Dominican Republic

We finally got back from our Vacation/Attendance of Darrah and Jared's Wedding in the Dominican Republic. We had a great time with tons of fun in the sun, ocean, casino and variety of bars our resort offered. Rather than bore you with details and a day by day account of our trip, I will give you the highlights:

* Dominican Republic, The Country: As we traveled the extremely torn up and bumpy roads on our way to the resort, we could tell this wasn't the safest and cleanest of countries. Although the countryside was beautiful and the people extremely friendly, we didn't feel comfortable leaving the resort and experiencing the country on our own.

* Magestic Elegance, Our Resort: At first glance, the resort was absolutely beautiful. The lobby was huge and open to the elements and you could smell the ocean air. The pools were nice on first glance. The room was great. We had a huge king bed, marble floor, shower with 4 different spouts shooting water at you and a jacuzzi in our room. Once you have stayed for more than an hour, you start noticing the smaller things. Tile was missing in the pools, tile was missing in the shower, you could see the ceiling and wire from our vent and all around shoddy construction. The craziest thing about it is the fact the place just opened 5 months ago. Oh well, the bed was comfortable and we could shower in crazy tornado of water. Overall, I like it. :)

*Buffets, Steakhouses and Snack Bar, The Food: Apparently the Dominicans have not been introduced to spice, flavor and all around taste at the resort. The food was not very good. Although when it was late into the night and I had visited a few bars around the resort, I could have sworn I found the best hot dog on earth. The next day though it didn't taste as good when I went back. I can say that the food we had at the Hibachi Restaurant and Wedding Reception was very good. Oh and the omelettes you could make yourself were fantastic. Let's just say, I didn't starve for the 6 days I was there.

*Pedro, Norman and Manuel, The Bartenders: These guys made the trip. They served great drinks, had even greater personalities and pretty much ensured that we had a wonderful time the entire time on the resort. My only advice to anyone who does go the D.R. is stay away from the Toucan drinks and definitely try a shot of Mama Juana. Yum!

*A Trip Around D.R. with a CRAZY Tour Guide, The Excursion: Ben and I decided to take a truck safari around our part of the island and check out what the Dominican Republic was all about. Little did we know that we would be stuck for 9 hours with one of the craziest, maybe partially retarded tour guides in the country. He made the weirdest noises (that means a lot coming from me) and the craziest gestures and was pretty much fascinated with bathroom jokes. He also lacked the idea of personal space has he tried to shove a sprig of Oregano up Ben and my nostrils.

Needless to say, I was scared of him....anyway, on the excursion we visited a sugar 'plantation.' This consisted of pulling off the road, the driver hopping out and cutting down some sugar cane from the side of the road. Crazy Tour Guide gave us a 30 second lesson on sugar cane and then we ate some. Nice plantation.

Then it was off to the cigar museum where we learned about cigars for 15 minutes and then shopped for 30.

Then they took us on the most uncomfortable ride up the mountain to a typical Dominican house where we tried all kinds of fresh fruit, freshly ground cocoa that tasted like ground and had oregano shoved up our noses. On the way out, we saw a crazy snake man, took pictures and then went on to the Ranch where we would have lunch. At the Ranch we found that 'typical' Dominicans discovered flavor and spice. We ate a lot and then hopped onto some horses for our horse backriding adventure through the countryside. My horse decided to play bumper horses and tried to crush my leg between it's body and any other horse it decided it didn't like. Ben's horse on the other hand was racing some imaginary race and wanted to be the leader of the pack, even if that meant trying to throw Ben over the fence. After the horseback riding we saw some crocodiles, iguanas and even a mini cockfight (I walked away in protest...Ben took pictures >:o.....)

Then it was off to the beach for a 30 minute dip, which was much needed after the dust, horses and bumpy rides. After all of that, we finally made it back. Final conclusion, would go again.

*The Reason We Went, The Wedding: Darrah and Jared got married on the beach. The location was beautiful, the weather was beautiful and of course the couple was gorgeous. Everything was wonderful except all of the half naked people walking the beach stopping to watch or just walking behind all the picture perfect moments. It was quite distracting. It didn't take too much away from the ceremony, though. Then the reception had great food, great drinks and great conversations. She threw the bouquet and apparently it landed right in front of my feet while I was distracted...so she threw it again and her new cousin caught it. Whew! They had their first dance at the outside jazz bar and all of the dances there as well. It was a great time. Congratulations, Darrah and Jared and thanks for letting us be a part of it!

So that is pretty much it...if you see me about I might bore you with over 400 pictures Ben and I took of the trip. So this is your warning to stay clear of me!