What a sad, sad day. It’s time to go home. We had breakfast, paid our fees, got some last minute gifts and then took a Taxi to the airport. Driving in the Dominican Republic is scary. It seemed to take longer this time and the clock in the taxi said we were going to be late. Turns out I was just paranoid and the clock was wrong. We had plenty of time. When we got near Miami the captain said there was bad weather over the airport so we were going to circle for 20 minutes and wait for it to clear. As it was we only had a two hour layover in Miami and we heard horror stories of people missing their connecting flights due to customs and stuff. After 20 minutes of circling they said it still hasn’t cleared so we were going to cicle for another 30 minutes. Just fricken great! After who knows how long they said still no good and we are running out of fuel so we are going to land in Nassau. Lovely, it’s going to take days to get home now. About three minutes after they said we were going to Nassau they said the weather cleared up and we were going to Miami. Phew! But by now it was looking like we wouldn’t make our connecting flight unless it was delayed. We landed and got through customs as fast as we could. It was crazy they had us go through several different checks in different areas. We made it through without a problem and we checked the monitors for flight info. Our flight was listed as on time. Fricken great! The way they have things layed out there you have to leave the secured area then go back through the security check to get to your gate. Smart thinkin. The line was really long. After we got through that we had about 20 minutes till takeoff. That really means 10 since they lock the doors 10 minutes before early. We ran through the airport and of course our gate was way at the end. We just barely made it….. or so we thought. Turns out it was delayed even though they listed it as being on time. We sat there for 20 or 30 minutes before people stopped getting on. We were late getting to Dallas but still had just enough time to stop at the wine shop there and have a glass. We had gone more than a week without good wine.
When we got home we found out about all the other people who had troubles getting home. The couple that paid extra to leave a day early didn’t get home any earlier than if they had stayed the extra day. The two couples that left the day before we did had a blowout on the way to the airport. After the driver changed the tire the cab wouldn’t start. So the four of them were pushing it up the road so he could jump start it. Great way to end a vacation. I’m very thankfull our trip home went as smoothly as it did.
The last two couples in our group left at noon. We hung out at the pool for a little while before they left. After they left we got a massage. It was pretty nice, an hour long swedish massage right on the ocean. We could hear the waves crashing and it wasn’t a recording, it was real. Pretty cool. After that we pretty much just relaxed. Hung out in the pool and stuff. This was the first day it didn’t rain. Figures it was our last full day there. Later on we went snorkeling. That was interesting.
That night there was only five guests at the whole resort. Us, an older Norwegian couple and a big single guy. They brought a table out by the pool for us to have dinner at. Dinner was great, then they brought in some local dancers. They were pretty good. After that we hit the hot tub briefly, then went to bed early.
Jessica woke up feeling a bit better. Most of the people in our group left today. It was sad seeing them go. I didn’t think it would be, they were just a bunch of freaks we were partying with but we made some good friends. After they all left it was just us and two other couples left in our group. One of the couples was the one that got married there. They pretty much kept to themselves today, so we hung out with the other couple all day. They are real nice. They live in California and love wine like we do. We will probably do a winery tour or something with them sometime.
Day 6 kind of sucked. Jessica woke me up in the morning freaking out because she had a sore throat and she said it felt like it was closing up on the inside. She took a benedryl and waited a little while to see if that helped. I dozed off again and she woke me up saying she thinks she needs to see the doctor. But she was having a bit of a panic attack and I thought she was having a hard time breathing. We had them wake up the manager and she arranged to have us taken to the local clinic. They didn’t open until 8:00 AM though. She calmed down and told me it was only affecting her swallowing. I was really scared there for a little while. We went back to bed until the taxi was ready. I wasn’t too comfortable with going to a local clinic but that’s what my sweety wanted. They said it wasn’t an infection but probably an allergic reaction to something. It could be so many things, we still don’t know what. They gave her a couple of prescriptions and we went back to the resort and back to bed. Later she felt slightly better so we went to lunch at the beach bar. Then she said it got worse. Someone pointed out that her cheeks were starting to swell. We went back to the room so she could take medicine and take a nap. Later she felt better so we went back to the beach bar. Same thing, she was doing great for a while, then got worse. After that she started carrying the medicine with her so she could take a half dose when it started to swell up. She was able to keep it under control the rest of the day that way. We ended the night in the hot tub, but went to bed early when she started to feel sick again.
