Our Carribean Vacation

It was about time for us to take a family vacation... This time we went to Punta Cana in Dominican RepublicUnfortunately, I got very sick the week before; it started with a cold and then it was changed to a flu and ear infection.... and the fact that I never like to take any medication, made the experience even more painful for me and my parents. I could not go to the daycare for a week, by the time I got a little better, it was time for us to get ready for our trip.

I was very excited about the trip and kept talking about getting on the plane and going to "Punca Tana"! We had an early flight, so we had to wake up around 4:00 am; which was not a pleasant experience! When mom woke me up I told her that I didn't want to go there anymore, but she used some of her tricks to get me out of the bed! She also mentioned that we were going to get on a bus and the plane and another bus and so on, which I found fascinating....

We got into dad's car and drove towards the airport. We got off in a huge parking lot and then into a bus that took us to the airport.... that was fun as I had never been in a bus before. The airport was nice and bright, although it was not the first time that I had seen an airport, I was mesmerized by everything.... we checked in and went through the security, which was really cool! We finally got into the plane; it was awesome, I even had my own seat... but my eyes were really tired and as soon as the plane took off, I fell asleep.

When we got to Punta Cana, the weather was very hot and humid... nothing like the weather in Toronto. Mom put away my sweater, but it was still pretty hot out there; we got into another bus that took us to our resort.... wow, two bus rides and one plane ride, all in one day!! That was awesome!!

When we got off the bus, they offered us a welcome drink while we enjoyed watching a nice folk dance.

To be perfectly honest with you, I didn't really pay attention to the dance as I was too busy drinking my drink; it was a fruit punch in red and I absolutely LOVED it, so I kept asking for more!! (I called it "juice mermez" (meaning red juice) and that was pretty much the only thing I was willing to drink while we were at the resort.)

The weather was awesome on that day and it was early afternoon when we got to our room

so we decided to go to the beach....

I played in the sand for a while
(Mom had to leave my T-shirt on because I refused to put any sun lotion on my shoulders and back!) Daddy tried to make sand castle.... but I was busy playing my own game!
and then we went to the pool, which was great...I played and splashed a lot......which probably explains why I fell asleep at the dinner table that evening! By the time mom and dad carried me to our room, I was up again and very refreshed. Mom and dad were really tired and wanted to sleep but I wanted to play. By the time I fell asleep again, it was almost mid-night!

The following morning when I woke up, I noticed that we were not at home and that upset me. You know, I thought this Punca Tana thing was a day trip and we would go back at night. So I started crying and asking mom and dad to go home again. Then I started complaining that my ear was hurting and didn't want to stay there anymore. Mom had really panicked because I had just recovered from an ear infection. Mom and dad kept talking about the beach and the pool but every time they said anything, I screamed louder... I just wanted to go home! Mom said: "Samy, I have an idea... let's get changed, go the beach and play with the sand again.". I thought for a second and said" Mommy, I have an idea, let's stay in the room and watch TV!". To cut the long story short, mom and dad had to take turn and go out for breakfast, I didn't even want to eat anything! By the time I was convinced to leave the room, it was almost 11:00 am.....and I was still very sad, even though mom was trying to cheer me up and showing me the beautiful landscape.

From that day on, I refused to go anywhere near the ocean or play inside the pool. The only thing I was willing to do was to play with the sand (as long as we were far away from the ocean) or sitting at the edge of the pool and playing with my red bucket.One day I discovered something interesting, a little blue square! Apparently, it was a ceramic tile from the pool, but to me, that was the most amazing discovery! I even showed it to mom as she was taking a picture.

It took about 10 minutes to walk from the beach to the main lobby. Our room was close to the beach but we had to go back and forth a few times because the buffet restaurant where we had most of our meals was by the lobby. We could either walk or take the small buses that were going back and forth all day and night. I always asked mom and dad to take the bus...Sometimes mom and dad convinced me (or let's say tricked me) to walk instead.
The walk was not too bad and mom always tried to make it more interesting ...

by encouraging me to sing my favourite songs or just playing little games....

Sometimes I hugged mom along the way, which she always loved and said "that's what I call vacation!"

And every time I saw the bus while we were walking, she came up with a funny excuse as to why we had to walk (Like the bus is going the opposite direction!)... can you see the bus in the background!!??
I have to admit, it was a nice walk...
And an excuse to spend more time with mom .....

And dad....
All that walking also helped us discover a marketAn entertainment centreand more shops (on the right)

I also liked the way our cleaning lady arranged the towels for us

everyday she came up with a new design

and she usually incorporated my blanket and/or Aabi (my blue Teddy Bear)!

The main restaurant offered different type of food every night: Spanish, Italian, Mexican, Dominican, Oriental, etc. and the people who were greeting us at the door wore different customes depending on the theme. We took a picture on the Mexican night

and another one on the Dominican night
The resort had a beautiful landscape and it was very well maintained

Some of the trees even had bananas on them... I always thought bananas came from supermarkets!
There were three big swimming pools at the resort...
the one we usually visited was huge
and right next to the ocean I have to admit it was fun to take an afternoon nap by the pool or

on the beach
They also had a kiddy Disco everynight from 8:00 to 8:30 pm, which I loved. I could not follow all their moves, but I tried to dance along. One of my favourit songs was the "choo choo" one, where we followed one another (like a train) and walked in between the chairs and around the theatre. They also had a game at the end, I participated every night but never won anything (I could never figure out what we had to do anyway!).... but they always gave me candies (Mom never let me try them. One night, when I insisted, she picked one which was really sour... and that was enough to change my mind about eating candies!)... here is a picture, can you find me??!
We also took some family pictures while were there...

See, I was drinking my red juice!
In fact, every night I had to drink one of those drinks right at the bar...

The bar tenders knew me so well and made my drinks extra special...

As I mentioned, I was really home sick and pretty much cried a few times a day to go home.... the time finally came when we packed out stuff and got ready to leave. We took this pic on the last day, while waiting for the bus to take us to the airport

Although I constantly begged my parents to take me home while we were away, I kinda miss Punca Tana! Every time I see the pictures, or think about it, I ask my parents if and when we will be back. Mom has promised to take me back again but she said it will not be this week!!