Spring Break 2009: The Dominican Republic

For my Spring Break, I stayed at an all-inclusive resort called Viva Wyndham Dominicus Palace in La Romana, Dominican Republic with my girls Angela, Melissa, and Monique. It was the best thing we could have done for ourselves because we had SO much fun and I know we will remember the details of this trip for a very, very long time. ;)

The night before our flight, Angela and I slept over at Monique's house. We had a disgustingly fattening meal at Applebee's to start off the night. Then we tried to burn some of it off with a hula video and some jumping jacks. Played around with Monique's tarot cards. Funniest part--we popped a "scary" movie into the DVD player, shut the lights, turned up the volume, and Monique was screaming her head off for the longest time. And all that had appeared on the television screen were scrolling words. When the movie got too boring, we finally went to sleep...only to wake up one hour later to get our butts to the airport.

Day 1 (3/14/09) - Welcome to the DR:

At 4 am, Melissa's dad dropped us off at JFK. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7 am so we were doing alright as far as timing went. We had some breakfast and just wandered around the airport trying to kill time. On the plane, we either slept or watched movies. 4 hours later, the plane landed and four ecstatic and giddy girls stepped onto the soil of Santo Domingo, DR. Greeted with rum & coke and picture perfect weather, we made our way to the resort. A van service picked us up and during the ride, we made friends with this awesome family, the Celins, who we would later bump into frequently. The father even bought us beer! Which was really good, by the way. With all that liquid in my system, I experienced the worst urgency of my life. Nina needed to go--badly! It became so painful I could not even think any more. Luckily the driver was nice enough to find me a place to relieve myself and after that I slept like a baby in the van.

After a 4 hr plane ride and an hr and a half car ride, we were starving. All-inclusive means all-inclusive so we made our way to the buffet and filled out tummies up while waiting to check in. We quickly dropped off our luggage in our room, threw on our bikinis, sunglasses, & sunscreen, and hit the beach! I think we just spent a few hours appreciating the beautiful 80 degrees & sunny weather; the transparent cool blue water; and the soft white sand. We did some dancing on the beach...either bachata, salsa, or merengue. This is where Angela met her 56th novio. Eventually we made our way to the bar. Once again, all-inclusive means all-inclusive and I got drunk. We ended up going back to the room where I just went to sleep. The girls went out to watch some Michael Jackson show and they got back around 11 or so.

Day 2 (3/15/09) - Drama:

Woke up energized and ready to go. Got breakfast & booked our excursions with the one and only Santos. One excursion was like $90 and the other maybe $70? Angela & I were surprised at how productive & organized Momo & Meme were on vacation. Dummy us, we didn't realize that we could have bargained with the guy to get the prices down a little. Later on the trip we met another guy who did and we felt like a bunch of ignorant tourists. Next time! We also made dinner reservations for the next two nights. After that, it was time to get on the beach again. After checking out some of the water equipment, we decided to go kayaking. Melissa & Nina vs Monique & Angela. Of course Melissa & I won. We're just that beastly. =] Curious us, we wanted to try out a sail boat but we had NO idea how to work it. A nice Dominican boy who worked there hopped on and guided us. He spoke no English so we got to work on our Spanish. It was pretty funny. After that, Momo, Lala, & I went kayaking again while Melissa stayed on the beach to tan and chillax. Did we do some dancing on the beach today? I think we did.

After a day on the beach, we took pictures by the restaurant we were eating at and had dinner. Then the fun started! We had drinks & we were dancing. We met some new people aka the Italians--Enzo, Antonio, & two other women. Oh, we also met Edward Cullen aka Torren. He was SO cute. He talked to us and danced with us. Unfortunately, he spoke very little English...he's German. So we didn't get to talk to talk that much. All I remember is spilling drinks on the dance floor and feeling dizzy when he turned me. Angela also said it was funny watching me dance with him drunk because I was dancing away from him while he was trying to get closer. My only regret is that we didn't get a picture with him! Then Enzo & I wandered off on the beach until everyone came--pissed off. Hahaha. You guys loved it! "Somebody slap that bitch!" We also met Claudio that night. Also Italian? He sat down next to me at our table. Melissa tried to make him leave but it didn't work. We'll be talking about Claudio again later.

