Dominican Republic, almost, but not quite really there
My brother and his wife have a timeshare condo in Cancun, they’ve had one or more for decades, and, when we were visiting them this past summer, they had an opportunity to get a three bedroom villa for a bonus week in the Dominican Republic. They asked us, and my sister and her husband, if we’d like to go with them since there’d be extra rooms. It was at an all-inclusive resort just west of Puerto Plata at Lifestyle Holidays resort. The villa had a private pool, and every morning we had a maid come and prepare breakfast for us before cleaning the house.
The villa was beautiful and was only a 10 minute walk to the beaches but we could get a shuttle within about 3 minutes after calling for one. We found out that the golf carts on the site were available only to owners for $200/week. Wifi was available at a cost. $60/week per device is awfully steep, and, since I use a VPN that changes my IP address every time I log on, their system may not have helped since many of these services use the devices internal IP address to assess for the approval of use. This would have made it unusable for me. The rooms were large and well-appointed. There was some trouble with the hot water the first couple days but the maintenance staff came and replaced the heating elements and the water was much better after that.
This was not a great vacation though. The resort was supposed to be all-inclusive but it wasn’t for us. We could only get Presidente beer, soda and water at the villa. One bottle of wine was there when we arrived and that was it. If you wanted something more you had to buy it at the liquor store or go to one of the bars at a restaurant or lobby. The nightclub bar 5 minutes from our villa was off-limits due to our unworthy status. Since we were “special guests” of Interval International, which is the company my relatives have their time share with, recently concluded a business partnership with Lifestyle, and not “owners” we did not have all-inclusive access. Of the 17 restaurants in the resort we only were given 6 to choose from for dinner, and we had to make reservations the first day of our stay for every day of the week we were there. Lunch was available at one of two buffet restaurants, neither of which was that good. In fact, none of the restaurants were good.
The chicken, pork and beef dishes that were braised with veggies and potatoes were seasoned well enough but the meat was boney, fatty and full of gristle. We had to eat salad bars and go to the carved meat stations for decent victuals. Each restaurant was themed, there was an Italian, a Mexican, a seafood, a Brazilian “steakhouse”, a Dominican (one of the buffets was converted to this in the evenings) and their VIP Gourmet restaurant, at which we had one dinner allowed. We know and like good wine but every restaurant in this place had only one red and one white wine, both of which were awful. They were undrinkable so we had to stick to cocktails, scotch, rum, vodka and whiskey.
Our first dinner was at the Italian restaurant. I had the lasagna. Stouffer’s is as good or better than what they served. The red sauce was flat, not a lot of seasonings and flavor. The Mexican restaurant had better food, but not as good as our local place. The Brazilian place had meat, meat and more meat but it was all over done, except for the beef which was medium rare. The only good thing there was that they had Caipirinhas, the national Brazilian drink. We were able to introduce my brother to them, they’re like a non-sweet mojito. Muddled lime, cachaca, a little sugar and ice. A great summer day drink.
The VIP Gourmet place had a good merlot but the dinner was not. We ordered steak and lobster and shouldn’t have. The steak was OK but the Caribbean lobster tail was soft, indicative of being frozen. This should not have happened in the caribbean. We expected fresh seafood and the only good seafood was the grouper at the Blue Lagoon seafood place. Their steak was also the best steak we had. Too bad the wine was the same old swill.
I have to admit that the island is beautiful. The mountain south of the resort was our bell-weather. It greeted us every morning, usually shrouded in clouds, breaking free during the day till the next set moved in off the ocean. There were beautiful flowering plants and nice beaches, but you’re divorced from the culture on the resort. Driving from the airport through Porto Playa you see the poverty in the DR. When we travel we like to get out into the city, the local neighborhood in which we have stayed. Walked through the old parts of the towns, seen the markets, the shops and stalls, even have stopped in boat yards and spoken with the old Italian boat-builder working on restoring wooden fishing boats and his disdain for the “plastico” (fiberglass) modern vessels.
You don’t have these opportunities when staying on a resort. The locals you meet are all servants, little opportunity to meet them on a truly personal level. That’s disappointing. When waiting for members of our group to fill out the immigration paperwork at the airport I had the chance to speak with a young Dominican woman that worked for American at the terminal. She acknowledged my disappointment at being able to meet locals when I commented that we’d like to return but stay in Santiago and get to experience the Dominican, maybe even get to see a ballgame at the stadium like we watched on the tube the night before. She said that I would find that they are a poor people and I replied that I experienced poor people in Rome, Palermo, Naples, and Sorrento and that it doesn’t offend me. I just missed getting the true feel of the culture. That she understood. I saw her again, at the gate just before the plane loaded.
Got some good photos to close with. The flight down from Charlotte was beautiful. Full sunshine as we flew across the Bermuda Triangle, over the Bahamas and the Abaco Islands. The sea was so calm the clouds were reflected on it. The Porto Plata airport has a small private section and there’s a beautifully restored Grumman Goose sitting on the tarmac that I had to get a shot of. I recorded our takeoff but this app won’t support videos, only links of ones from You Tube, so I can’t share that, However, coming into Seattle over the Cascades, just south of Glacier Peak and landing from the north I got several good shots of the Sound from Everett to Sea-Tac. For once we came home during the daytime and it was clear and sunny. Pure luck.
Well, that pretty much covers this trip and, unless I do a blog with some holiday photos, which I doubt, this will close out our 2018 trips. I’ve gotten a new camera to play with and may put some of the photos I got at Woodland Park Zoo out here before we leave for our next trip, to Paris. This will be my first trip there, Cathy’s second and I don’t know how many times, (4,5?) that Rae’s been there. At least she’ll make a passable guide.
So, Ciao for now.