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?
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
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.
I kinda lost track of time, but I checked the date on my computer and it is Friday today. Being on vacation most of my stresses are gone, and I forgot what day it is. I’m usually a stress bag so I’m glad I can finally chill out here. Last night we had the big feed of prawns and veal along with tons of other foods that you can see in the photos that I uploaded to the blog today. I snapped the photos for my most loyal reader, so there you go guy enjoy the food pictures. Please don’t drool on your laptop, it might fry it out.
my prawn and steak dinner, yummy
prawn platter – all the prawns you can stuff in your face….
all the desserts you can eat, I don’t touch them at all…. I am trying to remain slim (trying….)
assortment of foods here…
As you can see it’s really easy to gain weight here, so you need to pig out on the right stuff or you will go home looking like a bowling ball.
my daughter is growing up really fast..
my daughter as a man, yikes!
Mr. Matteo and wifey..
shot of the amazing blue blue water………….
Last night was some type of festival right in the middle of the street, people dancing and vendors selling oil paintings, jewelry and all that jazz. I snapped a few pics of that as well.
dancers from the Hotel, doing their thing.
local lady have fun.
street party…
oil painting by local Dominican artist…
Ok enough on the computer. Time to head back before the kids wake up, they are a handful haha. I will go have a nice espresso now, in the heat yeah I know.
PS: You can see all the photos I take on my image gallery page.I only put a handful of photos on this post, enjoy.
And here I am in the Dominican Republic on my 2 week vacation, hence the few blog posts. I had a hell of a time being able to post let me tell you. I called ahead of time to the hotel (1 month ago) to make 100% sure that they have Internet access available. Let’s face it I’m an Internet junky and not having Internet for 2 weeks straight would probably have me going into convulsions. I called ahead and they said they did have wireless access. It was a half truth on their part. They did have access but in ANOTHER hotel. It’s only a 5 minute walk, but still a pain in the butt to go to another hotel to sit in their lobby to get wireless access. On top of that I forgot or didn’t even consider the power outlets here might be different than North American style power outlets. They have the European style power outlets, so I had to buy an adapter (only $2), that fits on my existing plug so I can get power through the outlets. It took me a few days of asking to find a shop that sells them.
I am staying at a really nice 5 start hotel called Riu Taino, which is located in the city of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. I’m not going to make some huge essay describing the hotel and all that stuff. The place is all inclusive, meaning all you can eat and all you can drink. Last night I got gunned after 3 strawberry margaritas, 1 rum and coke, 1 strawberry daquari and other stuff that I don’t remember cause I was too drunk to. Ha ha it was a much needed binge session. It’s sucks drinking alone though, my wife can’t drinks because she breasts feed still and the rest of them well…..
And for the food, well it’s all buffet style meals, but the food is amazing as I expected. You can get all types of fish, chicken, veal, fruits, and anything else you can think of. More than you can ever ask for, but since I’m always watching my carbs I don’t indulge is breads, pastas, pizzas or anything else that will gain me the 15 lbs that I lost late last year.
I am here with my mother in law, my wife’s aunt and uncle, and her uncles brother and his sister in law. Basically a bunch of old wops. They’re all great people and good babysitters, lol.
I have been snapping photos here and there but my batteries for my camera died. I did bring a recharger but until about 1 hour ago I couldn’t recharge anything because the power outlets are different than home. That is all old news now and I can charge my batteries and take some more pics and video as well.
I thought I would be doing more work here, but who is kidding who? I’m in a tropical place, all you can eat and drink with sun, palm trees and all that good stuff. I didn’t even want to come on this vacation if you can believe that, since I am a workaholic but I am starting to unwind. Personally I get bored just laying on the beach for 8 hours a day so we go for walks and all that stuff.
Tonight there is some type of festivities going on in the street in front of our hotel. I’ll snap some photos of that and upload to my blog tomorrow in the afternoon (when the kids are asleep).PS: Don’t even tell how the weather is in Vancouver, I already know.. .
Time for me to have another drink now, don’t be jealous, lol…..
