Okay I speak no Spanish....very limited, but my friends speak it well so I was struggling. Half the resort was from Spain or some Spanish-speaking nation. The next day was also spent on the beach. It's amazing how much you miss the smell of the ocean....the salt in the air, the sand, the coconuts, the palm trees. The sound of waves crashing on the shore and that ever-present breeze that prevents the blaring sun from becoming too hot. I'm a pale Irish girl, so that sun was brutal - gotta love Neutrogena SPF 45.
We swam in the crystal clear blue water which was a feat for me. I have issues with water, mostly because of marine creatures. I'm terrified of alligators and sharks, and I become extremly nervous if I have to swim in what I call dark water - usually caused by vegetation on the bottom. But I sucked it up and swam to the edge of the dark water which meant I was probably in 20 feet deep water. Or 10 - who knows I could be exaggerating.
I just loved the view. Palm trees, rainbow sails adrift in the distance, yellow kayaks and banana boats, parasailing trips careening past. Gorgeous and tan European men...minus the fat ones in their speedos.
Friday was mostly a day of relaxing. Saturday we went on a day tour of the Dominican Republic - it was incredibly eye-opening. Our guide Jose took us to a plantation to show us a real farm, and we got to taste a real cocoa bean...it's white and slimey and kind of tastes like a sour fruit. We then tasted fresh and real coffee and they amde us fresh hot chocolate. It was just really cool. The best part was watching the local little boys play baseball because you know at least one of them will be an MLB star someday. Then Jose made us rum and cokes by throwing and spinning the bottle, and took us to another little shop/farm. They call the ride a 'dominican massage' because its so bumpy, and boy was that true! But I was content sitting in the sun with my ron and coke. At the next farm they weaved us baskets and we bought jewelry and art pieces and some mamajuana. It's an aphrodesiac. Last stop was this gorgeous gorgeous beach. The sand was almost pure white and so soft. Packs of wild dogs were roaming the beach - that was a little creepy.
When we returned Aileen and I decided to rent some snorkel equipment and check out the water. Without meaning to we stumbled on a coral reef and it was so beautiful. It was like peaking in on the real Finding Nemo! All kinds of colored fish with different shape fins and noses swam below us and along us. The coral was so many colors and there were all kinds of urchins and anenomes. We absolutely blown away by this complete universe of life going on below us. But I'm a bit of a freak and kept giving myself minor panic attacks, waiting for a baracuda or shark to swim up!
That night we attended the Star Show...this great great talent show with many of the resort staff dancing to disco classics. You would have thought we were at a show for a gay cruise, meanwhile half the vacationers were 45 and up European couples. The dancing and lip-synching was so much fun though, I got a real kick out of it!
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