Golden Bear Lodge Punta Cana

... was there...so near..
The lunch time was like a picnic in the Caribbean.
The afternoon was full of activities, beachvolley, snorkeling, dancing and relax!
The return hour arrive TOO early! and at 6.30 pm I was in my hotel again with the fantastic remember of nice people and a great experience.
WOW...that was nice but I have more incredible adventure for my next trip to the DR!
See you again...Bianca

My first full day in the Dominican Republic just so happens to be a national holiday: El Día de Restauración (Restoration Day). Pretty much Independence Day #2 for Dominicans. The first Independence Day is in February when the DR gained independence from Haitian rule. The second (Aug 16) is Independence from Spain which occupied the country for two years after their first Independence from Haiti. Anyway, enough with the history. Let me now explain to you ...

... back to the present: so the girls and I grab a beer at the Club and I meet the boys from the study abroad group. By the way there are 4 girls, 4 guys...kinda Real World style.

At 8pm go to dinner at a restaurant in the resort, which provides us with a limited menu covered under my lodging fee at the EF. The hotel/resort area is absolutely ridiculous. It has a lobby that is covered but open to the outdoors (no doors ...

Fui en el autobus a el Parque Nacional del Este. Fui a acampar en el parque y fui a pescar en el agua. Fui a subir en las arboles. Fue a estar fenomenal. Fui a ver los animales. Muchos iguanas en la Republica de Dominicana. La Republica de Dominicana tiene muchos animales. En el Parque Nacional del Este, fui a comer bocadillos.

... So now I look forward to my next adventure of traveling to Paris France in August which I am reall excited about! If anyone has any questions about our trip, the hotel you know the shebang let me know and I'll try to answer as best I can. I'm really happy that I was able to get out and back to the DR, though was disappointed not to be able to go to Cozumel! Here are some pictures, and I'll write again soon :)

... And we had barely any cash, since we were using the room charge almost exclusively at the resort. The closest ATM was "in town," a 30-minute walk. The road-wide puddle presented the biggest challenge but we were able to off-road it without getting too dirty. We were offered two rides and honked at on a regular basis once we got on the main road - it wasn't clear whether they were warning us of their presence (there wasn't a sidewalk) or seeking attention or wondering why we were ...

... tried to learn how to windsurf. We also went swimming with sea lions, a highlight for me. It was a great trip, although the last day and the few days after were unfortunately ruined by both of us getting pretty sick...Montezuma's Revenge claimed its latest victims!

As I mentioned before, I didn't do my homework. And the too good to be true price we paid for the week turned out that obviously there was a reason. May is the rainy season in DR. The day started out well - we hit up the beach and did some kayaking and swimming in the ocean and then headed to the pool where we planned to remain the rest of the day. But come later in the ...

On our first full day at the resort the weather was gorgeous - our soul intentions for this trip was to sit pool side and not move...utter relaxation...we managed to do a full day of this!

The pool was nice and it was the off season so it wasn't very crowded at all. Overall it was a great day and we enjoyed it very much.

We had dinner at the restaurant and this is ...

... a car to take her the airport we were meeting at. I don't remember the airport but I know it wasn't too far, it was only supposed to be a quick flight for her!

I was getting really anxious as I waited for her - flying by myself out of the country wasn't really in my plan and I was uncomfortable with the idea as I wasn't really a savvy traveler at this point, and I didn't really want to go by myself for any length of time. The plan had ...