Dominican Republic, Punta Cana 2003


BY THE END OF THE WEEK MOST OF US WERE ADAPTING WELL TO THE CULTURE

We missed the breakfast buffet again but were able to grab a coffee and banana bread before hitting the beach. We took a right and headed to the market which is about 1 k away. On arrival we were pestered so much that we ran away without shopping. We kept walking about a further two miles. Part of the beach was very deserted. Linda took a picture of me climbing a coconut tree. To get there I had to walk across a bed of sandspurs. Not being a swami, I found this quite painful. These unique little items look just like regular burrs except they are extremely sharp. Just ask Wendy ? she?s an expert on the subject. Had I been thinking straight, I would have levitated over them like magician David Blaine, as both Linda and I have mastered this trick.


DAVE IS OUT OF HIS TREE	OUCH! SANDSPURS	CUCKOO FOR COCONUTS


LINDA SAID "NICE CLIMATE". I HEARD, "CLIMB IT".	HAVING MISSED BREAKFAST, I HAD TO FORAGE FOR MYSELF	LUNCH AT LAST


THE MUCH PRIZED COCONUTS	SECLUDED BEACH PAST THE MARKET	BEN DOVER

After a two hour walk we returned to our beach. Lucy joined us at the Casino for lunch. It was excellent if you discounted the birds making off with the pasta and bread rolls. Lucy went off to her lounge chair in the shade by the pool to read. She reminded me that it was my turn to ?buy? her a piňa colada from the free bar. Linda and I signed out a couple of kayaks and toured around. She came up with the excellent idea of putting on our masks and lying face down in the water. We allowed the wind to blow the kayaks around while we checked out the undersea world. Back at our beach, Linda had a massage. After all that exercise we had to retire to our room for another siesta.


THANKS TO HELPY HELPERTON, LINDA CAN'T SEEM TO GET HER KAYAK TO MOVE	"HURRY UP! WE'LL NEVER MAKE CUBA AT THIS RATE IF WE WANT TO BE BACK HERE FOR SUPPER"	EVENTS LEADING UP TO MALCOLM'S CONCUSSION


FRANK & DON OUT FOR A STROLL	THEY NEVER SPOKE TO ONE ANOTHER AGAIN WHEN THEY REALIZED THEY BOTH HAD THE SAME TOWELS	"HOWDY MA'AM"

For supper, we each snagged 2 vodka and oranges and joined our group at the Mexican Restaurant. They didn?t have any orange juice there so we decided that the drinks were so good, we would run off and get two more while we were waiting for our meals. By the time we found our way back, everyone had eaten. It seemed like we were only gone five minutes.


FRANK & LUCY AMUSED BY PAUL'S PHOTOS	THE GRISWOLD'S GO MEXICAN TONIGHT	I GUESS THE SIGN SAYS IT ALL

Everyone has their peak night. We shared ours with Paul. Don and Wendy joined us at the amateur night stage. We watched several couples make fools of themselves trying to imitate the trained dancers?come to think of it, maybe it was us. Eventually we became tired of this.

We ordered a couple of more drinks to go and rode around on the tour train until we ended up at our room around 3:00 a.m.

?Well, I wouldn?t want to sponge off you? I said dabbing her fevered face with a wet towel.

She said she would like to sleep for an extra hour so I disappeared to the beach. I joined Malcolm and Brian on a sauntering spree to the market. There was very little to see unless you happened to like topless women. We sauntered and sauntered and sauntered and then sauntered some more. It was quite titillating. Paul appeared and showed us some of the 700 pictures he?d taken. Strangely enough, all of the women in his photos were only shown from the neck down.

Suddenly, my hour was up. I raced back to the restaurant and grabbed some banana bread, fruit, orange juice and coffee and raced it up to my Caribbean Queen. By lunch time she was feeling a little better so we went to the Beach Buffet. We passed our landmark on the way to the beach (Lucy under her shade tree).