So it was back to me and the girls. We were supposed to go get tea or something but somehow, we ended up at the DISCO. Still drunk. Dancing. Guys trying to grope. Short, tall, fat, skeevy. There was one tall Italian who was actually good looking but he creeped around the dance floor like some kind of sex predator. He did not smile and he would just walk around looking all horny. Monique-->THREE times!! We danced with the Italian and he just kept trying to guide our hands to his crotch. Gross. Another little Italian guy and a chubbyish guy also kept trying to get on it. When Monique & I went to the girl's bathroom, the tall Italian stood by the door and then he came in! He went into a stall with me and took off his pants. I was like ahhhh Moniqueeee. Then I got out and we bouncedddd. Eventually we left. It became too much. We were all arguing with one another...getting a bit too emotional and angry. Melissa was upset because she thought Angela & Monique were ignoring her, everyone was still mad at me I guess, and I was just in lalaland. Finally, it was time to just sleep. Even if only for a few hours...

Day 3 (3/16/09) - Collecting Novios:

Woke up bright & early to go on our excursion. We were SO tired after getting hardly any sleep the night before. We went on this little crocodile ride thing that goes on land and water. Took a little tour around...I have no idea where. Did a little dancing and drinking on the boat. Then we went to Catalina Island. Funniest shit--as soon as we get onto the island we hear someone yell, "NINAAAAAA!" It was Claudio! Who would have known? He kept waving for us to go over there but we decided not to go there this early in the day. Even though Claudio looked like a nice guy. =\ Eventually he did come over while we were taking pictures and even took a picture with us. He looked so happy to see us and the sad thing is...after that day, he became less friendly to us and more shady. Oh wellll. On Catalina, we ate baby lobsters for lunch--all of the food we had for lunch was delicious. We did some snorkeling. A little bit of dancing. Melissa got a novio named Jeremy. Kekeke. Then it was time to continue with the tour. I don't know where we went after that...Altos de Chavon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altos_de_chavon Walked around, rode on a donkey, took some pics, etc. Oh, is this the night Melissa became Jackie Chan? Me=Bruce Lee, Angela=Ghandi, & Monique=Dhali Lama. Those were our aliases...to get away from the shady Dominicans. I think Monique & I played bingo on this day too. So close to winning that bottle of rum..."Do you have THREE lines?" Snooty old people.

Back to the resort. Dinner then watched the acrobatic show featuring hot trapeze guys with Monique. Angela & Melissa were just bumming around outside the theater I guess. Then we took a quick nap on the couches until someone threw pillows at Melissa. Haha! Off to La Placita? The dance floor for the dance competition. Our amigo Steve Celin, who we met on the first day on that car ride over to the resort, was in the competition, but he had a flaky partner. After some encouragement, Angela became his new partner! There were different categories of dancing that each couple had to dance to--salsa, merengue, bachata, and...reggaeton! Two of the workers demonstrated a routine to be done which was basically just a freakfest and there was actually one old couple there who did it and it was hilarious. Angela & Steve also did. And that was when the flaky partner ran in and tried to get in on the action. Stupid fool. Well, I have it all on video. ;) Props to Angela & Steve for having the balls to participate. After that, more dancing! Eventually the music genre catered to the older crowd so we just sat around. After the last song, we headed to the disco. Did a little dancing. Then Momo & I headed back to the hotel to talk & straighten her hair. Angela & Melissa stayed out to have their fun. Zzzzzz.

Day 4 (3/17/09) - Party Time:

Can't...get...up...Once again we had to wake up early to go on our second excursion. It was painful. We got on this crazy ass bus where we met Lloyd, Kanye, and Fabulous aka the paparazzi, the driver, and the tour guide. We went to a sugarcane field and got to try some sugar cane juice! And spar with the sugar canes. Of course we also had Dominican champagne. Did a little sightseeing. Visited a primary school where Melissa got her pedophile on. We also visited I guess some sort of village where a bunch of kids ran up to our bus and were asking us for stuff. Some of them were even climbing onto the bus and trying to tap us to get our attention. It was a little freaky and reminded me of those scary movies about the undead...where they come bombard you and shake your car till it tips over. It felt like we spent a lot of time sitting on the bus and I was asleep most of the time. The tour guide said the same thing in three languages so whenever he started talking in the other languages I would doze off.

