dominican republic

Last week, Scott and I went on our first ever vacation as a couple (aka no kids!). We went to Ocean Blue Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Our friends Katie & Chad and Kara & Audra came with us.

It took us forever (seriously two layovers and 19 hours) to get there but it was well worth it once we did. The airport in Punta Cana was really cool because the whole thing was open air with a thatched roof.

just off the plane in Punta Cana (finally!)

"inside" the Punta Cana airport

the open-air hotel lobby

the pool area

the villas

our room

For the most part, we spent our days lounging at the pool, playing at the beach, eating as much as we could cram in at every meal, and drinking as many virgin drinks as we could think of.

One interesting part of our trip was the shopping because EVERYTHING required bargaining. The store employees would stop at nothing to try to get you to 1.buy from them rather than the person next door selling exactly the same things, and 2.pay as high a price as possible. It was so stressful but could be very rewarding if you stuck to your guns with the price you were willing to pay.

the shops at the beach (literally starting on the line that marked the end of the resort property!)

The photo shop at the resort had photographers that would walk around with exotic animals that you could take pictures with (to encourage you to buy their overpriced pictures, of course). I DID NOT want to touch either the snake or lizard that were thrust on me, but Scott was such a good sport so I tried to stop being a baby. I did freak out, though, when the snake's body started to coil around my neck and as his head moved toward mine. I have had more than one snake nightmare since!

We also went on an all-day excursion which included a 2-hour drive through the cities to a port, from which we rode on a large catamaran to Saona island, where we played and ate a yummy beach-side buffet, then we rode a speed boat to a natural pool, then back to the port, and eventually back to the resort.

apparently, this is the oldest church in DR

on the little boat that took us over to the catamaran

on the catamaran

the hostesses brought us as many drinks as we could handle and asked all the guys to dance (it was especially entertaining to see the guys who were drinking more than just coke)

then they led us in a funny line dance (the lady in the white bikini top in front was literally dancing around one of the poles that held the sails by the end of the trip)

Saona Island

the speedboat we took back to port

the natural pool we stopped at along the way