Barbados’ festival is referred to as Crop Over and both events are pointed at the tourist market, as this part of the year is the main vacational period for North American and European families.

Everybody, irrespective of competition wants to be seen in costume, affectionately known as mas and groups of one hundred to five hundred following their favourite band or Hi-Fi are not uncommon. Pre-carnival is a flurry of action behind the scenes at the various mas camps, many seamstresses and designers ensure that the eagerly awaited event will be as innovative and colourful – even rather sexy, shall we say – as common sense allows.

For those with a sense for social devilment or innocent mischief, whatever, Carnival Monday can’t come soon enough. This spectacle starts before dawn on the Monday before Ash Wednesday and is known as J’ouvert or ‘Dirty Mas’. It also means ‘opening of the day’ – this is where revellers dress up in old clothes and cover themselves – and you most likely – in blue paint (Antigua)and other  odd cocktails (everywhere). The live music pulsating from an array of mighty speakers atop trucks festooned in bunting and sponsorship web-site addresses, more often than not letting you know that corporate land has underwritten the very equipment and operatives you’re looking at.

If you survive this amazing alcohol squeeze and mega decibels on the street, then Last Lap on Tuesday is a pussycat. On this day full costume is worn plus make-up and body paints/ adornments and each group tries to portray its theme with a greater panache than the other. Eventually, the whole parade meets in the island’s National Stadium for a judging ceremony. Also on this day the Road March King or Queen is crowned. This honour goes to the singer of the most played song of the past two days. He or she is proclaimed winner as well as receiving a cash prize and usually a new vehicle.

So, some may say that Carnival is not for the faint hearted, but if it’s for you make sure your camera’s working and your batteries are charged, you won’t regret it!

No, this is not about furrowed brows or penalty clauses re:  finishing the job late or indeed about anything really crucial; perhaps just a mild observation about the written word in newspaper form.

Through the Caribbean islands, the presence and usefulness of the local newspaper in hard copy is an integral part of the social infrastructure, whether it is good, bad or indifferent tidings, it gets devoured one way or the other. Some islands have a daily paper; others have an edition once or twice a week.

The thing that amazes me is the way that headlines for these journals are chosen for any given day. Take a fairly busy tourist island, in the Eastern Caribbean, let’s say; the banner headline on the first page of its main newspaper will invariably mention the main crime of the last 24 hours: this could be a murder, an assault, a rape etc.etc. – boasting a font size of anything between 48 & 75 and visible clearly via roadside vendors from moving traffic. However on the inside pages the real issues of the day, such as immigration, price hikes, parliament and so forth are tucked away in a less dramatic style.

An example of a misconstrued front page headline appeared recently on a well known and popular island north of Dominica. It read: “Tourist Maimed in Chopping Spree”. This was interpreted by many – who never bought the paper – as an attack by some villain, carrying a cutlass/machete against a visitor, when in fact the injury was inflicted accidently during a light hearted frolic, where cruise ship tourists were invited to compete against each other. The object being that each competitor, with provided cutlass was assigned a clump of derelict banana trees and the individual that felled the most trees in 5 minutes would be awarded a bottle of champagne at the captain’s table. Thankfully, the injury was superficial and the local medics did a great job of patching up the guy’s Achilles heel. Yet, some people left that island convinced there was a danger element on the patch to some degree, simply because of a banner headline.

Obviously, this headline thing is not a regular anomaly, but why jeopardize anyone’s impression of a certain piece of paradise by a flippant choice of emotive phrases from an editor or suchlike minions that are not thought through?

Of course, for a popular rag or newspaper to say, “We Are Banishing Headlines!” is a headline in itself

Even in the Caribbean, it’s a well known ploy – should you be selling your pied-a-terre, your house or your homely sanctuary – that when your potential buyers arrive, you should have the kind of aromas wafting through the rafters that they are accustomed to, for instance: freshly ground coffee, bread in the oven – maybe a quality furniture polish fragrance cascading et al.

But think of this: some suitable listings on a real estate agents website can be miles apart, depending on island size and demographics, so if the eager property advisor has arranged to take the possible buyers – usually couples – on a well thought out itinerary, maybe the ploy should come a bit sooner. A little of the right background music over the miles in the agent’s car may inspire a feeling of well-being and induce a graceful fast-forward to the future parting of ‘spondoolies’ – colloquially known as CASH! ………….read on….

Try to keep the audio volume below conversation level, avoid instrumental tracks and make sure the lyrical content of your chosen songs is completely lucid and understandable, as a well written line to some is a subtle brainwash to others. Pass on the emotive stuff like ‘New York, New York’, ‘I Love Paris’, ‘Chicago’, ‘China Girl’, ‘Country Roads’ and Dvorak’s ‘Going Home’… blah-blah! – Totally counter productive; think more along the lines of ‘Rally ‘round the West Indies’ a la David Rudder on form, originally penned for the cricket fraternity, an anthem no less – ‘Our House’ a ground breaking ska-linked ditty by Madness, Sting’s ‘Fields of Barley’ if you’re in St Lucia or Grenada, ‘Sugar, Sugar’ from the Archies, if St Kitts is your location; ‘Blue Bayou’ – the Roy Orbison/Linda Ronstadt definitive laid back blood pressure curative – if you’re exploring Antigua & Barbuda. As for Dominica – well, ‘Up a Lazy River’ conjures up its own kind of magic – as does ‘River of Dreams’, Billy Joel’s well crafted musical missive. Stephen Bishop came up with a great number for Jamaica, the melodic ‘On and on’ that captures the very essence of sun, sand and see what I’ve just bought! And indeed it does go on.