We also went horseback riding! I was really looking forward to that because I had never done it before. It was fun. There was one point when the guide made my horse go a little bit faster and that's when things got interesting. However, it was short-lived and most of the time we spent on the horses was a dull trot. After that we visited the house and I guess farmish place of this woman named Maria. We saw how she made coffee beans...and cacao...and other stuff. I have a funny ass video of Monique trying to sift the coffee bean shells and she just ended up spilling half of the beans. TWICE! After that was lunch, which was pretty good. A little bit of dancing. Walked down a million steps to see a river. The last place site we visited was some sort of church.

Melissa made friends with the French people we were riding with. LA FAMILIAAAAAA! AYYYYYYY! So funny. I was still half asleep but it was all good. Melissa & Angela were also trying to get with Lloyd, Kanye, & Fabulous. Meanwhile, Monique & I meant to go learn how to trapeze but it got too late and we didn't end up going. Sadly, we bumped into the hot American trapeze guy when we were in the buffet and he talked to us for a bit. He was trying to get us to go learn how to trapeze but we told him we were actually leaving the next morning. =( So, we just ate dinner. Then one of the waiters...Jose? He was trying to get me to become his girlfriend and I was just like nooo. He spoke Spanish only so Melissa, Monique, & I were just having too much fun trying to communicate with him. His brother also worked there. He was this tall ass guy. He was telling us how he was in college studying tourism and how he was getting off work at 11. Too funny. We picked up a bunch of souvenirs later that night...

Back to the hotel room to get ready for our last night out. Not to mention, it was St. Patrick's Day! And Melissa made sure we didn't forget. That girl just kept drinking and drinking. I, too, had my share of drinks. After all, it was the final night in the DR. This time is was Antonio who was all up on us on the dance floor. Enzo was around but he didn't come over to us--phew! We drank and we danced. Hung out with Santos! Got some pizza. Drank. Lost Melissa. Went to the Disco. Saw the tall sex predator Italian. Danced with him briefly--very briefly--as he tried to get me to grab his crotch. What a weirdo. Antonio was there again. Melissa: I'm so fucking pissed! She couldn't get any action. Hahaha. I was probably cracking up because she was so mad and I was just over the top. They stopped playing music around 2:30 am I think and we all just left. I think we might have sat down to get some drinks. I heard Santos tried to follow us to our room but somehow they got him to back off. Back in the hotel room we finished packing up then went to bed to sleep for a few hours. Thanks Angela for helping me pack. ;)

Day 5 (3/18/09) - Going Home:

Woke up tired as hell. I still felt drunk. Third night getting just a few hours of sleep and not liking it. We dragged our asses down to the lobby with all our luggage and prepared to go to the airport. Our flight was at noon, but the van was here to pick us up at 7:30 am or something. The car ride was uncomfortable and I was pretty much just asleep the entire time. At the airport I was asleep on the table. Picked up some food and eventually boarded the plane. We were so sad to leave the Dominican Republic. After all the fun on the beach, meeting all the novios, getting more than enough attention, and just being away from home, we were back in New York City. I wish we could have gone trapezing, spent more time soaking up the sun, meet up with Edward Cullen again, and drank more. The song of the vacation: Omega - Chambonea. I swear we heard that song every single day.

I hope I got all of it down because I want to remember this trip forever. It was too much fun being in another country with Ange, Momo, & Melissa and every minute we spent there was just too hilarious. I love you guys! The funny thing is, I wasn't even going to go originally and I even had doubts about going after we booked the trip. Mostly a monetary thing. Thank goodness for tax returns. This trip was worth the $717 and whatever else we spent...probably totaled to a grand. It was WORTH it! We are in withdrawal. I just keep replaying the trip in my head. We need to do this again soon because it was too short and too much of a tease. I did not think about anything while I was on vacation. I can say with certainty that I was completely present in the Dominican Republic. Tomorrow we go back to school...and I am dreading it. =( Maybe I'll visit the DR in my dreams tonight before my alarm rudely awakens me to tell me to get my ass to school for the ATI test.