Ok, finally got all the photos together so here is what our vacation looked like. There was three of us on the trip, all friends from high school. The skinny one is Dennis and the angry looking one is Drew.

The first photo is us in the Toronto Airport. I warned my friend I was going to make funny faces in all the pics.


This pic is the fountain out front of the lobby and the statue is telling you why you don't drink the water. The Dominicans don't even drink the water. We called him the pooping statue.


The beach is a 1/2 mile hike from the lobby and our rooms so after breakfast we wait for the shuttle.


Now if the porters like you they will drive you to the beach in the golf carts. Funny enough the second pic is what happened to the cart when we went over a curb and the back corner my skinny friend was on collapsed. The suspension just snapped.



We finally made it to the beach, where we spent most of our days unless we were on a excursion. I did the half mile walk every morning at 6:30 am to reserve one of the thatched roof cabana's. They where king sized beds with shade and you couldn't get one unless you showed up early to reserve one. I made friends with the beach crew so I had the best one every day.




We landed Saturday evening so we just relaxed Sunday and then enjoyed the Welcome Party the resort puts on every Sunday night. This party is for all resort guests and it starts with a huge dinner from everything from Lobster to Steak to roasted pig. The food was amazing and there were close to 3000 guests at this thing. After dinner it turns into a huge stage show and then a dance party.
The first pic is us waiting for the shuttle to the party.



Back to the beach the next day where we photo bombed more of Dennis's pics!


The next day we went on the city excursion where we went to the Brugal Rum factory and saw the bottling plant and then taste tested the different types for sale. We also hit a jewelry shop, a cigar shop, an amber museum and then lunch. We also had a fun cable car ride up the mountain beside Puerto Plata and ended the trip with the old fort (which I crept into Dennis's pic). At the top of the mountain there is the identical Jesus statue that's in Rio but just smaller. They actually have guys who will act as your photographer with your camera and take funny photo's of you with the Jesus statue for free.








This resort has a VIP membership plan and the VIP's get there own golf carts. That night after the excursion we here a huge crash but see nothing till the next day. Notice the where the steering wheel is on the cart. Apparently it was a bunch of drunk VIP guests having too much fun.


This is the main pool by the lobby and main restaurant. It's packed by day but we took this in the morning on the way to breakfast.


This what the basic room looks like, we cheaped out and didn't upgrade to the suite's but after seeing the suite's I wish we did.


So we went on a second excursion into the country side. On this one we got to see a farm with a typical Dominican rural home (the home was real and sad to look at). There were puppies on the farm. We went to a private beach for swimming and horse back riding, then we went for lunch with stops at a cigar shop and a local jewelry market.



Ok, so when went to the private beach, Drew and I were too big for the small Dominican horses so Dennis left us behind to swim instead. Now the waves were really ruff at this beach and you can see I was getting destroyed by them in the pic. Now while I was getting beaten up by the ocean Drew took pic's and laughed and drank. (those beers were huge)



We spent the rest of our trip enjoying the perfect weather and playing on the beach. When we were leaving I made new Dominican friend on the bus ride home. He wanted to come to Canada!


Last pic is us sitting bored at the Dominican airport waiting for our night flight home. We got home at 2 am.

Looks like a sick time Reynolds! Glad you had fun, you old fart.

Where to next?

While on the excursions I met a lot of people who absolutely love the Iberostar Resort chain. So at the beginning of the new year I'm going to see what good deals they have for right after March break and the prices drop. I'm thinking Mexico, I know Cuba is cheap but I keep hearing the food is horrible so I would rather pass for now.

Golf cart pics owned me and the run down shacks with what appears to be a still. Looks like you had a great time.