Thursday night before heading out with friends, Fiona and I packed for our weekend in Punta Cana because we were not sure exactly where we would end up that night and wanted to be prepared to jump in the car with Stefano friday morning no matter how hung over we were or where we decided to pass out. The night began slow when Stefano was over and hour late to get us. Not to mention, at the last minute told us to meet him at the bar because he was still running late. I got to Skype with my sister, parents and best friend Mckenzie Creamer while I waited, so I was not upset. At last, Fiona and I took a cab and headed into town. Right when we arrived, we decided to take two double shots. This was just the beginning. I do not even know where it ended. I don't think there was a period of five minutes where we did not have a new drink/shot in our hands. We even took jello shots out of syringes. I have now decided that this place is poison. It is always a great night, yet always a horrible "morning after". We danced the night away with our friends and as far as I can remember, it was a wonderful experience. At around 2:00, SHOTS was closing so the lights went on, the singing died down and it was time to leave. Of course through all the chaos, my shoe broke.
One of my favorite pairs of sandals that I brought, and they were unfixable. I also lost an earring throughout the night, but did not discover it until I was getting ready for bed. At this point, I was ready to eat and sleep. The rest of the group wanted to continue on to the next bar. We went to Gold, which is a disco inside of a Casino. This was the place where Fiona and I met Don Omar. I only lasted about ten minutes, when I asked Jean Michael and Emile to walk myself to the car where I could meet our friend Maximo who had already proceeded to take a nap. The next thing I knew, I woke up in the backseat and Stefano was driving us to his home. Before I could make it into my pajamas, I hit the bed and was knocked out. I woke up the next morning, sick. I also woke up three hours before everyone else. Those were the worst three hours of my life. And of course, right when I was dozing off again, I was jumped on by Fiona to tell me that Stefano's entire family was out at the dinner table waiting for me to join them for lunch. I sucked it up and decided to join. This was one of the better meals I have had here. We had fried chicken, rice, tomatoes, bread, habichuelas, and every other possible Dominican food. It was the perfect answer to a hung over morning. We decided to mope around the house for a bit, shower, then head off to Punta Cana around 4 (after stopping at McDonalds).
And here is the good part: Punta Cana. I cannot being to put into words how amazing and in need I was of this trip. Punta Cana is a resort area of the Dominican Republic. It is filled with beautiful hotels, beaches and people (mostly Europeans). We stayed in the Iberostar Bavaro, everyone should Google it because pictures and words do not describe. I recommend everyone experience it first hand.
Right when we pulled up, I was jaw dropped. I have never seen anything like it. There were water fountains, flamingos, jungles, bars, pools and beaches everywhere. I truly felt like I was staying in Paradise for the next two days. Not to mention, I was. Right away we were escorted to our rooms, and for the first time, I walked in and felt I needed a jacket. We finally had air conditioning! The rooms were beautiful. Stefano hooked us us with a great deal on a suite. Stefano is a friend of Fiona's she met at this hotel several years ago. He works at the Iberostar and made it a great trip for us. We could not have asked for a better situation. Right away we both decided to get ready for dinner and our first night out on the town in Punta Cana. We went to a buffet (probably the biggest one I have ever been too) for dinner that night. I decided to take pictures of all of my meals because they were amazing. After dinner, we met up with Stefano and another worker David and went to the disco at the hotel. Since it was September, it was not very crowded, but we were still surrounded by beautiful Spanish, German, Brazilian, Cuban, Puerto Rican and French people. The disco was amazing, it had an airplane inside of it. After this we decided to go into town and check out another place called Mangu. It was two stories and we decided to go downstairs where we would experience more of the "Dominican" lifestyle, music and dancing. This was a ton of fun. We had tons of drinks, danced a little, and Fiona even got sick. But hey, we kept partying. When we were done at Mangu it was around 4 in the morning. We decided to go back to the hotel, grab a golf cart, some pizza and fries, and take a little ride on the beach. One problem, the golf cart got stuck after we ate. At this point, Fiona and I walked on the beach back to our hotel and passed out. It was a successful night and we were ready for the beach and pools in the morning.
