Da Tonino Hotel Punta Cana

... point Gabi and I are sweating our little tails off, and the ocean is too warm to really cool us down so we decide to find the "Indigenous Eyes" EcoReserve. It is a series of freshwater lagoons in the middle of 1500 of preserved land.

First, we go left from the beach. After walking about 8 minutes we end up at the golf course (yes, its oceanfront) and realize we are probably going the wrong way. We ask a groundskeeper for directions to "las ...

... functions), and speakers that BLAST music from about 8am to 2pm every day. The employees at Punta Cana work strange shifts; 12-13 days straight at about 13 hours a day/night without a break then they have 2-3 days off. Most of them have family at least an hour away and only see them on their days off. Therefore, the Club is a place they hang out while during their time off while they are in the middle of their 13 day schedule ...

Hi Everyone, I know that it's been a while since I wrote anything here, I've been busy and of course I was away on holiday for a week. So what was supposed to be a vacation to Cozumel Mexico turned out to be a holiday to Punta Cana Dominican Republic which was actually pretty awesome! I myself love the DR and this was my 5th time there and again loved it, though it was my first time to Punta Cana. We ...

... and her class about our time here in Punta Cana:   She says to her class "It is not the same without you either in a scrunched up family of 5.  Here I am with Flat Stanley on the porch of where we are staying.  I am drinking a strawberry smoothy.  The weather is very hot here.  Sometimes I wish it were winter.  But I am enjoying lots of things here too, like swimming and "free" food.  I like the trees, they're really pretty because they wave ...

... tub), too...in the rooms located on the ground  floor that outdoor tub is on the patio, and it is smaller and doesn't allow for much privacy...our room was located on the top floor, and instead of a patio we had a big terrace (and a balcony on the other side) with a round whirlpool tub and a couple of lounge chairs... the terrace offered complete privacy which was great because every day we would spend some relaxing time there after coming ...

... 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!

The arrival hall is completely open-air with thatch roofs, very quaint, but killer in the humidity. We disembarked from the plane into blinding sunlight and walked quickly towards the buildings looking for the first spot of shade. Music (bongo, accordion and maracas) greeted us with island rhythms as we entered. Which was when we discovered the LONG queues for immigration. Hot, hot and sticky. After clearing immigration, we passed by the actual three musicians. Not ...

... keep myself entertained with them - but my roommate didn't and the spanish speaking television wasn't working for her.

Needless to say, the remainder of the week turned out to be a bust - and it was a long week. Now I do my research ahead of time to make sure I'm going to a place in the appropriate season. I also know to check out hotel and resort information to ...

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 ...

... of the country. It was actually the same quoted price whether we booked together or separate so we booked separately to make our lives easier. We had 2 separate reservations and so we were expecting 2 rooms. When we arrived we asked that our rooms be next to each other especially if they had an attached door that would be great. We were then informed that we were put in a room together. We were told that they don't allow singles and that ...