Dominican Republic, Take Two

Last year was my first trip to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. I had such an amazing time, that I seized the opportunity to go again this year. This year, I stayed at a different resort, the Melia Caribe Tropical. It was less expensive (by only about $100.00), so it was a perfect chance to check out another resort and compare the two.

Here's my friend as we exited the plane. The airport had guides who led you to the appropriate part of the airport. I was scolded for holding up the line by taking a picture. Whoopsie...


I loved these palm trees; they reminded me of fans.


Here's our villa. There were 8 rooms to each villa. It looked very European to me. The resort where I stayed last year, Iberostar Bavaro, definitely had a beach-ier look to all of the buildings.

The Melia resort was HUGE. They had trams that ran every 15 minutes, to take guests to different areas of the resort. We lucked out! Our villa was located a minute walk from the beach, pool, beach buffet and fitness center/spa!


Each morning, this was my view from the beach buffet. The food wasn't amazing, but there were plenty of choices. I normally stuck to fresh fruit, then took a cup of yogurt to the beach with me. They had really exotic flavors - guava, passion fruit and other flavors I couldn't read because I didn't recognize the names in Spanish. :-)


Every day, the super tall, athletic Russians would begin a game of beach volleyball. After I went *kayaking, I asked if I could join the game. Ok, so I played volleyball in college. I can hold my own on an indoor court. However, I absolutely cannot move in the sand. So, I did A LOT of diving. I was covered, from head to toe, in sand. And I had crazy beach hair...Exhibit A:


The resort had shows each night. One night, they performed scenes from musicals: Cabaret, Dirty Dancing, West Side Story and several more that I can't remember right now. This was a scene from Cabaret:



I can't believe that I didn't take more pictures of the ginormous pool and its swim up bar. One of my favorite bartenders was Pascual (I probably butchered the spelling of his name). He would usually entice me into drinking mamajuana, though. Mamajuana is mostly, rum, red wine and honey and is supposed to have medicinal qualities. It will make you (err, me) really loopy.






Overall, I had a great time. The staff were all very nice and accomodating. With the exception of the cleaning staff, they all spoke several languages. Even with the cleaning staff, I didn't have a problem communicating my needs to them. However, the Melia wasn't as swanky as Iberostar Bavaro. I would go back to Melia and have a good time (I'm pretty easy to please), however, given a choice, I would pay the extra money for Iberostar Bavaro.

*I rented a kayak paddled around for a few minutes, then began to have a "shark freak out..." "what if the bottom of the boat looks like food to a shark...eek..."

One of My Favorites

Oh how I want a ton of bicycle social clubs in Memphis. Let's do it cycle buddies! Don't copenhagencyclechic's pictures make you want to go ride with a bunch of friends? It makes me want to dress cute, hop on my bike and chat it up as my friends and I ride from cool venue to cool venue!

Recent Discoveries

The other day, I realized something about myself. I do that sometimes - have a thought and think - hmmm, where'd that come from? Well, here it is...during a random lunchtime walk, I saw a tall drink of water, dressed in corduroy pants (yeah, it's like 95 degrees, but that's not the point I'm trying to make), loafers and a smart looking blazer. When I saw him, I thought, yum! Then, "whoa, where'd that come from?" Perhaps I picked it up from '80's movies I used to watch as a kid. The hunky lead was an English Professor (or something), looking smart & sexy in cords and a blazer.

Then, another realization occured when I saw someone in a suit & tie. They rolled up their shirt sleeves and you could see a hint of a tattoo peeking out. Oh lawd, I loved it (not tattoo sleeves, but I'm a girl and subject to change my mind at the drop of a dime, so I'm not ruling it out completely)...the bad boy who cleans up nicely. That's a new one for me; I have NO idea where it came from - I'm still working on figuring it out.

In other news, I'm super excited about this year's Tour de France! I absolutely can't wait until the fun starts.

Soapbox

Dear All,

Please stop saying (what you perceive to be cute) variations of "anyhow" or "anyway." You sound like a doofus and I refuse to listen to anything that you say after you utter "anyhoo," etc.

That is all...carry on...

Yesterday's Answers

And...the answers are: Gap long sleeved button down; Banana Republic brown crocheted, short sleeved sweater; and the cream, wing tipped shoes.

The outfit totalled, $59.93!:

Gap long sleeved button down shirt: $2.98
Banana Republic brown crocheted sweater: $2.98
Hudson skinny jeans: $29.99 (Another K&G find!)
Cream leather wing tips: $3.98
Franco Sarto bag: $20.00 (TJ Maxx!)

The long sleeve shirt was purchased for a trip to Europe, some time ago. My thought was to purchase decent looking clothes that I cared nothing about. After I wore them in Europe, I'd toss them or donate them to a thrift shop (I saw tons of re-sale stores in Paris), so I'd have more room in my bags for souveniers! Well, I liked all my thrift store stuff too much to throw them away in Europe...great theory, but didn't work out so well. Just a sidenote, I still had plenty of room for souveniers!

Beer: Helping Men (and Martie) Dance Since 1853

Well...I haven't been dancing since 1853...

I went to the Center for Southern Folklore, to take advantage of their free Brown Bag Lunch and Music thing. Josh Shoe played again. He's fun, but I have to say, I really like his voice better when he's singing his own songs. It's completely different when he sings covers.

While at the Center, I saw this sign and it cracked me up! Sadly, I didn't purchase it, but I should have. "Beer: Helping Men Dance Since 1853." Is there really any need to say anything else? I didn't think so.

Also, it's Thrifty Thursday again! My outfit includes three thrift store items. Can you guess which three? One item is a gimmie...let's see who's paying attention.