What do you mean, I haven't posted in twenty days? How absurd...
Just for future reference: the title is pronounced "lookie" and "cookie" like two, not took. "Looooooooookie." Yeah. That's it.
So, for April vacation this year we went to the Dominican Republic. It was awesome, a full seven days of complete and utter laziness. Here's a run through.
The beginning of the trip was a little hectic. We went for breakfast with Pepere that morning, then headed out to the airport. However, somewhere Dad managed to get lost...then we lost him in a terminal when he parked the car, then we realized Calum left a bag two terminals back...wow. But we got on the plane happily, and (in my case) with tropical Skittles and airport store book in tow.
The flight there was nothing too spectacular. It was four hours, which isn't too bad. The in-flight movie was Elizabethtown. I'd already seen it, but I watched it again. It was just as...odd the second time. We had to buy earphones, even though I have about six pairs at home. I never remember to bring them, because usually they're free...
We got to the airport, found our bags, and got on a bus for the resort. It was three hours! So...sleepy...
Some interesting things I saw:
1. sign for Empanadas (Spanish class word)
2. lots of mopeds with three or four people on them
3. skinny stray dogs, but still very cute!
4. horses behind houses
5. boy selling fruit to people in cars when they stopped at red light
6. boy playing rolling a hoop with a stick (harder than it sounds, I've tried)
7. lots of school kids in khaki skirts/pants and a light blue collared shirt
And that was just the ride there!
Our room was orange, with a bathroom, two double beds, a TV, a balcony, and (thankfully) a shower. A big sun mirror hung on the wall between the two beds. We were building 2, floor 3, room 6, so we were in room number 2306. Remarkable!
This was basically how our days went.
I'd wake up at 8:30ish, and procrastinate getting up until Mom, Dad, and Calum all went down for breakfast. Then, I'd get up and dressed in a bathing suit, shorts and a T-shirt. The banquet hall wasn't far from our room, but the sun on the white path stones was still blinding, so I wore my sunglasses anyways.
In the morning, the tables in the buffet hall were decked in colorful tablecloths and cloth napkins, bright pinks, blues, greens, and oranges. I would grab a mug of hot chocolate, some garlic potatoes, churros, and chocolate-filled rolls, then find the rest of the family and eat.
After breakfast, it was back up to the room for sunscreen. I do not tan. This much is obvious. I have two settings: white and red. I prefer white, thanks, so sunscreen it is...
We would then head out to the beach. For me, time at the beach meant switching between several things:
1. gathering tiny white seashells
2. swimming for the sake of swimming
3. watching fish
4. reading
5. doing logic puzzles
6. people watching
We would usually stay there until we got hungry again. Then, it was back up to the room for showers and down to either the buffet or the beachside place for lunch. For me, lunch mainly consisted of French fries and vinegar...sounds and looks very unappetizing but is actually rather delicious. They had the desserts out by then so we usually grabbed some of those too. By the end of the trip, my favorite desserts I had were:
1. cannolis filled with a coconut cream
2. coconut cake with coconut icing
3. anything on fire (though the rum made the taste awful, it looked so cool…)
4. chocolate ice cream with tiny chocolate half circles in it
After lunch it was again to the room for more sunscreen, then an afternoon by the pool. This 
thing had an awesome shape, kind of like the picture, as best I can remember it. On the half of the center island near the toddler’s pool, the actors/dancers/aerobics instructors/activity leaders – identified by their unmistakable blue and yellow uniforms – would do mini shows throughout the day, to the amusement of the many people on the beach chairs around the pool. Unfortunately, I was somehow recruited for one of their lessons, and leaned with maybe fifteen other people how to dance the bachata.
Now I’m certain I can’t dance.
Ah, well. We went up to the rooms rather early for dinner. Everyone showered, and got dressed up. I mean everyone. The entire resort. We then went for dinner, either again at the buffet or at one of the beach places that transformed into a fancy restaurant at night. These were fun, even when I had a run-in with my second fish that had a head. First France, not the Dominican Republic. Fun stuff.
