Honeymoon
Trip Start
Sep 10, 1995
1
Trip End
Sep 17, 1995
Where I stayed
Occidental Allegro Jack Tar Puerta Plata
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
Monday, September 11, 1995
A bus was waiting for us outside and we were transported to our resort. We were then escorted to our little cottage on the beach. Surprisingly, a golf course was located between the ocean and our cottage....fore!
We were told, during orientation, not to drink too many pina colodas or other fruit beverages as we might get stomach cramps and become ill. The pina colodas were delicious and hard to stay away from in the beginning but after a day of diarrhea you quickly change your mind. The resort had one main buffet restaurant, one specialty restaurant and a snack bar. There was always allot of food, nicely presented but after the first couple of days everything seemed to taste the same. After being sick for two days, we hesitated on what we should and should not eat.
We booked a horseback riding adventure which took us through a path and on the ocean one morning. The horses were so frail looking with sunken backs and you could easily count eat rib bone on the horse. I felt guilty riding on the horse but after looking around at the horses on the island, they all seemed to look that way, very sad.
On the fourth day of our vacation we took a tour of the Island. The bus dropped us off at a museum which is where our tour guide introduced us to fresh coconuts. Street vendors setup shop outside of the museum with mounds of fresh green coconuts and a machete knife. The locals would hang out here making me a little too nervous to walk up and order one myself. Our tour guide walked over and purchased a coconut. The vendor began swinging his machete around the coconut to peel off some of the outer shell then he chopped of the top in one full swoop. The vendor handed the coconut to the guide and also handed him the top portion of the coconut he cut off. Our tour guide then drank the coconut water from the coconut and then began using that little bit of coconut shell the vendor gave him to scoop out the soft coconut flesh on the inside. The flesh of the coconut is very soft and flabby, it looks like wet fat. I tried a piece, it was like eating a firm coconut pudding, very mild in flavor, shiny white in color and very slimy.
After the museum we stopped at a local restaurant for lunch to eat traditional food. It was filled with tourists and the food was okay, nothing special, your basic skinny chicken and rice.
The ocean was beautiful, nice waves, warm blue water and lots of palm trees for shade. There were several beach vendors who spent there day walking up and down the beach trying to sell you jewelry made out of coral or seashells for about $10.00. After repeatedly telling them I wasn't interested in the jewelry I said "look, we have dollar stores in Canada, we can buy these necklaces for a dollar back home, why would I buy one for $10.00, I'm not interested". The vendor looked at me and said "what about $5.00".
