Trip to the Dominican Republic 3: Sunday

 Sunday, Nov. 19

I woke at six thirty,  I confused my bug bite goop with toothpaste. Oops. Still not quite getting my sleep. I took  walkabout, and fetched some cappuccino.

 We only drink bottled water, or limonada, and there is lots of it around. People start on the hard stuff pretty early in the morning. I shudder. I stuck with wine, "vino blanco, por favor!" Not until afternoon, though!
There must be more staff than guests, with good service. Interesting, mellifluous names of staff.
I love these tree roots, but I bet they give groundkeepers headaches.

Originally, with two double beds and a single, the girls took turns sleeping with me or Mommy. Izzy tells me I 'snore like a man!' I lucked out and got a double bed to myself.
Up we got, in line for buffet breakfast, and off to swim, and swim, and swim, build some sand castles. We had a wet Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which didn't stop us.


Crazy-ass activity dude was dressed up as a woman, played a game with the kidlets. Some of them were afraid of him! They had activities for the kids, as well as dancing, and music all afternoon. Salsa lessons, or aerobics.


Lunch at the beach restaurant, that became a ritual, as we could scootch out to the beach, again! There were several cats there. Josee took some of photos.


Back to our room for a siesta. They'd laid out flowers, which the girls loved, too!


Back to the beach.


There are a lot of smokers here. The area around the perimeter of the lobby is the smoking area.


Josee had her hair beaded ($60) whilst I took Izzy for a bath. I knew where they were. Izzy and I found them in the trees.


Poor Caitlin, all of us had bug bites. Weirdo little bugs.

I brought drawing pads for a diary for the girls, after lunch or dinner they did some drawings.



The shell seller gave us some small shells. I sent Isabelle to give him some money ($US) for them. Caitlin talked to him in Spanish. The mid-sized shells are 15 - 20 years old. The largest one (centre front) is about 50 years old.

We liked his Canadian t-shirt!

Dinner and an early bed. We all konked out.

Trip to the Dominican Republic 2: Saturday

As previously reported, (Trip to the Dominican Republic 1: Getting there) I went on a vacation with my daughter and grandies. It was quite an adventure.

It was an all-inclusive trip, which we planned while my son-in-law was on a cruise to ANTARCTICA! Caitlin voted for a warm beach. (We've been enjoying JL's photos!)

Our trip there was a marathon with the littles, but they are excellent travelers. They like to use the self-serve check-in! Bearing  in mind that this was for a 6:00 a.m. flight on Friday, Nov. 17th!

They were so chipper...

Saturday

 1. I woke at 6:45 for no apparent reason. Showered, dressed, then I searched and couldn't find the passcode key number for the Internet (free Wifi). Walked around the compound and saw a few birds. I took a few photos! Back to the room, Caitlin had the password key, and I went back to the lobby. The kids got organized. I had a cappuccino and got online.

The place was meticulous. I'm sure they employ more staff than guests. It was rainy, again, but warm, and at home it was ice rain.

 

2. Finally, we were ready to go for breakfast. The girls love to take the carts to and from our room. First day Caitlin had to choose between Orlando and another driver. They were fun. She chose Orlando. Next day we had another Orlando, thing was he didn't go by his real name as they might be confused. Josee loves taking photos as much as her Gramma.



3. We rotated through swimming at the main pool, or on the beach. In the afternoon, there was Bingo Bongo! Isabelle won a t-shirt.
Breakfast then swimming in the pool, and then the ocean, then lunch. Back to the ocean, pouring rain! We went back to the pool, more swimming and the rain let up. Mummy took Isabelle to the kiddy pool, Josee and I hung out at the beach.

Caitlin being clever, remembers a lot of her high school Spanish. She was able to ask questions and talk to the staff. They usually spoke to us in Spanish first, then English, if we had to.

Gracias, por favor, cappuccino, we all used frequently. All day staff smiled and greeted us with Hola, but I tried buenas dias, buenas tardes, buenas noches señor,  or señorita. 

 

These two women were from Montreal, I brought them a towel to clean off their table. It was funny.


  4. While it is buffet for all meals, you can book 4 times for a dinner at a sit-down restaurant in the resort compound. Caitlin did this the first day.

Spaghetti carbonara was more like spaghetti in gravy, but Josee ordered her meal in Spanish: espaguetis and papas fritas (french fries). One server, Jesus, goofed with the other server about not pouring mommy more vino!

Dinner at the Italian restaurant was hilarious as Jose (a server) tried to play the large pepper mill like a guitar, making the girls laugh. I was using hubby's small camera, and not all the photos were timely or great, but it was so much lighter than my camera.


  5. Bedtime is swift and orderly. We are all tired and konk out early! I miss news, the TV didn't work today, the only English Channel is CNN. (There were major storms.) Lots of teeny ants in the room, despite them doing a large spray in the pathways. Must remember to turn off the clock radio alarm, set for midnight, both nights... YAWN.