LANDMARK LUCY

Linda felt well enough to do some snorkeling, but then at one point I saw her running towards the bathroom yelling ?watch my stuff ? I?ll be back?. Instead she decided to hang out at our room. I went up and read while she slept. Linda wasn?t feeling well enough for supper so I arranged some toys and things beside her in case she got bored while I was gone (cards, books, drinks, tv remote, chocolates, a stack of my shirts to iron and darn, my shoes and some polish etc).

I joined the group at the Seafood Restaurant. I ate quickly and brought Linda back a plate of bread, cheese and apples. We sat around and watched tv. Later, Linda actually became hungry so I ran down and ordered a pizza. Apparently her appetite was back as she ate all but one slice which she left for me?but I was quite happy as I?d also brought myself up a Coco Loco and a piňa colada. We watched the movie ?Uncle Buck? until bedtime.

Linda was feeling a little better. We went to the Casino for breakfast. After, we went to the beach and hiked for an hour and six minutes to the right. We ended up at the next resort then turned around and headed back. Along the way we stopped at a rock reef and saw many horseshoe crabs and other interesting marine life. I managed to slice my heel on some coral.


NO SENSE CHANGING HORSES IN MIDSTREAM	THE STICKMAN ON HIS PATH TO SELF-DESTRUCTION	THE PALM PALM GIRL


STEVIE WONDER	TABLE FOR TWO	LINDA WAS UNABLE TO FIND A PLACE TO USE HER SKATEBOARD


HORSESHOE CRAB	FRANK & BRIAN ON A CIGAR FINDING MISSION	BRIAN PREPARES FOR ANOTHER HARD DAY

I saw smoke coming from our section of the beach and was worried for a while but it turned out to be Brian and Frank with their newly purchased Havana cigars.

?Just look at the walter?, said Brian waving his tropical rum drink in the general direction of the ocean.

?Who?s Walter?? asked Malcolm continuing to gaze at the topless woman beside him.

?Walter?ha, ha! That?s a good one?, said Don while a cloud of cigar smoke escaped from under his panama hat.

We all looked up to see Paul plodding towards us, leaving two furrows in the sand from dragging his feet.

?You know?, continued Don, ?that?s what?s missing here ? they should strap you to a dolly and just wheel you around to the bar or the pool.?

Linda lounged around the pool. We did a few laps then I ran off to play a game of miniature golf.


THE LARGE CIRCULAR POOL	THE CARIBBEAN QUEEN	THERE WAS ALWAYS A FREE LOUNGE CHAIR


PAUL PERFORMS HIS OPERA SOLO INTO THE SUNSET	THAT WAS AS FAR AS BRIAN WAS WILLING TO GO TODAY	GOOD FRIENDS WERE MADE ALL AROUND

Even later I picked myself up a windsurfer and surfed up the coast. Unfortunately I was unable to surf back due to the wind conditions and had to wade my craft back to the starting point. Today was so relaxing I can?t remember where we went for supper but I had the roast ?sucking? pig which is a favourite here. I believe they meant suckling, but it was still excellent. Half of the group went on an excursion called the ?Bavaro Runners? which they all agreed was excellent. Linda and I elected not to go as we would have had to sign up in advance and at the time, we were too mellow to decide. Malcolm stayed behind as he didn?t want to miss any women or beer. Wendy and Don had to cancel out due to sickness. The agent was kind enough to refund their money. I think Wendy had a little too many pickled pigs feet again.

The breakfast buffet was closest so we filled up there then signed up for Reef Snorkeling at a cost of $10.00 U.S. (or about $750.00 Cdn, ha, ha). I spotted Malcolm asleep on a lawn chair. I placed a cut out photocopied hand on his stomach. Several key fingers were removed. I thought this would make for an interesting tan. Unfortunately Malcolm awoke and did not agree with me.


