Friday, January 18, 2013

Hardly worth mentioning- Jan 2013


While it is hardly worth adding to my travel blog, it is worth a couple of lines on Facebook, but wont actually fit the normal wallpost!
  Departed Toronto (-6 and dry) at 8am and arrived in the DR at 11:45 (12:45 local time
(29 degrees and somewhat damp.) A 45 minute bus ride along decent roads brought us to The Gran Bahia Principe El Portillo. One of 4 major resorts in the Samana area ( roughly half way between Puerto Plata and Punta Cana, it consists of about 10 low rises and villas housing about 400 rooms surrounding a complex of 4 restaurants, a similar number of bars and a couple of pools.
Arriving a bit too late for the lunch buffet, a well stocked snack bar provided a filling and varied selection of snacks, burgers and seafood, nicely washed down with a couple of Cuba Libres. In the distance, kite boarders rode distant whitecaps, while occasional gusts of rain washed winds tried to sneak under the shelter of our palapa in a futile attempt to water down our drinks.
  A brief exploratory walk around the resort was cut short by a more intense downpour which fortunately lasted little more than 10 minutes.
  I attended a quick orientation session from our travel rep- that’s “tripspeak” for softening up the suckers in the crowd for the “arm and two legs” pricing of the “must see” tours. Susanna wisely used that time to sleep off her intake ( so far ) of a glass of champagne, a can of Corona Extra and 2 fairly stiff Cuba Libres.
  With her Birthday dinner almost 3 hours away I am typing this as I watch the latest CNN installment of Lance Armstrong’s “ I did not have sexual relationships with that drug.” Best part was watching Oprah looking like she got side-swiped by a bus.

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