Our Episode of HGTV's Caribbean Life!

All photos courtesy of HGTV

Our casa!

We were on Caribbean Life!  It was sooooooo much fun.  I'm sure you have read elsewhere online that it's somewhat staged...and you kind of already need to own a place to even go on the show to pretend your looking for a place, but it was a great experience and one that Thomas and I will never forget...mostly because HGTV sent us a DVD copy...but, we don't acutally have cable TV. So, we had to watch our episode at friends' house.  I have to tell you, as someone who doesn't even like pictures of herself...a whole filmed episode is torture.  But, in 10-15 years, I'll probably think I looked fabulous! HAHAHA.

Interview from on our pool deck!

So, as an avid watcher of Caribbean Life/Beachfront Bargain Hunt/House Hunters International I ran across a link on HGTV to apply to be on one of these shows. I was absolutely CONVINCED we were going to be on the show.  I think my husband thought it was a long shot.  But, they pump out like 10 episodes of shows like Caribbean Life each week, so I thought we had good chances. And as a teacher I submitted an A+ application! The casting agent made the comment "Wow. That was the most thorough application I've ever read!"  Hahaha...

Waterfall 10 minute walk from casa

After a couple FaceTime interviews, we were told we had been chosen to be on the show! It was really exciting.

We soon received e-mails from the film team: director, producer, etc.  We needed 11 outfit changes!  That was maybe a bit harder for my husband to wrap his head around than me. I would finally have occasion to wear all the sundresses I had bought.

We negotiated back and forth about when we would be available to film and it ended up scheduled for a weekend that was not ideal for our schedules. Thomas had an Asia trip conflict and I had to give exams that week. Also, Thomas' daughter and friends would be arriving exactly at that time to hang out at the house for the week. But, we had to make it work.  How often would this opportunity arise?

We were told that we would have three full days of filming and day 1 of filming would start early on a Friday.  We arrived at the house the night before at around midnight, got maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep and then met the film crew at 7 am at the first property.  No coffee, barely any sleep...and the worst...I hadn't brought my make up!  So, I was a middle-aged woman about to go on reality TV with no make-up and who had been told by the mean director that she couldn't wear sunglasses either. (Steve wasn't mean...he just doesn't believe in sunglasses...I got away with it walking the malecon) Yikes.  But, luckily I had tinted sunscreen and had forgotten one sad little gray eyelining pencil at the house.  It would have to do! There is no make-up artist or wardrobe consultant.  We didn't get paid.  We aren't actors. We did negotiate a little travel cost offset that was enough to cover our flights. So, it isn't really like a real TV show.

We had already asked our actual real estate agent, Sebastian if he was interested in doing the show.  He was in!  No such thing as too much publicity, right?

Sebastian apparently got the raw end of the deal. HGTV had him scoping out businesses and sites and getting all the legal paperwork signed, sealed, delivered before we got there. He told us he forgot how much the US is run by lawyers. ☺

Each day of filming was around 10-11 hours straight of filming.  It was work.  But, still fun. There were about 7 people on our crew.  We got to see first hand how much film footage goes into minutes of edited tape.  We did every scene at least 3 times for different angle and shots.  It was hilarious.  After the first scene...and our self-assessment that we nailed it...they sent us back to square one and said "OK. Say that all again...we'll film it from over here..." And again...and again.  We started forgetting what we said and then Steve the Director would ask us to say it again, but this time Thomas likes the idea more than me, or I am convinced and he isn't. etc.  I guess typical directing.

What you get for $75,000??...not really...

Kudos to the new restaurant Mi Jardin which took over the old Factory location right off the main road heading north out of Cabrera. We got lunch there every day during the shoot.  It's our new favorite restaurant in Cabrera.

But, you could get this concrete bunker with potential...

View from the empty lot we purchased with house

As for the houses we saw.  We actually had seen the house Ciel Bleu on our very first visit to Cabrera in 2015.  Didn't like it then...and were disappointed to see it again for the show AND act like we liked it...I call it the tiny gingerbread house. Three small octagons no straight walls to place furniture, weird decor, and things that are just too short for the two of us.  If you read earlier posts then you know we don't really like that far off unframed ocean view. Don't get me wrong if that house had been $75K we would have bought it.  It is a rough 30 minute+ drive from town which was also not appealing. Then there was Casa Blanca. That would have been an option to be honest, if it had been on the radar.  But, I don't really like the layout and when homes are built in concrete blocks, it's not so easy to change, despite our discussions on the show about changes we would make. To buy that house at $180,000 would have meant living with that house as the permanent and future house. We also looked at Villa Havana, the one with all the steps up and steps down, and only a view from/through the bedroom. What the episode didn't show was that from the narrow balcony outside the two bedrooms you could see that beautiful ocean view AND the newly-built Cabrera water tower standing literally right behind the house and unignorable. That and the location right next to the road would be the reason a 4 bedroom, 6 bath home with ocean view was only $135,000.

No, all and all we were happy with our choice then and that choice was reconfirmed doing this show.  Our plans are to eventually build on the two adjacent lots (which the show called one lot) and even secure the lot to our north and possibly build a small 2 Bedroom, 2 Bath with a pool as a second rental.

One criticism we did have of the show which was really no fault of theirs is that the locations they scouted for us to do some of the scenes were some of the worst the area has to offer. (The only exception was the Waterfall)  We know of WAY more beautiful locations and beaches...even Playa Diamante later in the day would have been that turquoise Caribbean blue.  But, this was the first show filmed in Cabrera...we'll keep some secrets secret.

Yay! I got to wear my hat!

Funny side-note:  The Captain of our boat on the river was none other than Captain Randy of the North Coast Bed-n-Breakfast where Thomas stayed the first time back while doing the inspection and signing the sales agreement. We didn't know he was going to be there and were reunited at the docks in Rio San Juan! That's what I love about our new home of Cabrera...still small enough to really have a tight-knit community!  Thanks, Captain Randy!

Yet another weepy face I made...I was soooo tired for the whole shoot!

So, that pretty much sums up the experience.  I highly recommend it.  It documented our actual search from a couple years earlier pretty accurately. Now, we will have this episode to look back on for the rest of our lives...and laugh...and remember...