Punta Cana Vacation
Well, I must say that overall I had a really great trip to the Dominican Republic. I was looking for a relaxing vacation in the sun with minimal worries and I got just that. Now, there were issues that did come up especially around my arrival and departure from the Dominican but they were sorted out with a bit of persistence and patience. Here is a little review of my week starting at my arrival in Punta Cana.
Getting off the plane and feeling humidity and warmth (30 Celsius) hit you after the winter we have experienced here in eastern Canada was enough to bring a smile to my face. As I walked down from the plane we were more or less "herded" to the arrival "hut" (which I guess I should refer to the terminal). As we lined up and made our way through customs I broke out laughing when I noticed that the incredibly large fans on the ceiling were actually called "Big Ass Fans". I pointed this out to a couple of people around me and before long almost everyone was looking up and getting a chuckle. I eventually made it to the luggage carousel and was pleased to see my bag actually made it. Even if it hadn't I made sure I had my shorts, t-shirt and sandals stored in my carry-on bag. Navigating the airport was made really easy and I eventually found the bus that would take me to my resort.
The bus ride to the resort was a real eye opener. Looking out the window and seeing the "homes" that some of the people live in reminded me of how fortunate I am. I was glad it wasn't hidden away from travelers. In one particular area the garbage on the side of the road was absolutely mindboggling and the gasp from everyone on the bus was memorable. Shortly afterward we went through a check point for the resort with armed guards and within five minutes of that we were looking at a beautiful fountain that announced our arrival at the Barcelo Bavaro Beach Resort. This place is quite huge and there was a lot of confusion as to where everyone was getting off. We circled around the different hotels that make up the resort dropping people off and when it was finally my turn my luggage had gone missing as well as one other couples. I wasn't exactly surprised by this because like I said there was little organisation to what was happening at each of the previous stops. We ended up having to circle back to all the other places and eventually I did find my bag after around 2hrs. There were many hundreds of people arriving at the same time so as you can imagine... it was almost like trying to find a needle in a haystack. All the employees were genuinely concerned about trying to find it so I was at least happy with that. Some sort of luggage detection gadget would have been most helpful! ;-P
Anyhow... the next adventure was registration which while painless was extrodinarily slow. And I mean slow. I was patient and just waited it out but more than a couple of people absolutely lost their mind. I was happy to eventually to the counter and get registered and get my "magic braclet". Unfortunately, my room wouldn't be ready for a few hours so I took off to change (I was so happy I had kept a change of clothes in my carry-on bag) and eat. After that I went to the poolside bar with a couple of other people from my flight to wait until our rooms were ready.
The room I was in was nice. My fire alarm would sound every time I took a shower for some reason which made me laugh. It was easy enough to fix though... I just removed it from the ceiling when I wanted to take a shower and put it under a pillow.
The beach was amazing... and I mean that. Beach in both directions for as far a you could see. This and the weather is what I came for and fortunately the weather would cooperate all week.Overall, it was a relaxing week with great weather.
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