5/13/2018 A Surprise Call From Johnny

It seemed like another typical day starting off by sipping on an early morning coffee when the phone rang. It was Johnny calling. He was reminding me about an appointment in Nagua we had to attend late in the afternoon, again nothing out of the normal mundane and then suddenly he stated I’m out in La Manzana “the Apple” which is a one horse town near El Limon. After asking what the heck are you doing out there and so early in the AM?

He responded meeting up with some old friends I haven’t seen in years. I could tell by the sound of his voice he was excited to be seeing these folks. Johnny knows more people in more places on the Island than anyone else I know, people in the most out of the way locations. Seriously we could be out on excursion and haven’t seen a motorized piece of equipment other than a tractor and some old guy smoking a cigar riding on a donkey will yell JOHNNY Que Paso mucho tiempo at the top of his voice and this is not a rare happening!

That’s when an otherwise normal day turned on its side. Johnny came up with what turned out to be a lot of good fun. He said to me “since we’ve got to be in Nagua late this afternoon why not do this. Pack up the video gear jump in Yota and come on out here and pick me up”.” You haven’t been out here in years and I’m telling you that you’re in for a surprise. You won’t believe the progress out in the region.”

After digesting the idea I phoned back a few minutes later and said give me a couple of hours to get out there, I’ll see you then. All I can say is I’m more and more convinced when saying that this entire country is on the build towards a better more modern location that I’m on the right track. The last time out there I didn’t remember a fraction of this kind of progress. Why not take the front seat and come along for the ride. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a beautiful way to spend a day