Caribbean Vacation Days 3 and 4

It's easy to fall into a tropical languor down here. The days are long, hot, and sunny, which results in a slow-motion pace. It's so much easier to sit in the shade and have another cool drink than to get up and do things. But we're on vacation, so get up and do things we must (at least according to my wife).

This is an interesting place. It's called Punta Cana. It's a large master-planned resort development on the easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic.

We're staying in an upscale villa - 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, swimming pool and spa, large screen TVs everywhere ... all the amenities, including a housekeeper and a cook chef. My wife is already scheming about how she can take them back with her. (As I've mentioned before, this is most definitely not our normal lifestyle. We're here as the guests of a friend who is connected to the real estate investment firm that owns the villa.) To give you some idea of the types of estates around here, our down-the-street neighbor is a married couple -- he's Iranian, she's Venezuelan, so they're not real fond of Americans -- that owns a vacation 'home' here. It consists of the main house, a separate guest house, and servants quarters. The servants quarters alone is 12,000 square feet, so you can imagine how huge the other two houses are.

Another resident here is Oscar de la Renta.

We feel like the Beverly Hillbillies...

Anyway, the resort developers have tried to do the right things. The resort is 15,000 acres, but they've preserved a  couple of thousand of those acres as a nature and ecological preserve.

We toured the preserve yesterday. It's a typical tropical jungle; dense overhead canopy, dense foliage, extremely humid. There's a series of trails which take you through the preserve. I've had my fill of tropical jungle trails, thank you very much, but the kids found it interesting. Very different from Central Texas.

The preserve is also dotted with fresh-water lagoons of various sizes. The water is as clear as a bottle of gin and as cold as my ex-wife's heart. It made for a very refreshing dip. We were forewarned, so we took our dive masks and got an excellent view of the underwater rock grotto walls and bottoms, along with various fish and a multitude of turtles of all sizes and colors (no snappers, thank goodness).

We went diving one day, but the trip was cut short when the wind picked up. Today's dive trip was also cancelled due to high winds. I'm a casual diver, so it's no big deal to me. I'll just doze under a palm tree while the kids race golf carts (did I mention that our villa comes with two golf carts?).

Golf carts are the preferred means of transportation around here. It makes sense - most places aren't more than a 5 or 10 minute drive from here, and since this is an island everything has to be shipped in, which makes it more expensive. This is one place where electric cars can be economically justified.

Another interesting aspect of life down here is that American beers are considered imported. In the local mercardo a six-pack of Budweiser is priced the same as a six-pack of Stella Artois. Sorry, Bud, but that's no contest.

The people are wonderful. Very warm and friendly, and they seem quite happy with life. Our housekeeper sings as she works (and she's got a pretty good voice). They're also industrious and hard-working, although as previously mentioned the pace is on the slow side. Island life, I guess...

The food has been great. Lots of fresh seafood and fresh fruit. I've convinced myself that since fish and fruit are healthy foods it's okay to eat all I want. And since I'm eating so healthy it's also okay to have a little more beer and wine than usual. My wife, however, fails to see the logic of this.

We've got the rest of today and one more full day tomorrow, then it's back to reality. So I guess I'll close up the laptop and wander back outside ... and maybe snag a beer or two on the way...