The next morning we set our alarms for 9:00. Right when it went off, we got on our suits and headed to the breakfast. We had omelets and hash browns with freshly squeezed fruit juice. It was delicious. We even ate our breakfast on the beach. We decided to start out on the beach since it was so beautiful but eventually moved to the pool since we do not have one in the city as beautiful as the ones at the hotel. There are around 5 or 6 pools at the hotel, but we chose the same one everyday because Fiona had friends who worked at the pool, and it was right by the fresh juice bar, food and entertainment area. The beach was a great experience. I have never seen so many topless Europeans in my entire life. Every other 10 people were not wearing tops. I guess it is pretty normal in Punta Cana. Also there were many speedos on old hairy men. Probably a vision I will not miss. After swimming in the Ocean for a while we decided to move to the fresh water pool. We spent our entire afternoon lying by the pool with drinks and tanning. At this point we were still peeling from the Isla Saona trip, so we had a rough time trying to keep a tan because every five minutes it would peel off. We stayed out by the pool until about 4 then decided we needed a nap before we could make it out another night. We went back to the hotel, showered and napped for about an hour. We asked Stefano to make us dinner reservations at the steak house, but it was closed. He then gave us two other options. Either gourmet food or Mediterranean. Well, Mediterranean food is a bunch of fish, and Stefano knows Fiona does not eat fish so clearly we were going to choose the gourmet. This was all a part of his plan...
So where do I begin with the experience the two of us had at the gourmet restaurant. We both dressed up in cute dresses because we planned to go out afterwards. Right as we walked through the doors of the restaurant we were greeted at the door by two very handsome and well dressed men. The place was romantically decorated and there were four other couples in the restaurant. They also gave us a very odd look, but at this time it did not phase Fiona and I. Right away, the men double checked to make sure we really had reservations at this restaurant and sure enough, we did. At that point, they poured us Champagne at the door and handed us each a long stem red rose. This is when things started to get a little sketchy. They walked us to the back of the restaurant where we sat at a romantic candle lit table with a pink menu that was in a scroll on our plate. As Fiona and I opened the menu, we then realized what was going on. The title of the menu read, "Romantic Couples Dinner Menu." Everyone then thought we were lesbians and we felt extremely awkward. We text messaged Stefano what was going on, and his reply was, "Hahahahaha." It was all a joke to him.
We then proceeded to tell the waiters that we were just friends, but they seemed a little confused. We decided to have fun with it, even though everyone else in the place thought it was rather inappropriate. We ended up having an amazing four course meal. We started off with a cantaloupe frappe with bacon on top. It sounds disgusting, but for someone who hates melon, I actually enjoyed it. We then had a lobster salad. This was the most amazing thing I have eaten my entire trip. It was covered in some sort of a cream sauce with grass noodles on the side. Our main course was candied tenderloin steak with a special gravy and cheese and potatoes. We knew it was bad news when our desert came out in the shape of a heart. It was a dark and white chocolate mint cake with raspberry sauce. It had a cute little white chocolate heart sticking out of it. We finished our meal with some coffee. The cherry on top is when we were serenaded with a love song by a band. We then decided that we were celebrating our three week anniversary together. Our relationship got intimate that night.
To finish off the night, we toured around the hotel and went to a "rock show" at the Grand Hotel. I decided to jump on the bed after dinner, and from that moment on did not feel very well. I went home early that night and ended up getting ten hours of sleep. I think that was a very good decision on my part. Fiona stayed out until two with the boys. The next morning we woke up again and went strait to breakfast and the pool. We pretty much repeated the day before along with some fresh coconut juice and some beer. We also took a long walk on the beach to get more pictures. We were supposed to check out at noon, but Stefano got us the hotel until 4 so we could shower before we left. We ended up taking two bus rides back last night and got home around 8:00 in the evening. It was such a fun and deserved vacation and I can't wait to go back with my host family in two weekends for the holiday. It is the day that La Republica celebrates Virgin Mary so we get Friday off from school. Fiona and I are already counting down the days.
As for now, I really need a nap and to study some Spanish. I officially have one month left. I cannot believe it has gone by so fast. I will keep you all updated on my upcoming adventures. We plan to kayak, ride horses and stay at Stefano's country house this weekend. I can't wait. Hope all is well at home, I cannot wait to see everyone! Take Care.
XoXo,
Elle
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