Punta Cana | Dominican Republic
My main picture is pretty funny right!? They have some feisty parrots in the Dominican!! They also have some beautiful beaches and lots of adventure! The Dominican Republic was never a place I thought about traveling to. Not sure why, I LOVE the beach, but it just never came up. Until my friends birthday! It just worked out. She found an awesome deal on Groupon to stay at the Catalonia Bavaro Beach Gold & Casino. This is an all-inclusive resort so we definitely got our money’s worth at the restaurants and bars! The resort had a lot of options as far as restaurants. The usual buffet with a large variety of food types, an Italian restaurant, steak house, Caribbean mix, Mexican and even a great little coffee shop. Plenty to choose from! My favorite place was the Caribbean spot, they had some delish coconut shrimp and awesome fish tacos. I'm pretty sure we pissed someone off with our constant request for more shrimp, tacos and definitely more mama juana! What is mama juana? A combimation of rum, red wine and honey soaked in tree bark and herbs. It's considered to be an aphrodisiac which has given the drink the nick name "liquid viagra" haha! Ladies, have your men drink it up!!
The trip started off mellow and oh so relaxing. Days on the beach, $25 massages, lots of food and drinks and most importantly laughs and memories being made with my amazing friends. One morning we took a tour of the Pirate Rum Factory which included lots of samples, Yum! and a really cool presentation through an underground cave. Transportation was provided and they pretty much let us dictate how the day would flow. The day was followed by a bit of shopping in town where we got to experience real cigar rolling. We ended the night partying it up at Imagine nightclub. An underground club with great music but the drink situation is a little weird. You either buy a VIP ticket and order whatever you want or you're stuck with a certain menu. Not a deal breaker, but something to think about. VIP it is! Trip Advisor had some pretty great and honest reviews on this place. Also, keep in mind that this club is definitely for tourists. If you’re looking for a more authentic experience don’t go here. You won’t find many locals here which was kinda a bummer for me, but still an awesome time. Dance dance dance!
The next day our adventure started off with driving dune buggies through the jungle, slipping and sliding through puddles of mud and getting as dirty as possible haha! it was a blast! We stopped at a coffee farm for freshly roasted coffee where they gave us a short presentation and we got to taste every type they had, then made our way down to a cenote where you can jump in and go for a swim. On your way down feel free to stop for a beer and hand rolled cigar. They had a photographer to take photos of you and your group and of course a gift shop. It was pretty touristy as well, but still a blast. To be honest, it was a little hard to find non-tourist things to do while here. We ended up buying the cd of the group pics. They follow your group around throughout the whole day capturing the best moments and boy did we have lots of those! The day was followed by an afternoon at a beautiful white sand beach. The water was crystal clear and I was able to get a local to climb a tree for a fresh coconut. My favorite!
I'm not really sure I have my days in order but my most memorable one (for many reasons) was deep sea fishing. It was an early morning but we made it on time to board our fishing boat and set sail! This was my first experience deep sea fishing and to be honest, probably my last. The guys on the boat were awesome, they provided food and drinks and were very helpful throughout the whole excursion. 1st fish caught was a barracuda. Scary looking thing!! I was up next and was lucky enough to help reel in a marlin. Emphasis on “help”. lol My arms were killing me after a few minutes. This thing was huge!!! It took us 3 people to get it out of the water. Very memorable right?! Well, that’s when it all went downhill for me… I never thought about how they actually kill the fish after the catch. It was shocking and I’m such a baby that I started to cry after seeing them beat the marlin over the head with a bat looking thing. This thing was so big it was more like a dolphin than a fish…Yes, I got over it and still had an amazing time, but if you're anything like me and feel more for animals than people. Maybe deep sea fishing isn't your thing? Food for thought. I checked that one off my bucket list!
The locals are super nice around here, so much so that they took us out on the town one night. This was by far my favorite part of the whole trip! Local dance clubs, food and people. We literally danced the night away ended up having hamburgers in a tiny hole in the wall restaurant while watching the sun come up. I would call this a successful night out! New friends and new places!
The DR was a blast and I'm sure I missed telling you 100 awesome things I experienced or did, maybe my pics below will paint a better picture! I would recommend you visit sometime, but like my deep sea fishing experience, I checked this location of the list! Until next time! ;)
