Today has been extremely eventful and has tired us all out. We went to bed around midnight and had to wake up at 4:45am. The online check in wasn't working, so we got ready as fast as we could and rushed down to where we needed to line up for the check in. The lineup was already HUGE! Finally, someone came by asking for all those going to Punta Cana to cut the line. We were then told to go to yet another counter to get our tickets printed (different from our boarding passes). There waited a lady who had no idea what she was doing and went to to back to try and do what we asked at a painstakingly slow pace. We still hadn't gone through customs by the time they made the first boarding call for our 7am flight! Even with us trying to hurry through check in and customs, most of the passengers had already boarded the plane by the time we made it to the gate.
So much for only having four and a half hours of sleep!
When we finally arrived, there was a huge scramble to get our luggage that was piled everywhere. One porter almost put one of our suitcases on some other lady's cart! We have learned that there are many willing porters everywhere, but unless necessary, don't bother using them as they all expect a tip.
When we got to our room, we could smell a strong must emanating from the walls and no clock to be seen. But, it was clean and they had decorated it with swan towels and flowers. We quickly dropped off our stuff and headed back outside to see if we could catch a trolley to the lobby where our buffet dinner was waiting. Outside, there were two porters, both of which who didn't know any english and just nodded and said “yes yes, bus that way” when asked how to get to the lobby. No trams were passing us as we made the long trek to our dinner and it was starting to drizzle. What was at first a few drops suddenly turned into a torrent of drenching rain. My mom and Sheira ran to a palm tree and hugged it, hoping for some protection while I waved down what finally looked like a bus. I had guessed right and we hopped on for the minor break from the rain. We all walked into that buffet looking like shivering, bedraggled wet mops.
Because it was so late, the buffet was virtually empty and there were a lot of servers who were able to be extra attentive to our needs. After our first course and going for our second, we came back only to find that they had thought we had left and had already cleared our table. When they saw us they were extremely embarrassed and set it back up as fast as they could, apologizing several times. One of the servers named Dennis came over and started to chat with us until server Johnny scolded him and set him to some other chores. Seriously, EVERY time I looked up, Johnny was somewhere staring at me and he'd just laugh and quickly turn away. He'd do the same thing if anyone else from our table caught him staring at me. I thought that maybe I had something on my face! And he'd keep coming close to our table and then turning around and walking in the opposite direction. He finally came up and asked if everything was ok and if we needed anything. Noticing how long it had taken him to finally come to the table, Shi asked him how he was doing. He enthusiastically responded that he was very VERY happy and then struck into a conversation. Dennis looked a bit ticked that the server who had scolded him for standing and talking was now doing the same thing. We finally got up and told him that we were going to leave. After saying goodbye, we decided to just quickly look at the desserts. This of course ended up with all of us getting something. We didn't know what to do however, as they had already put our table away for the second time that night and we had said that we were leaving. Just then, Johnny walked by and saw us. We all burst out laughing when we saw his puzzled look and had to explain the whole thing to him. Needless to say, we were all seated within a few minutes and asked if if we wanted anything else.
We are all still wet and damp, but are quite happy to be getting into bed after such a long day. And, even with the lumpy pillows and mattress, I'm sure we'll get lots of sleep. That is, if I can even get to my bed without slipping on the tiles that have become wet from the humidity!
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