Note to self
Mar. 13th, 2002 09:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinjunMake 200 copies of the house key and never give any of them out again.
Enough said.
My Trip to the Dominican Republic Continued ...
Day 2 March 4, Monday - "Day of Rest"
It doesn't sound very exciting, I know, but keep in mind that I'd been up for about 36 hours straight by the time I crashed Sunday night.
Anyway, by around 9:30am, it was time for breakfast, at the buffet by the pool. This was quite relaxing, and the temperature I'm sure was around 25C already. After breakfast, we went to the beach, which was red flagged yet again. Sigh. Red flag= don't swim. Yellow flag= swim with caution. Green flag= swim all you want.
We sat around on loungers, half in the shade, half in the sun. The beach vendors came by, and Ariel and I bought larimar bracelets. It's a pretty blue stone, and apparently the national stone of the Dominican Republic. One fellow came by selling fresh coconut, and he chopped it up for us. That was really nice to eat. There's something different about fresh fruit, right off the tree.
We went back to the pool for lunch, and they had cherry turnovers, sort of. All the food was pretty rich, high in egg content, and lots of sauces. There were also lots of little lizards, chameleons. They're cute. Leah found some sensitive plants, and it was funny to see those in the wild. Touch the leaves and they fold up tight to hide. They were a neat reddish colour against the green grass too.
We had an orientation session with Cathy, the Conquest representative, and she filled us in on details about the tours available, the hotel, and the Dominican Republic. For instance, she told us that there is a dress code for the reservation-only restaurant. But it's only for men. Because "we're women in the Dominican Republic and we can do whatever we want." A couple of us snuck out early to try to get a Merengue lesson, but it was cancelled due to lack of interest. (We were late.) Darn.
Everyone else went back to the pool by Donny and Anna's room, but me, I went back to the beach and got my hair braided, so that the wind wouldn't be tangling it all up. Corn rows, lots of braids, and white and purple beads. I'm sure there's a picture or two, and yes, once they're developed I will probably post them to the web page. That took a couple hours, and I enjoyed chatting, in French of all things, with the vendor lady who braided my hair. I learned that March is very windy over by Puerto Plata, as if I didn't already know. April too. And that the weather is much nicer in February. Doesn't that just figure?
Anyway, it was really a peaceful, relaxing sort of thing. The sky was blue blue and there were huge waves breaking on the shore. It was very windy and the sand did sting, but I wasn't paying attention to that. The palm trees look so exotic against that blue sky. Ariel got 2 little braids in her hair too, if you can believe it.
We booked an Adventure Tour, and then had dinner at La Mariposa, which was the restaurant nearest to Donny and Anna's room. Maybe we can scan in the hotel layout, so you all can see what I mean. Hrm. There's a thought. It was a buffet, as all the restaurants are, except for Michaelangelo's. And that one you have to reserve in advance. I discovered that I don't mind okra, but I hate fried yucca.
And in other news, I didn't go swimming even once today.
I got to the second attempt at the Merengue lesson late, so I had time only to watch, as they were right into it. Course, I was actually there on time. They started early. *sigh* This was my discovery of Domican time. They start the darn thing as soon as they have enough people, no matter what time that might be. Might be an hour early, or five hours late...
Oh, and all the beads in my hair go clack, clack, clack quite nicely. It was distracting for the first little while.
The staff at the hotel seem to speak Spanish, French, Haitian, German, Creole, English ... it's neat to listen to all the accents and languages.
We went out to watch the children's games, the prizes for the days activities, and the mini disco. There was lots of dancing, but I was too chicken to go try that merengue without any lesson. Ariel left early, cause she said it was too smoky and too loud. She was probably right. Crazy tourists all seem to like to smoke cigars like crazy.
And since this was the day of rest, we went to bed at a reasonable time, after staring up at the stars... Orion was there, bright, bold, and sparkling. Course he's the only constellation I recognized, but hey, at least I got one.
