Nicole schreibt...

Dominican Republic 2004

Every self-respecting pirate has to hang out in the Caribbean sooner or later and enjoy large quantities of rum. In need of a really quiet, relaxing beach vacation after my move to Cologne I decided that the Caribbean was the right place to be, so we booked a week all-inclusive at the Occidental Allegro Resort on Playa Dorada, a pretty resort place on the Northern coast of the Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean's biggest island Hispaniola with Haiti. Here are some pictures of the hotel and the beach in the quiet morning hours. Take note of the towels. The English like to scorn the Germans for getting up in the small hours to "reserve" every available grain of sand (never mind beach chairs) with towels leaving them to sit on bare rocks. Now it seems that the English (who were the vast majority at the resort) have learned the same trick to up the ante in the idiotic towel wars.

Just my luck to book a trip in the middle of the European Football Championship. So after 11 hours flying across the sea to one of the most beautiful holiday destinations of the world what do people do? Find the next available satellite television and watch football. Normal, huh? (this was a small crowd of hopeful Germans watching a lousy draw against Latvia)

At least I got out of the resort for a day and went on a horseback tour through one of the country's most beautiful national parks. Surely Eden couldn't have looked better. The ride led us to this wonderful little river where us wannabe Indiana Joneses could take a longer break and went for a swim in the river. A true back to nature feeling that beats any swimming pool or lake by miles!

All in all it was a pleasant week, but I couldn't shed a slightly awkward feeling about being one of those rich Western tourists who lock themselves away in fancy resorts in such a poor country. The locals weren't exactly welcoming and we didn't even dare to venture out alone into the nearby city of Puerto Plata. Maybe that was silly of us, but I just realized that this kind of vacation is not my thing as I want to get out, see the country and interact with local people. If I just want to laze on a beach I can do that very well in the Mediterranean.