Once again I have fallen behind in my updates. We are just having too much fun. Day 5 was interesting. We did the usual routine, have breakfast, hit the pool, take a nap, go to dinner, etc. A couple in the group, TBear and Sugar got married. It was a nice simple ceremony on the grass by the ocean. Instead of having dinner in the dining hall, we had it at the beach bar. It was a buffet style dinner. I didn’t recognize most of it and the only thing I had that I liked was the cole slaw.
After dinner they started a bonfire. Several of us went out there to take pictures. We started talking to another couple about photography. Turns out they are from Dover N.H. That’s not too far from my home town. I thought his accent sounded familiar. Unfortunately they were leaving the following morning. She missed the kids so they paid extra to leave early.
Jessica dragged me out of bed early again for breakfast. We had a group photo shoot to do after breakfast so we had to get up anyway. I had put sunblock on the parts of me that always burn, head, shoulders, ears and nose. Jessica put it on back. I didn’t think I had to worry about anything else. After breakfast we went down to the pool for the photo shoot but not everyone was there yet. So while waiting I laid down on one of the chairs. Guess what happened. Yep, I got burned. A funny shaped burn too. Jessica had put sun block on my shoulders and blended it into my chest. Well it didn’t blend very well so now I have an asymetric A-Framed shaped sun burn on my chest. My stomach and legs are burned too. It could have been much worse, at least I left my shorts on.
The photo shoot was interesting. This is a photo they take every year involving all the women. One of the guys in the group seems to think he’s a professional photographer. I don’t think he really is, but he has the equipment and skills for it. And there was plenty of beautiful scenery to photograph.
After the photo shoot we all just hung out in the pool the rest of the day/night. Oh yeah, they had some native dancers put on a show for us. They were very good. Then they had some of the audience join them. Jessica did. I tried to get some good pictures but my lame-ass camera doesn’t take the picture when I press the button so I didn’t get any good ones. I am soooo getting a new camera!
I am really falling behind here. We are on day 5 and I haven’t posted anything for day 3 yet. I think I mentioned in the last post we just stayed at the Villa the night before. We dragged ourselves out of bed to get breakfast before they stopped serving. Apparently I had had too much to drink the night before. I tried taking it easy, but Jessica says I had a lot of Rum and Cokes. We went back to the room and napped for a few hours, then went down to the pool for lunch. I did not drink as much that day, but it turned into another long night.
We are finally here, at the Eden Bay resort. We just got in to our room. The drive from the airport was an adventure. The drivers here are mucho loco! I guess everyone is down at the beach. We have not seen a single person who is not staff yet. Oh yeah, it’s fricken hot here! It’s only 85 degrees or something right now, but it is soooo humid. It’s probably ok for normal people but we live in the desert so we are not used to the humidity. At least here we can strip off all our clothes and not get arrested.
Update: When we first got here we took some pics of the room and the spectacular view we have. A few minutes after that it got very cloudy and rained. When it cleared up we meandered down to the beach bar. The rest of our group was there. We hung out for a while, getting to know everyone then went back to our room to get ready for dinner. Dinner was pretty good. The wine tasted cheap though. During dinner, which was at an open air dining area, it started to pour. It cleared up by the time we were done. We hung out for a while afterwards with the group, then we all went down to the big hot tub and pool on the beach. We had a great time there, in spite of one lady who seemed to want to cause trouble, then we headed up the the Villa. That is basically a house that our group has the use of. It has a fully stocked bar and a hot tub. We ended up spending the night up there. Not sure when we finally went to bed, but one guy said he left around 4:00 AM and we were still going.
This marks the start of our vacation to the Dominican Republic. We are in the airport, checked in and through security. We have over an hour before our flight so we are having breakfast. I skipped the starbucks thinking there was another in the terminal but there is not. I will have to settle for this restaurant coffee.
We have a day and a half of travel ahead of us. We fly into Dallas, have a 2.5 hr layover then we fly to Miami. We have a 12 hour layover there so we are just going to go to a hotel and get some sleep. We will arrive in DR early tomorrow afternoon.
They say they have recently added wireless internet to the resort we are going to, so I should be able to post something each day. Keep in mind though, I’ll be on vacation and I’ll be drinking. So if my posts are incoherent, give me some slack.
Update 11:30 PM: We just arrived at the Hotel in Miami. We should be able to get about 6 hours of sleep before heading back to the airport. We heard something funny at the Dallas airport today. “Please avoid transporting items you are unaware of.” If you are aware of it, you aren’t transporting something you are unaware of. Duh!
