D.R. Says "I Do"
/For anyone who doesn't already know, I'm Dominican and I had the pleasure of traveling back there after 8 years. It's really been so long but I avoided going there so I could experience others countries as well and get a taste of different cultures. This time around instead of seeing family I went with Eddie (my brother) for his best friend Ali's wedding around the second week of August (16th-20th). I didn't have many expectations, but all I knew was that Punta Cana is really nice and I was going to be relaxing in a pool for 5 days.
To start off my trip, Eddie came down from Connecticut since our flight was in Newark. We spent the night at our parents house because my dad was going to take us to the airport. Getting to D.R. after the crazy thunderstorms and showers in New Jersey was a relief. We stayed at the Dreams Resort. From what I can see, anyone who wants to have a wedding they do it there. The area was very nice and the people were very accommodating.
Normally for trips I have a whole agenda plan, but for once it felt good to just be the person tagging along. No pressure from my end to do much of anything. We spent most of our time around the pool area (of course the one that has the swim up bar) and at night we ate at different restaurants.
Me and Eddie (brother)
The first night there we went to a club that was in a cave, like literally a cave. It was so funny to me but like it was actually dope. In different parts of the cave they played hip hop, reggaeton, bachata, merengue, salsa, etc. so nobody could really complain about song choices. It was open bar but if you're in D.R. what that really means is BRUGAL, BRUGAL, BRUGAL and more BRUGAL. Damn that shit is gross ! lol On this trip I didn't even want to mess my stomach up by drinking anything crazy because at home I barely drink. Found myself some water and I was good. Everyone in the wedding was basically there and we danced our asses off. We didn't leave to head back to the hotel until maybe 3am. We won't even discuss how drunk my brother was and all of his shenanigans but for those who do know I'll just leave this hashtag here #CindysSuitcase smh lol.
But anyways, fast forward to the next day. We woke up to eat breakfast at the buffet it was buffet typical food with a Dominican twist (mangu and salami). We did get to spend some time on the beach. The downside to this was the water at the beach wasn't as clear as I thought it was going to be. This specific part of Punta Cana had a lot of seaweed. The locals said it's because it's hurricane season in August so that affects the water. That was a bummer. I mean I can't swim, but I do like to go in the water. I couldn't stand the seaweed touching my feet, especially when I can't see the ground. On that note, the pool was the wave. This is probably where I got most of my tan lines. I was peeling all on my shoulders and I even got sunburn on my lips. Aside from the pool, we did play beach volleyball as a group. I haven't played that since my Mexico trip; but I soon remembered how damn tiring it is. Of course my team won, and my serving was on point !
This night we went to Hibachi and that was a complete joke lol. Dominican hibachi, come on man. The chef at our station kept trying to do tricks and dropping all his utensils. I have never seen that happen. I guess this is why Dominicans are not meant to be hibachi chefs, but we still had a good time. There was no way I was letting him throw food in my mouth. With his accuracy, the food would probably end up in my hair. If he can somehow find a way to read this, this dude has to chill lol no more hibachi for you. No bullshit though, the food was really good. This was the night before the wedding so I went back to the room right after we ate so I could rest, while my brother went out with the groomsmen. He had to fulfill his best man duties of course.
The wedding day was really chill. I relaxed in the pool and just made sure I had enough time to get myself dressed and ready. One thing I will say about this D.R. which is different from other places I've been, the quality of water out the faucet is terrible. I mean for anyone who doesn't know, it's not safe to drink water in D.R. if it's not straight out of a water bottle. So you can imagine how that water feels when washing your hair. I swear my curls never looked this dry and stringy before, but I tried my best to look cute somehow. Oh and I bought this cute mustard yellow dress for only $4 on boohoo.com, what a deal right !
Overall, the wedding was really beautiful. This was my first time at a beach wedding. Oh and this was Eddie's first time being someone's best man. He worked really hard on his speech and honestly it was so good; I almost cried and it wasn't even about me lol. After the reception, we went to a small club next to the hotel which had good music. We didn't stay up too late because the next day the wedding party planned to go on a catamaran. I was excited because I have never done this before.
The boat ride was so much fun. It took about 30 mins to get to the shallow part of the water. They let us jump off the boat and just enjoy drinks In the water. The water was crystal clear so I really enjoyed it. We got back on the boat after some time and when to another part of the island where we had lunch and drinks waiting for us. This beach was honestly so beautiful as you can tell by the picture. The water was so refreshing and not too cold. I would say this was my favorite part of the whole trip. We rode back on a huge catamaran. Everyone just relaxed, danced to music, drank and laid out for a tan. Meanwhile, I wanted to hide so I could protect my sunburned lips lol they were hurting so bad. I swear I looked like I was related to Jay-Z.
So, this pretty much ended the fun for our trip. We came back to eat at the Mexican restaurant at the resort and later went to a beach party to smoke a cigar. Eddie and I had to be up really early though for our flight so we just went back to the room to pack and get ready for the annoying day of traveling lol.
I really enjoyed this trip because I needed to get away and relax, especially with the chaos at work. I can't wait to go out the country again. Hopefully sooner than later I can plan a trip to Europe, I love the Caribbean but I know there is so much more to see out there.