Of course the whole tune-filled library could be linked up as a continuous loop, ensuring that your nest egg or investor type ‘prey’ eventually gets the message.

The urge to put reggae, pan music, compa, bouyon or calypso material through your speakers on this trip – albeit indigenous – should be shelved as it surely will be construed as an obvious ploy; your smart visitor will pick up quickly that you’re trying to make him/her/they so much at home even though they haven’t bought one yet.

The subject is broad but subjective; if there are wondrous readers out there with their own ‘tongue in cheek’ choice of material for potential buyers wishing for a piece of the rock in the Caribees’ – lets hear about it!

Wow, what has happened to Christmas? Santa’s hues seem to be on the back burner at the moment. The colours in profusion as I write seem to be – in alphabetical order – blue, green, orange and red with an occasional white if you’re throwing in the towel!  Amazing!  Election fever has taken over Dominica.  It is more fervent than Carnival – never has there been so many trucks with Hi-Fi’s’ blasting music here in the country, night and day.  Christmas seems to be forgotten.  We are bystanders just listening and watching, hoping that everyone respects one another’s point of view and that things work out happily on Election Day for each individual.

I am, however, focused on Christmas, making the Christmas cake, decorating the home, welcoming friends and neighbours alike for their favourite tipple and an English traditional mince pie! Many Dominicans admit to having a sweet tooth and find that this tidbit goes down smoothly. But sometimes when offering a mince pie it’s not unusual to get a guarded response from my friends such as, ‘I am a vegetarian and I don’t eat meat’ – supposing of course that mincemeat originates from some helpless four or two legged creature.  Well, the recipe for a classic mince pie is a covertly kept English secret – pastry notwithstanding – my mincemeat is made from dried fruit, currants, raisins, sultanas, mixed peel and apples plus nuts soaked in brandy and sherry; it can be extremely  decadent and more than likely delicious, served in a sweet pastry with a sherry cream filling.

Originally the mince pie did contain meat – mincemeat was a way of preserving meat by mixing it with fruit, spices and alcohol. The initial mince pies were large rather than bite size. It is sometimes said that the large pies were cooked in an oblong dish and that the top often used to cave in. As a result the mince pie looked a little like a crib, in keeping with the Christian nativity story. Over time the amount of meat was gradually reduced until it became the fruit only substance we know today.

With this in mind we wish all the readers a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous 2010 which is literally around the corner.

We are here to write each week about anything interesting for the followers of www.domincanewsonline.com – not necessarily in a controversial way but extending an upbeat overview of life in DA and other blessed territories. We enjoy doing this and will continue to absorb the comments from a valued readership.

We all know what it’s like when someone unexpected comes to your patch, be it town or country, day or night, Monday or Sunday – you pacify the dogs, hug your visitor(s) or, give them your condolences, if they are tax inspectors and suchlike, then sit them down. One’s version of a welcome varies of course from folk to folk- so after offering whatever lubrication he or she drowns in, they do a 360 degree sweep of the property and proceed to tell you what needs doing…..grrrrrrr – Still with me?

So it happened recently when a good friend – or so – proffered, amongst other things, that one of our avocado (pear) trees needed a good seeing to; as in pruning. I must admit the tree in question was a little rag-tag & bobtail but this was the seventh time this year she’d nit-picked on the verdant forest view at our rustic hideaway and the time for action was looming.

I contacted a knowledgeable man of the Dominican hinterland, still enjoying his 75^th year on the planet that let me know this in no uncertain terms: ‘Laurie, November 25^th is looming and according to the Moon’s dictation – plus being 30 days from Christmas – this is the ideal time for you to replant or prune.’

I was always aware that all aspects of farming were affected by the gravitational forces between the Sun, the Moon and Earth, but honestly I had put zilch effort into finding out more.

My regular help was called up:

‘Samson! Me an’ you are goin’ to climb the front pear tree and trim de branches a lickle, stop the tree collapsing with the weight of fruit, make it healthy and you have a job for life’ He say ‘Mr Laurie, I no like heights and it be slippy’

I said ‘Samson, you told me, did you not that in your previous life you thought you were a parrot! Right? How can a born again Sisserou or Jaco suffer from no grip and vertigo?’ … (Gulp!)…No matter……..

Down the road an engaging chap from the Carib territory gave us all a lesson in how the haircut should be accomplished. He scaled the withered branches like a gymnast and talked me through methodically what he was going to do with his trusty machete and a carpenter’s saw.

On completion of an excellent job, I pondered a while then decided to probe a little further into the Moon’s extraordinary manipulation of perennials & kindred crops on Earth.

There are reams of information out there, so in the interest of brevity I’ll cut to the chase:

The Moon basically passes through four phases – New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon and Last Quarter. The number of days between each change of phase can vary between 6.75 and 8. The twelve hours before and after the exact change of each phase is not a good time for sowing, planting or pruning. During the New Moon and First Quarter the Moon is waxing or accumulating light. Sap flow increases – good for sowing and transplanting. Through the phases of Full Moon and Last Quarter – aka the Waning Moon – the sap flow gradually decreases and is considered the best time for sowing and planting – I’m still a little muddled, but you can check out numerous web sites and get muddled, worser or worserer.

After all this I still had avocados on my mind, or rather the lack of them next year due to the pruning. Ambling in thought towards the public market in Roseau I saw three smartly dressed ladies in a Bank uniform coming towards me, probably enjoying their lunch break – one was carrying this huge avocado. Wow! I said ‘What a lovely pear you have.’ Her friends looked at each other, then looked at me and burst into laughter; in a second the girls scooted onward. I shouted after them ‘What’s funny? What did I do?’

Wax lyrically I say and wane not!