Today the weather isn’t cooperating and the weather looks like Vancouver, but without the cold temperatures so I don’t mind it too much. I’m starting to get a wee bit bored of porking out and laying out in the sun like a beached whale. One week is enough vacation time for me, after that I get bored and want to head back home. Don’t ask me why, because I just don’t know.

At the moment the rain stopped but it was damn windy about 20 minutes then it poured for about 5 minutes and now it’s just cloudy outside but still really warm. I should also mention that all hotel lobbies that I have been in these tropical places never tend to have doors  and many walls for the lobby areas. I guess they don’t really need it. Hell maybe they don’t even have heat in the lobbies, why would they? They have no doors, lol.

Tonight we are having dinner at some place called the SteakHouse, which is part of our all inclusive package for the 2 weeks that we are staying at the Riu Taino hotel. I’ll snap some photos tonight of our steak dinner.

I snapped a few photos below:

A closeup of a gecko lizard on wooden post (fast little bastards).

When was the last time you drank from a glass Pepsi bottle?

Cool looking Peacock shaped plant

And dats all for now folks……..

Just taking a break from the sandy beaches, the salt water is itching my back so I need to shower pretty soon. Not much to say on my end, all is well in paradise. I saw ABC news from New York this morning and saw all the snow they are having in the Eastern US, wow! It’s March and snow is still happening, unreal. Isn’t it “Spring Break” soon?
Here it seems to rain at night and then the next day BLAM, back to soon. It probably the dream weather I would love for Vancouver, rain all night sun all day. Vancouver gets rain all day and night ha ha.

Anyways I snapped some more pictures of daily events around my hotel. Nothing really exciting happening around here, basically what a vacation should be all about. I got up at 7 am got kids ready, have breakfast, went to beach laid around for few hours, had lunch and here I am for about 1 hr.

landscapers pulling out plants

Bananas growing on trees outside my room, pretty crazy. These ones aren’t ripe obviously..

You can buy these coconuts which they cut for you, then put Dominican rum inside so you have an instant tropical drink. The price is $1 US.

outdoor aerobics on the beach…

my breakfast for this morning: chopped ham, bacon, eggs (over easy) and the croissant for my kids.

Somebody wanted more photographs of food so I snapped today all inclusive, all you can breakfast layout.

an assortment of pancakes, waffles, french toast, donuts and other pastries

more pastries

various types of fruit for breakfast…

We are on week 2 of our Dominican Republic vacation, and the last week of it as well.  I am really enjoying the friendliness of the local people here. People here seem so much more laid back than in Vancouver, not sure why but they are very relaxed and care free.

I just took my daughter for our usual afternoon baby stroller/walk so she can fall asleep and have her afternoon nap. I sneak away after she falls asleep in the stroller, then I go over to the next hotel (Riu Macao) to use their wireless Internet. It’s my afternoon ritual here in the Dominican.

Me and wifey are walking quite a bit each day because we both hate just sitting there all damn day (gets kinda boring tanning for 8 hrs). This morning we walked to the “stores” which look like basic structures with no electricity, no flooring (unless sand is considered a floor) , no doors. My mother in law suggested we walk to the stores, yeah some stores ha ha. In any case it’s always interesting to other cultures around the world. Things here are much more simple than Vancouver and for the most part I consider it a GOOD thing.

walking to “the stores”

The Dominican Republic version of MetroTown Mall…

various items to buy such as, drums, statues, pottery

This is called the “John Wayne” store, not sure why but it was funny…

do you like the floors here? beats laminate flooring anyday…

The “Leonardo Di Caprio” store, umm no comment..

The outdoor mall of Punta Cana…

walking along the beach back from “the stores”…

We checked out all the hotels on the strip and surprising our hotel is actually not as nice as others around here, however those other hotels cost much more to stay at than ours (Riu Taino). The food is the exact same at all the hotels (we checked) on the strip, the only difference is the visual appeal. Our hotel is by no means bad but when you compare to others such as Rui Palace then you can see the difference. I snapped a few photos but we went at night and it’s hard to get how amazing this hotel is in the dark. It really does look like some type of palace.

outdoor bar at Riu Palace

outdoor bar area Riu Palace in Punta Cana

inside bar at Riu Palace hotel in the Dominican Republic

outdoor waterfall

Matteo with Mamma at the Riu Palace hotel….

night shot of pool at our hotel Riu Taino…

local Dominican man making hats & bowls out of palm leaves, very neat…

dude selling cigars, he looks pretty mad at me (yikes..)

my little showoff

And back I go to the pool to meet up with the kids and wifey, maybe grab a Pina Colada along the way.