DON BORROWED MY CAMERA TO CAPTURE A SIDE OF FRANK THAT FEW PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT	MALCOLM X	PAUL LEADS THE BEACH AEROBICS. ONE CAN ALMOST TASTE HIS ENTHUSIASM.


ACCORDING TO MY SUNDIAL, IT WAS TIME FOR ANOTHER PINA COLADA	LINDA, DAVE, FRANK. NOTE: FRANK KEEPS HIS RUM CLOSE BY.	"DON'T WORRY DON...WE'LL FIND YOUR BATHING SUIT"

Linda and I tanned until 10:30 when the reef boat picked twelve of us up. We anchored about a mile out. Mask and flippers were included. The ocean swells were moving up and down about 5 feet but the water was crystal clear. Pieces of bread were thrown in as chum to bait small (I hoped) fish. It was by far the most excellent value here. We swam for about 45 minutes surrounded by millions of little fish. We could see the detail on all variety of coral, some 3 times larger than moose antlers. Linda saw either a sea snake or a moray eel and a small swordfish. A woman in our group saw some very large fish and I went off with her to view them but her partner became worried and called her back. Both of us were disappointed when it was over. Wendy and Don had planned to go but were busy socializing with the local doctor getting shots for a measly $268.00 U.S. Fortunately, they had medical insurance.

The Casino buffet was open so we hurriedly grabbed our meals before the birds made off with it. Linda spied Lucy at the pool so we joined her. Our plan had been to meet everyone at 3:00 and walk to the market but it was so relaxing by the pool, we couldn?t make ourselves leave. We stayed there for 3 hours talking until it got dark.


FLAMING OH'S OUTSIDE THE CASINO BUFFET	"JUST A SARONG BEFORE I GO"	PINK FLAMINGOS

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S	HOW THE BAVARO BREAD GETS ITS UNIQUE FLAVOUR	THE "L's" RELAXING BY THE CASINO POOL

Wendy was still sick so Don & Lucy accompanied us to a smaller buffet. Lucy said the beer wasn?t cold enough there so we went back to the Casino buffet for our last supper.

I think everyone headed back to their rooms to pack for our return trip tomorrow. At least Linda and I did.

We prepared for our last day then ran through the rain to the Beach Buffet for breakfast.

Then we returned to our room for our final packing before carting all our belongings down to the lobby. The group was there for our 10:45 checkout. Once we handed in our keys, our agent showed up to tell us the plane would be delayed for two hours. Frank managed to get us one room to store our bags in but we mostly hung around the lobby watching the rain pour down. I toyed with the idea of remaining behind and having my office e-mail changed to workmand@Kari.bean.net.


SOMEONE LEFT DON OUT IN THE RAIN	LAST DAY RAINY PICTURES	DON ACCIDENTALLY PACKED HIS HALLOWE'EN SUITCASE

Eventually our bus showed up and took us on the 20 minute trip to the airport. Here we discovered that there was a communications error and the plane was not delayed. They rushed us through customs and directed us to gallop out on the runway saying, ?your plane is about the third one in line?. After a few false starts, we located our Air Transat flight and boarded. The pilot announced that due to the delay, they no longer had enough fuel to reach Toronto. ?Please unfasten your seat belts while we refuel?. ?This was quite comforting?, I thought while watching out the window for a giant ball of flame.

At 6:30 our flight touched down in Toronto. Customs was no problem ? even Brian?s newly purchased machete made it through without incident. We said our goodbyes to Brian and Lucy. From there, our hotel shuttle picked the rest of us up and dropped us at the vehicles. We had gone from a balmy 29 degrees to minus 29 degrees. That was a bit of a culture shock. We ate at Wendy?s restaurant on the way home. The road trip back was uneventful. Arriving back at Wendy and Don?s around 11:00 pm, we parted ways never to see each other again until?The Griswold?s European Vacation where we plan to stay in convents.

(Note: Walking from one end of the beach to the other would be app. 10 minutes)