Enough said.
My Trip to the Dominican Republic Continued ...
Day 2 March 4, Monday - "Day of Rest"
It doesn't sound very exciting, I know, but keep in mind that I'd been up for about 36 hours straight by the time I crashed Sunday night.
Anyway, by around 9:30am, it was time for breakfast, at the buffet by the pool. This was quite relaxing, and the temperature I'm sure was around 25C already. After breakfast, we went to the beach, which was red flagged yet again. Sigh. Red flag= don't swim. Yellow flag= swim with caution. Green flag= swim all you want.
We sat around on loungers, half in the shade, half in the sun. The beach vendors came by, and Ariel and I bought larimar bracelets. It's a pretty blue stone, and apparently the national stone of the Dominican Republic. One fellow came by selling fresh coconut, and he chopped it up for us. That was really nice to eat. There's something different about fresh fruit, right off the tree.
We went back to the pool for lunch, and they had cherry turnovers, sort of. All the food was pretty rich, high in egg content, and lots of sauces. There were also lots of little lizards, chameleons. They're cute. Leah found some sensitive plants, and it was funny to see those in the wild. Touch the leaves and they fold up tight to hide. They were a neat reddish colour against the green grass too.
We had an orientation session with Cathy, the Conquest representative, and she filled us in on details about the tours available, the hotel, and the Dominican Republic. For instance, she told us that there is a dress code for the reservation-only restaurant. But it's only for men. Because "we're women in the Dominican Republic and we can do whatever we want." A couple of us snuck out early to try to get a Merengue lesson, but it was cancelled due to lack of interest. (We were late.) Darn.
Everyone else went back to the pool by Donny and Anna's room, but me, I went back to the beach and got my hair braided, so that the wind wouldn't be tangling it all up. Corn rows, lots of braids, and white and purple beads. I'm sure there's a picture or two, and yes, once they're developed I will probably post them to the web page. That took a couple hours, and I enjoyed chatting, in French of all things, with the vendor lady who braided my hair. I learned that March is very windy over by Puerto Plata, as if I didn't already know. April too. And that the weather is much nicer in February. Doesn't that just figure?
Anyway, it was really a peaceful, relaxing sort of thing. The sky was blue blue and there were huge waves breaking on the shore. It was very windy and the sand did sting, but I wasn't paying attention to that. The palm trees look so exotic against that blue sky. Ariel got 2 little braids in her hair too, if you can believe it.
We booked an Adventure Tour, and then had dinner at La Mariposa, which was the restaurant nearest to Donny and Anna's room. Maybe we can scan in the hotel layout, so you all can see what I mean. Hrm. There's a thought. It was a buffet, as all the restaurants are, except for Michaelangelo's. And that one you have to reserve in advance. I discovered that I don't mind okra, but I hate fried yucca.
And in other news, I didn't go swimming even once today.
I got to the second attempt at the Merengue lesson late, so I had time only to watch, as they were right into it. Course, I was actually there on time. They started early. *sigh* This was my discovery of Domican time. They start the darn thing as soon as they have enough people, no matter what time that might be. Might be an hour early, or five hours late...
Oh, and all the beads in my hair go clack, clack, clack quite nicely. It was distracting for the first little while.
The staff at the hotel seem to speak Spanish, French, Haitian, German, Creole, English ... it's neat to listen to all the accents and languages.
We went out to watch the children's games, the prizes for the days activities, and the mini disco. There was lots of dancing, but I was too chicken to go try that merengue without any lesson. Ariel left early, cause she said it was too smoky and too loud. She was probably right. Crazy tourists all seem to like to smoke cigars like crazy.
And since this was the day of rest, we went to bed at a reasonable time, after staring up at the stars... Orion was there, bright, bold, and sparkling. Course he's the only constellation I recognized, but hey, at least I got one.
Re:
From:(no subject)
From: