D.R.- Day 3


The last time I visited the D.R. was in 1993 ( + or -) I swore that I would never return.
  Never is quite a long time. Almost 3 times as long as the Hollywoodterm “forever”
 [Forever being the average length of a Tom Cruise marriage]
Approaching the midpoint of day 3, I am feeling somewhat more positive about this trip compared to the last [ when my family spent more time in the bathroom than in the sun]
My first exposure to “all inclusives” probably dates back to my childhood and weeks spent at Butlin’s  Holiday Camps [ A slight upgrade from a minimum security prison!] 
 Ten pounds a week per person bought you seaside lodgings, "entertainment" and meals. I can still taste in my mind the grilled burgers that they offered, smothered with grilled onions and a dash of Heinz- a flavour that I have never been able to recapture after more than fifty years.
 Fast forward to today. 5 stars, all the food and booze one can possibly shove into your face, but sadly the entertainment has gone very far downhill since the days of Butlin's- or perhaps my memory is just getting a bit foggy!!
Today a somewhat lonely walk from the resort to town – alternating between beach and road for close to an hour and a half- was fraught with some fear on my part [ I don’t think I will ever fully recover my confidence after the machete attack in Nicaragua]
 The town of Las Terrenas was like any other town in the Caribbean Third World- narrow winding streets, galleries of cheap primitive oil paintings and overpriced general stores. Pringles priced at the equivalent of a mickey of rum and canned peanuts probably close to the price of a full meal at a local café.
 Black and red coral jewelry look temptingly beautiful but may not make it past Canadian customs , wood carvings though cheap will probably not survive the mishandlings of the baggage beating staff at Pearson. Susanna admires hand made jewelry and haggles for 40 minutes with a Argentinean craft vendor at a small stall and I am tempted to slip her an extra $5 for her patience.
The tip she gave us on catching a local bus did, after all, save us $6 in transportation costs.
  The driver ripped us off for $2 each- an overcharge on the local rate of $1.10, but who really cares. I am not sure just how far it  was back to the hotel but it seemed to involve a speed bump every 100 meters and I gave up counting after about 40.
 A beer, shower and lunch followed in quick succession and I find myself at 3;30pm by the pool nursing my first serious drink of the day- mojito [ extra large]
Unenthusiastic activities staff are trying to motivate equally unenthusiastic guests to do pool aerobics to really bad music- the inventor of autotune should really be put to death, very slowly, with his screams played back to him using his invention at full setting! LOL
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Salerno sin touristas!

Although originally planned as a quick overnight before Rome, Salerno turned into a two night stay that has turned out to be quite a nice break from the mad crush of tourists jamming the Amalfi coast. While the time we spent in Ravello was nice, even being a 30 minute drive above Amalfi did not spare us the cruiseship flocks who seemed to come by the busload.  Our B & B was, some 900 years earlier a Palace owned by a wealthy family. The B & B was built into the original structure and offered a reasonable degree of comfort if one didn't mind the hike up ancient stone stairways. The town itself is a small maze of streets wandering in all kinds of random directions over the sides of the mountain and offers some amazing views of the coast below. From the town there are several walking trails that lead to neighbouring villages on the mountains, or if one keeps going- all the way back to Amalfi and also Minori. Requiring some 45 minutes to an hour the trails wander off in differe...
Read more

Bye Bye Istanbul

Sunday night is being spent in Amsterdam,  or to be exact Hoofddorp, a suburb adjacent to the airport.   A dreary night awaited us when we arrived from Istanbul, and from weather reports, that is also what we can expect for the next few days.  We wrapped up the last couple of days in Istanbul with a Saturday morning visit to Topkapi Palace where I finally managed to see the section dedicated to the Holy Relics of the Prophet Muhammad. Under renovations on my last visit and blocked by massive queues of Muslims due to Ramadan in 2006, this was a case of 3rd time lucky. Worth the wait? I think so- where else are you going to see the Staff of Moses and the Sword of King David and bits of Muhammad's beard ( OK, Other than Ripley's Museum at Niagara Falls!)   True to form, the kitchens were closed on this visit.I dont think the palace is ever FULLY open to the public. At least the Harem was open but sadly there weren't any taste tests being offered!  An afternoon visi...
Read more

How Many??

Depending on what you read or who you listen to, there are either 300 or 400 beers available in Bruges. The place we ate a late lunch/early dinner! boasted of 300 with several local beers on tap with alcohol contents ranging from 4 to 12 percent.  With only 2 days in town I have so far sampled only 4 , all of which have been superior to the suds that the mega breweries in Canada pass off to unsuspecting consumers. Only 296 to go- its going to be tough!   The trip to Bruges from Amsterdam was rather eventful and a good introduction to the intricacies of european rail travel.A delayed conection out of Rotterdam caused a missed connection in Roosendaal which ultimately added two further connections to the trip, as a detour through Ghent cut a half hour off the trip. Regardless, we arrived 2 hours later than scheduled to a dreary damp city.  Hungry and tired, a quick meal of soup and pizza supplied some much needed energy as we tried to figure out the local transportation opt...
Read more