After eating, we went to the stage by the pool, and sat in one of the chair placed in front of it. Before the actual show at 9:30, there was a very funny half hour where one man picked out people from the audience and made them as embarrassed as he possibly could in a competition with a prize for the winner. We all enjoyed this very much. Then was the show. While we were there, we saw The Lion King, Grease, Chicago, and a show on the history of the Dominican Republic. They were good, but I was attacked by bugs the whole time. No one else in my family was, though…just me. How lucky can you get?
After the show ended, it was into the room and to bed. By then we were sun-tired and happy, not to mention more than ready for some shuteye.
Hmm, that was about it for an average day. Now for some awesome events!!!
Dad leaned how to sail a catamaran, and took Calum and me out in one. I even got a turn to try and sail but trust me, it’s no picnic. Holding the rudder straight isn’t that tough, but finding the wind when you lose it and simultaneously watching in case the sail switches over to the other side and hits you in the head is hard. Not to mention, you’re getting sprayed with cold water and bits of seaweed. It was still insanely fun, and I give Dad all the credit in the world for managing to get us back in top land, and to the right beach (the second time)!
Another fun trip was when Dad and I went out in a kayak. It was exhausting! We pulled really strong at one point though, and went speeding along at a crazy rate! We saw some weird stuff out there, like something submerged resembling a submarine and a floating house. Calum guessed that they were for practicing scuba divers, which made sense.
However, my favorite part of the whole trip was when we went snorkeling! They took us out on a motor boat with a bunch of people to this huge coral reef, and instructed us to bring bread. There were so many fish there! So, equipped with snorkel, mask, flippers, and loaf of whole grain, I went in.
There were so many kinds of fish. I saw bioluminescence at work on black fish with glowing blue spots and blue fish with fins lined in glowing purple whenever they dove into shadow. There were fish that looked like they jumped right off the pages of that ‘Rainbow Fish’ book almost everyone in the world read when they were a kid. There were cylindrical pale brown fish, orange ones with black behind the spot where their ears might be if they had any, fish with long, pointy yellow noses like needles and thin bodies, smaller fish with black and white stripes like Gill from Finding Nemo, indigo fish that seemed almost disk-like, ones with indigo backs but bright orange stomachs, and huge shoals of fish with yellow, black, and white stripes that were rather shy. I could swear that I saw an eel disappearing into a hole on the ocean floor…which was actually a good distance down.
Anyways, it was as I was holding out a chunk of bread for some fish to cluster around and nibble at, a particularly aggressive pale brown fish dove for the bread and missed, biting my hand. It’s didn’t hurt, but it scabbed. I found the whole incident rather amusing. Honestly, how many people can say they’ve been bitten by a fish smaller than a guinea pig?
On the way back, we almost missed the plane because it ended up being a six hour trip back when the trip there was three. Six hours in a crowded bus over loads of pot holes...fun! But we
made it there on time, and even had a few seconds to grab a bag of fun-sized candy bvars for the flight back. The movie was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Okay, that’s it for today, because I’m typing this on Word for the spell check and it’s just over three full pages long…oops! But before I go, a very very very happy (and just as many verys belated) 39th birthday!!! And since he put my picture on his blog, here he is! Well, here is his editedon-Paint-version. I love you Dad!
Sorry this took/is so long!
-Iona
thing had an awesome shape, kind of like the picture, as best I can remember it. On the half of the center island near the toddler’s pool, the actors/dancers/aerobics instructors/activity leaders – identified by their unmistakable blue and yellow uniforms – would do mini shows throughout the day, to the amusement of the many people on the beach chairs around the pool. Unfortunately, I was somehow recruited for one of their lessons, and leaned with maybe fifteen other people how to dance the bachata.
made it there on time, and even had a few seconds to grab a bag of fun-sized candy bvars for the flight back. The movie was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
