Punta Cana - Day 2.

Another long post...:)

Day 2 was pretty uneventful for myself. We all slept in. Aly and Zayn woke up and went to attend their sailing lesson. I slept in until almost 11 am.  I got dressed and decided to go figure out where the "Towel hut" was. This was where we could pick up the blue poolside/beachside towels in exchange for a towel card.

The steps down toward the pool area.

The Towel Hut to the right before getting to the pool.

 The gift shop at the resort is right around the corner from the Towel Hut. Guests can buy souvenirs, local art, coffee etc.

The Towel Hut / laundry area where the ladies are always washing, folding and ironing clothes that the guests need cleaning. This service is an additional cost. There are always stacks of blue towels sitting on the counter for guests to use.

More local art.

Beautiful glass bottles in various sizes and colors to take home as a souvenir.

More Souvenirs: A simple glass bottle or one of these plates range between $15-40 each

The very large swimming pool with these hut shades all around it. This is the shallow side for the little kiddies.

Lounge chairs all around the pool and just steps away from the beach.

The pool is divided into the shallow and deep end with this rope. There are always a couple of lifeguards present at the pool.

Water volley ball, basketball and other games in and around the pool area.

And just steps away to the beach where more chairs are available to relax and sunbathe on.

I just love these gorgeous, tall palm trees.

An outdoor shower on the left as one enters the pool area or after coming back from the beach.

Aly and I ate dinner together. Zayn had some kid's club event that he was busy attending.

At dinner with Aly.

We headed back to the room around 9pm with two glasses of milk, 10-12 slices of chocolate bread and these individual, small packets of cream cheese. We have a little refrigerator in our room to store food.

Let me tell you the story behind bringing back food to our room which starts last summer when we were on our trip to Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice). We boarded the cruise ship from Venice to go down to Greece (Athens, Corfu, Santorini etc). Now mind you, I had never been on any cruises until this one last summer. I've always been told that there is plenty of food available 24/7 on cruise ships. But on this European cruise ship, once dinner ended at 9:00pm, the only available choices were croissants cookies and water.  If one got hungry after midnight, you were out of luck. On the very first night of our cruise, we all came back to the room after watching the show which ended after 10:30pm and the boys were hungry. Needless to say, croissants and cookies with water were a poor substitution for a late night snack. So from then onward, I would bring back slices of cheese pizza, apples, bananas, milk, bread and butter back to our room. The boys were happy because there was always food to eat after hours and we continued to do this for the rest of the trip.

Now having learned from that experience, I knew that I had to bring food back for the boys while on this trip. This resort has two main restaurants that serve a delicious, buffet style, breakfast, lunch and dinner. But they are closed after 9:30-10 pm. We can go eat at "Celeste" which is the cafe on the beach. They serve burgers and fries and other quick junk food there and are open until 1 am. But who wants to walk the 5-7 minutes it would take one to walk all the way down to the beach at the end of the day. Yes we are all lazy but in our defense, being out in the sun and water all day long is absolutely draining. :)

So on our first day there, I brought back a few slices of chocolate bread, cream cheese packets and a glass of plain milk back to the room. The boys were too tired on the first night and went right to sleep. But the next afternoon, when Aly came back to the room after sailing, he was starving and we still had a few hours until dinner time. He devoured the chocolate bread and cream cheese. When I told him that I had milk in the fridge, I might as well have told him that he was getting his learner's permit. (Aly just turned 15 and is in the process of getting his driving permit). He smiled the biggest smile of gratitude and said, "Mom, you're the best!" I smiled and said, "You're welcome." He admitted to being irritated when I was wrapping slices of bread and putting them in my beach bag the other night. Being his mom, I knew he was not happy but I just ignored him and did it anyways. Aly is too polite of a kid to say anything so he didn't but I knew. :) But he understood and appreciated it now.

After our dinner together, he was happy to carry 2 glasses of milk back to the room, while I brought back slices of chocolate bread and cream cheese.  I put away the food in the mini fridge and asked Aly if he wanted to go see the 9:30 pm show, but he didn't want to leave the room.  So we decided to stay in. Zayn came back to the room around 10pm. He was too tired to go back out so we all changed, gathered on the king size bed with Aly's laptop to watch Netflix.

Zayn came home and was hungry and went straight for the chocolate bread, cream cheese and milk.

So in summary, Day 2 for me: simple, relaxing, resting, napping.
For boys: all kinds of activities. Meeting new friends their age from all over the world.
There are an awful lot of people here who speak French. They are either from France or they're French Canadians.






A few pictures of the restaurant. This one is called Semana. There is another one on the other side but we haven't made it there yet.

"Semana" restaurant where they serve a delicious, never-ending, buffet-style breakfast, lunch and dinner. From pizza, pasta, sandwiches, salad bar, soups, fish, chicken, lamb and beef cooked in like 10 different ways, vegetables, delicious and unique presentations of dishes, rice, couscous, and desserts.

Our favorite chocolate bread on the left.

MORE BREAD!!!

Choices of plain yogurt, salted butter, unsalted butter and cream cheese

Freshly made crepes!!! Yummy!!! We had our choice of toppings! 

This is the main entrance where we pull up after going through security. Our luggage is taken to our room while we check in and get our individual wrist bands which we have to wear for the entire duration of our stay.

The main lobby is open-air, no walls. There are these huge hanging lamps and comfy chairs and couches set up for guests to enjoy. There is an area toward the back where one can sign up for the various excursions offered at an extra cost. They are NOT cheap.

DAY 3 ...coming up next!

Love and Light,
anita