Punta Cana

Dave and I left at about 3:00 on Wednesday afternoon for the airport to catch our plane to Atlanta, the first leg of our trip that Dave won from Yokohama for being the Friend Tire dealer with the largest increase in sales for 2010. Although we left the house 2 hours before our flight, which is normally plenty of time, and didn’t have check-in luggage, we made it to the gate with eleven minutes to spare! That was a little too close for comfort! In fact, there was no more room in the overhead bins, so we had to check our bags after all. Oh well. Albeit a little bumpy, the flight was uneventful. We bought some ‘dinner,’ in the form of a chicken Caesar wrap sandwich and a box of crackers and cheese. Dave spent the flight looking out the window and watching TV in the seatback in front of him, and I did homework. After losing two hours due to the time change, we arrived in Atlanta at about 11:00, walked for-freaking-ever to the other end of the huge airport, collected our unintentionally checked bags, and then found our hotel shuttle. After getting checked in, we tipped the shuttle driver to drop us at a seafood restaurant a few blocks away on his next airport run (it’s amazing what $5 will get you!). We learned that he was a school bus driver from 6:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., and then started this shuttle driving job from 5:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. every day. When does the man sleep? The restaurant choice, Spondivitz, was based on a well-deserved recommendation from Dave’s boss. I rarely get a mess ‘crab pot,’ but couldn’t resist and wasn’t disappointed! By the time we called to ask the shuttle driver to retrieve us and made it back to the hotel, it was 2:00 a.m. Atlanta time. Every time I stay up that late, I realize how old I am!

Thursday morning we were up early to catch an 8:00 ride back to the Atlanta airport. Unfortunately, the clock in our room was about 10 minutes slow and we missed it. So, once again, we cut it close getting there. Our flight was just starting to board when we arrived. We saw one of Dave’s co-workers, Lance, who was on our flight with his wife, Jaysa. They sat right in front of us. This was a much smaller plane – which meant: warmer, closer, no TV (much to Dave’s dismay), and fewer food options. I tried to use the satellite WiFi to do more homework, but it didn’t work, so I just did the reading I had to do and took lots of pictures out the window, especially as we approached the islands. Dave slept. We had a really funny co-pilot who did trivia contests for drink coupons, told us the history of the various areas we flew over, and did his best to act as our in-flight entertainment.

We arrived in sunny Punta Cana at about 2:00 local time, which was another hour ahead of home. The airport was so small that we exited the plane down a ramp onto the windy tarmac, rode in a bus to the main terminal, and then headed into the thatch-roofed building for an hour long wait through customs. There was a Merengue-style band playing while we waited to pay our $20 entry fee and then get our passport stamped, along with about 1,000 others who had recently landed. A porter escorted us and several others who were part of our company trip to a waiting van. The transportation host was hilarious, coming all the way to the hotel with us and keeping us all laughing the whole way.

 

Upon arrival at the Iberostar Grand Bavaro, we were greeted with a cool towel, a glass of champagne, and lots of big and very white smiles! Yokohama, Friend Tire, and the tour company had a nice package of information explaining the events, two wrist bands to identify the hotel we are staying at and the tour we were with, and a great tote bag for us. We were then escorted to our room by our butler, who was one of several gentlemen who were there to help the folks staying in our area of the hotel. He took us around the room and explained all of the features, controls, and amenities. It is a stunning hotel – completely Caribbean – with peach and salmon and mint green paint, spectacular tropical artwork, lots of windows, and marble or travertine floors. Our room is very spacious with an adjoining bathroom complete with Jacuzzi tub, and a semi-private pool on the back patio. The pool runs the length of the floor we are on, which is about 5 rooms. I am pretty sure I’ve been the only one in it!

After getting settled, we wandered out to the grounds and met up with a few people from Dave’s company and Yokohama, checked out the pool, beach, restaurants, etc., and then attended a great welcome reception and buffet dinner right on the beach, complete with fire dancers! (Lesson 1 learned tonight – never be without your camera! I’ll have to get copies of those from the tour leader.) We spent a little time hanging out with folks in the various bars, night clubs, and cigar lounges that are spread around the property that first night.

