Trip to the Dominican Republic 7: Thursday

Thursday, Nov. 23

1. We were on a roll by Thursday, our last full day. All prepared, with a routine. Breakfast, back to the room to gear up (AKA swimsuits and cover-ups, towels, water, hats), then swim in the pool or the beach, or vice versa, and off for lunch.



2. This is our compound. The resort is gated. There are two pools, as well as the kiddie pool. The main pool is nearer the beach, with a towel and a booze bar. Our pool had a bar, too. Very decadent. The swampy area, if you can peer through the fence, revealed many birds and critters, including bugs! My full list is here, with photos compiled. They were glorious. The best was the bananaquit bird, indigenous to the DR, as well as Haiti but not many other places.

3. The fenced, swampy area is private property. The photos are pinned on the main dining room where we had our buffet meals.


4. I decided to take a walk along the beach. There were mansions along the way, but the beach is fair territory. On the right (the backward J) are residences, on the left: larger residences. The red pin is our resort, which goes from the beach to the main road. I was walking west. Amazing places for the very rich.

5. Back at the resort... This is the pool bar. This is Jorge. He was a bit forward. I guess they encourage tips by being friendly.

These are at the beach bar. All but one or two bartenders were male, wearing these flowery shirts. The women didn't wear them. They were kept VERY busy. I didn't see any guests out of control, which is good, but there was a lot of drinking, even in the morning!

Euclides – he is a character!
He flirts with men and women, getting many tips.

This was the only female serving alcohol!

The gender roles are quite clear.

6. The wedding photos. They made it, after a gruesome flight delay on Air Transat. It was delayed 15 hours! Air Transat is a Canadian carrier, which I would not recommend. They just had a court case in which they kept people on the plane, diverted from Montreal due to weather, for SIX HOURS, without food or water. My advice, if you're having a wedding, stay at home or spend the big bucks!

Air Transat failed passengers stuck on 2 flights at Ottawa airport ...

Air Transat is a Canadian low-cost leisure airline based in Montreal, Quebec, operating scheduled and charter flights, serving 63 destinations in 30 countries.


7. We were waiting for dinner, which was at 6:00 p.m., a bit late for us. You really work up an appetite. There is a dress code, which all followed. It makes it so nice to freshen up for dinner.



One young man wrote down all of our orders. The division of labour, by gender, is interesting.


They brought the adults champagne. Josee insisted on having a photo taken of her with my champagne. Of course, Izzy had to do the same! Our two-fisted drinker!


The girls had their regular espuagetis et papas fritas. They had much better breakfasts and lunches, with lots of fruit!


They brought me my appetizer. Smoked salmon terrine with caviar! Then we got silly, waiting for the next course!


They poured the soup into our bowls, from pitchers. It wasn't all that hot, but it was yummy.


Then, Josee took over my camera, again.


Sadly, the server who wrote down our meal choices forgot to write down dessert for Izzy. One clever, solicitous server spotted her distress, and must have jogged into the cafeteria, in the building next door, and brought her 5 desserts! All was well.


To bed, to bed, sleepyheads!

Papa, in Antarctica, was having a blast! They camped on the beach overnight. Seriously! They saw whales, and penguins. Their cruise ship was quite comfy. JL had wanted to do this since he was a kid!
They have a big map on their wall at home, with places they have visited. They get around.