The Hair family has returned from the Dominican Republic. We went to Punta Cana for a six day vacation/destination wedding for one of Danielle’s friends, Ellen, and her new hubby, Russell. The wedding was pretty relaxed with a tiki cruise on Thursday, a two hour photo session in the pool and the wedding on Friday. After the wedding, we had cocktails/dinner at Jellyfish in Punta Cana. This place is definitely a gem in the rough. Unfortunately, there’s not many photos from our side - we kept spacing because it was the smaller camera I suppose…
Punta Cana is a city under construction. It’s obvious there’s a big divide between the rich resort owners and the general population. However, this *may* be changing with the tourism comes increased need for construction workers and services for multiple populations. Apparently, it is the number one destination for American tourists and this makes sense. It’s close (4 hour direct flights from JFK and Newark Liberty for the NYC crowd - many other directs including Air Canada) and the cost of vacationing does not seem as crazy with the weak dollar.
We had a great time overall. We stayed at the Majestic Colonial all inclusive. As with all inclusives, just about everything is included but it comes at a price. You’ll see the same food everyday and you’ll have the same mediocre drinks . Danielle and I stayed at an all inclusive in Cozumel and both recall the food and drinks being better there. The beaches are drop dead gorgeous and this would be the main draw if we were to return. The sand is such fine white sand and long natural beaches are available at multiple resorts.
We were a bit embarrassed by a fellow American who was very vocal (cat calling) when a woman took off her top on the beach. Suppose this is the downer of going to a popular American destination. It was also disappointing to see some fellow Americans not attempt Spanish (this IS the primary language of the Dominican Republic.) If you knew Spanish you were certainly able to get better service and have your needs fulfilled much more easily. Danielle and I spoke a good amount of Spanglish during our stay. Overall, the staff was very interested in helping you speak Spanish more easily. Sure, some would see the need for Spanish as a downer. On the contrary, I found this refreshing. It brought an authentic feel to our stay.
Oh, and Riley and his experience. We found he likes to sleep in lines at the airport and stay awake on planes now. He had his own chair but now that he’s walking, he thinks he should always be on the move. Four hours on an airplane tested both Danielle and I. I definitely don’t think we’ll take cross country on overseas flight longer than this.
More about Riley - as noted, he’s walking everywhere now. He’s also learning how to throw things (off his highchair and even a bit horizontal as well.) He loves bread more than anything now. It occupies him more than any other food. He still have a love affair for berries and fruit though he went through a brief stage this week where he was more interested in making orange juice than eating the local oranges. It was much more fun to squeeze the fruit than eat it.
We also noticed the Riley was more closed off to strangers in the Dominican Republic. We think this was due to a few factors:
He was in a completely different environment - culture shock in a term
The eating spaces (the place he came into contact most often) were very big and open air
The Dominicans were very affectionate toward him - very often touching his head. I think they were in his space a bit more than he’s used to for strangers.
Needless to say, we went out to our local diner for our Sunday breakfast. He was back to normal so it was one, or more, of the factors listed above that caused his uncommon shyness.
Riley liked the beach. He, like his aunt, thought it would be fun to eat sand. It did not take long for him to realize that it’s not a nourishing food. We bought him a set of sand toys and he loved playing with the shovel. He also warmed up to both the pool and the ocean after a couple of days. Obviously, he forgot his swim lessons from 6/7 months ago and we’ll work on this at the Westfield pool this summer.
That’s about it for now. We enjoyed the time away and the wedding. The Dominicans are a very friendly people and have beautiful beaches. We’re not sure if we’d return quickly unlike our feelings for both Cozumel and Nevis (not the Four Seasons part….)