 

Friday was our first ‘day of leisure.’ Dave had to start it out with a one-hour business meeting and breakfast, and then we both headed out to the beach where we stationed ourselves for the day. We took a few walks, including one long one about 2 miles down the beach to check out the other resorts that are adjacent to ours. There are three Iberostar resorts next to each other and, since we are staying at the ‘Grand Bavaro,’ our wrist band gets us access to any of the three for restaurants, entertainment, and beach activities. We had a great and very relaxing day! That night was our first dine-around event, where we were grouped with ten or eleven other couples for dinners in the restaurants. We were hosted by someone from Yokohama and someone from Friend Tire. Our first dinner was in a surf and turf restaurant with a seafood appetizer with shrimp, mussels, and lobster claws, lobster bisque, steak, and a flourless chocolate torte that was to die for. After dinner and socializing for a bit, we went in to the theater and caught part of the ‘Fantasia Tropical’ musical show complete with huge headpieces, glitter and sequins, and dizzyingly fast hip movements! We turned in kind of early in preparation for our early excursion departure the next day.

Views from my beach chair



The pool house bathroom.



An old crashed sailboat



Entertainment at the cocktail party





The lobby

Fantasia Tropical



Nightly turndown



Saturday was zip line day! Can I get a whoop whoop? We were the first on the shuttle, along with two other men from our trip, and then stopped at several other resorts to pick up other participants. Then began our crazy, one-hour, open-air bus ride to the mountains of the Dominican Republic, through too close for comfort construction zones, past heart-breaking poverty, and along the bumpiest 4-wheeling dirt road I’ve ever experienced. Once again, we had a great tour guide, Marshall, who filled us in on the history of the country, the plights of the people, the education and government systems, and how tourism makes up 60% of the country’s income and is, therefore, extremely fragile due to the world economic situation, weather, etc. A few things we learned: D.R. does not import any food and grow sugar, coffee, cocoa, bananas, and many other crops; school is mandatory through 6th grade and additional education is VERY expensive and virtually unattainable for most; children beg for money along the side of the road and will literally chase tourist busses down the streets; though impoverished, they are a proud people whose barren homes, which rarely have glass in the windows or even front doors, are spotless and swept multiple times each day. The zip line was incredible. We traveled down 12 different lines, each one a different length or speed, and over jungle and a huge river. I’m sure the pictures and video won’t do it justice, but hopefully you can get the idea! I highly recommend it, even if you are scared of heights or speed, because it is truly an amazing thing to do. Marshall brought us back safely and we headed back outside, to the pool this time, for a couple of hours of sun and bravely wandered through the beach-side vendor huts to get a few souvenirs before getting ready for our second dine-around, this time in the Italian restaurant.



Early morning views of the hotel property





The drive through the jungle to get to the zipline




A typical Dominican house



Here is a video of driving to the zipline place. It's a 2-way road, believe it or not! Notice the little houses, donkey tied to the side of the building, and elbow-endangering passing!

 

Getting instructions about ziplining

 

Panorama from the area where we got harnesed up





This was all the training we received!  The guide said,
"You don't get to practice -
You can practice the first time you go!"

 

This is one of the treehouses that we jumped from and landed in



Now, I’m to today! Dave is fishing with some others from our group this morning. I slept in an extra hour, finished up the pastries that came with his room service breakfast and got some fresh coffee delivered (did I mention they have great coffee here?), and am going to enjoy this gorgeous room and finish up my homework that’s due tonight. When Dave gets back, we plan to do our final shopping, have lunch in the buffet, and lounge by various bodies of water. Tonight we are looking forward to the ‘white party,’ a beach-side cocktail and dinner event when everyone wears white. (Note to self: Take the camera!!)More pictures and stuff about today later!  Now . . . it's off to the beach!!

I had a very relaxing day around the pool.  Dave got back at about 1:30 and we enjoyed the buffet lunch, which is open air with a luscious ocean breeze keeping us cool.  We lounged around for the rest of the afternoon and headed to the white party in the evening.  (I remembered the camera!!)

 

<>

Dave and Glenda from Texas

Monday was travel day – and a much longer one since we went all the way home in one day. :/ Our arrival time in Salt Lake wasn’t until midnight. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the airport, our car keys were gone!! We emptied our suitcases in the nearly vacant airport, including stuffing our hands into shoes, shaking out shirts, feeling around in ripped linings of our bags, and fruitlessly patting our pockets 100+ times. Dave got a special escort back onto the plane to check around our seats and in the aisles, and we filed a lost-item report with both the Atlanta (where we connected planes) and Punta Cana airports. By the time we gave up, it was nearly 2:00 a.m. when we called Sarah for a ride home. I took the next day off – thank goodness! Thankfully, the keys were hiding in between two pieces of clothing in our bag that must have been very fond of each other or dirty to the point of sticking together. Phew!


All in all, it was an amazing trip ~ something we’ve never done and will likely never do again. We came home renewed, refreshed, and invigorated to start life back up again.