Dennis and I recently spent the weekend at an all inclusive resort with Dennis' son and daughter-in-law. We were pampered and overfed while the natives served us and no doubt went home at the end of the day to a tiny palm hut. At least that's what I imagined..

When Alisha and I arrived at the airport in Santo Domingo I knew right away that we were going to have an adventure. The exit from passport control was lined and overflowing with people, young, old and in between.  Along with dogs, monkeys and chickens. Ok the last part I fabricated but it could easily have been true. Through the pushing, shouting, teaming throng of people, my step-son's face came into view and we dove towards him.  Once outside the airport we hiked over to the Dollar car rental where Dennis had just worked out an upgrade for our car....check it out! Luxury!

Off we go, driving toward our resort, through crazy traffic, dodging scooters with entire families piled high and yes, even a chicken or two in tow.

Eventually we made it without anything tragic occurring and without hitting anyone as they dove in front of our car. We also were able to avoid getting into a car crash despite repeated close calls as there don't appear to be any traffic laws that are observed here. Careening is acceptable in every situation. As is carrying automatic rifles.

The beach, the resort, our room, everything was beautiful.  But I couldn't help but notice the HUGE amount of waste that inevitably happens at places like that. The food is constantly available and there are MASSIVE amounts of people to eat it. Not that the food was tasty or even anything close to that, its just so plentiful,  sitting there asking to be stuffed in your face and it became apparent that most of the visitors had locked their self-control in the in-room safe when they arrived.

There were plenty of topless women and men in leave-nothing-to-the-imagination-Speedos.  But you found yourself cringing and quickly averting your eyes in order to keep your breakfast down.  Any staring at them was purely out of horror, much like when you pass a terrible traffic accident on the highway...you don't want to look but you can't help but stare.

We kept ourselves quite busy by turning our chairs to match the movement of the sun along with getting up often to refill our frozen drinks. Instead of having the bartender mix you a drink, this resort left bottles of rum and vodka next to the drink machines and just gave you free license to make your own concoction. Most of the trip is a little foggy for me still.

 

When turning our chairs and getting drinks became too easy for us, we challenged Johnny and Alisha to a race to the tiny island out in front of the beach. We won, mostly because we kayaked and they chose to paddle boat.  They chose poorly.

We enjoyed two dinner experiences in the restaurants. One night we couldn't eat fast enough to please the staff and it felt more like a food competition in some sort of local island Olympics rather than a relaxing vacation dinner. Plus the AC wasn't working so I ate soaking wet the entire time. All that was missing from that meal was a bell to announce the end of each round.

The next night was the complete polar opposite. We waited at our table for an hour before our entree was served. They were packing the place up and we hadn't even had our dessert served yet. It felt like the twilight zone.

All in all, we had a wonderful two days. It was quick but just enough for us to get some sun and feel the sand between our toes.  I left feeling tired and guilty for being a fat, lazy white girl who stuffed her face endlessly and who threw away enough food to support a local family for a year. All in all, a successful weekend trip!