Do not read if not interested...lots of details of a fun trip.
I want...
I want to go to Riu.
I really want...
I want to go to Riu.
We heard that, with dance included, about 10 times over the weekend. I'm sure the staff who had to sing it wanted to kill themselves, or just went into robot mode whenever they sang it, but it was quite the catchy tune, and it rings true.
So we had the best time ever. Friday was spent hanging out in the pool, sampling the free drinks (a few too many), exploring the white sand beach behind our hotel, and peopl watching. Then Saumya and I (after Preeti passed out at 830...) ate dinner at the steak house (yummers) saw the tropical dance show, very nice, and just hung out. Then Saturday we woke up early to go snorkeling! It...was...the best... a) our crew was really nice, really funny, and very good at guiding us around the reef (second largest in the world), b) we saw fish I've only ever seen at the Aquarium! I mean, how COOL is it to see trigger fish, needle fish, barracuda(!), lobster, sting rays, parrot fish, trumpet fish, and a bunch others in their natural habitats. We fed them (shrimp) and they swarmed all around us for a long time. We saw schools of fish, clusters of 'em (that looked like rocks), woo hoo. And bestill my heart for the guide of our shallow reef tour...Marcelo. : ) He called me mi amor and always beckoned to me when he saw an interesting fish or he would take my hand and try and lead me to the interesting sights or to chase a sting ray (who was just too fast) , and the one time he saw the lobster (hiding between some rocks) he took off my life jacket (a bit scary at first) and helped me to go under water to get a closer, eye to eye glance at that bad boy. Those things are big. And then he put the life jacket back on... : ) Anyhoo, 'twas fabulous, the salt water was salty, the sun was shining (all weekend), my back only got slightly burned...and...Marcelo. Haha always fun. Then afterwards we hung out by the pool, went to dinner at el Japanese restaurant Kibachi or something (very very tasty) and got ready for our party hopping tour. Now it sounds kinda lame to sign up for a tour of some bars with the tourists, but had we not gone with the group we would have a) payed assloads of money to get into each bar (it cost 40 bucks to get into all of them), we wouldn't've had free drinks, and we probably wouldn't have gotten into the last club CocoBongo. All four clubs were fun with fun music and fun/ny dancing. Coco Bongo's really the only one worth describing, though. It was huge, PACKED, and interestingly enough was not necessaryily a real dance club. Like yeah everyone was dancing, but every two or three songs the music would kind of stop and we would all pay attention to the short 5 minute show about to start. They had people doing silks routines from the ceiling, bungee trapeze, acting out Beetlejuice/the Mask/the Matrix/etc. flying around the ceiling. It was quite an experience. And people watching was also pretty interesting. Preeti and I had fun at the last two (as Saumya kinda lost steam from the early morning wake up call) but we all had fab times.
Sunday we slept in (kinda) then hung out by the pool all day. Basically the clothing I packed was not needed because we were wandering around in our bathing suits 24/7. We swam, drank (I drank the drinks marked "sin alcohol" since Friday had been enough for me), and hung around. Then we ate dinner, met a really nice couple and talked with them for like three hours. Then we saw the perfect couples contest (which was hilarious, Preeti got a great video of it) and hung around. Preeti and I wanted to go out but we missed the boat and also didn't want to spend the amount of money to go to the clubs on our own. We thought we'd try out "La Pacha" the disco run by the hotel. It was pretty funny. Not very many people, not much rhythm, but wonderful people watching. When that got too painful and too detrimental to my self-image Preeti and I went down to the beach, hung out by the pool, and then talked with our friend Jacob ("Hakob") our bar tender from Friday night. We hung out with him for a few hours, asking him what it was like living down there, constantly in the party atmosphere, 'twas nice. From him I received a marriage proposal, but alas it was not to be. Leaving the next day at 8 rather hindered that plan.
Then our flight was delayed an hour, it was rerouted to Florida for 6 hours because our plane's de-icing equipment wasn't functioning (and Chicago was too cold to fly into...ahh the tropical climate of the Chi-town), and we FINALLY got home 7 hours after our regularly scheduled arrival. Sad now that Preeti has left (safe travels and I'm sorry I wasn't up!) but our adventures in Chicago are not too far off!!
And Saumya, fear not, for our paths shall cross soon enough.
All right, breakfast for the Caitlinator.
I want to go to Riu.
I really want...
I want to go to Riu.
We heard that, with dance included, about 10 times over the weekend. I'm sure the staff who had to sing it wanted to kill themselves, or just went into robot mode whenever they sang it, but it was quite the catchy tune, and it rings true.
So we had the best time ever. Friday was spent hanging out in the pool, sampling the free drinks (a few too many), exploring the white sand beach behind our hotel, and peopl watching. Then Saumya and I (after Preeti passed out at 830...) ate dinner at the steak house (yummers) saw the tropical dance show, very nice, and just hung out. Then Saturday we woke up early to go snorkeling! It...was...the best... a) our crew was really nice, really funny, and very good at guiding us around the reef (second largest in the world), b) we saw fish I've only ever seen at the Aquarium! I mean, how COOL is it to see trigger fish, needle fish, barracuda(!), lobster, sting rays, parrot fish, trumpet fish, and a bunch others in their natural habitats. We fed them (shrimp) and they swarmed all around us for a long time. We saw schools of fish, clusters of 'em (that looked like rocks), woo hoo. And bestill my heart for the guide of our shallow reef tour...Marcelo. : ) He called me mi amor and always beckoned to me when he saw an interesting fish or he would take my hand and try and lead me to the interesting sights or to chase a sting ray (who was just too fast) , and the one time he saw the lobster (hiding between some rocks) he took off my life jacket (a bit scary at first) and helped me to go under water to get a closer, eye to eye glance at that bad boy. Those things are big. And then he put the life jacket back on... : ) Anyhoo, 'twas fabulous, the salt water was salty, the sun was shining (all weekend), my back only got slightly burned...and...Marcelo. Haha always fun. Then afterwards we hung out by the pool, went to dinner at el Japanese restaurant Kibachi or something (very very tasty) and got ready for our party hopping tour. Now it sounds kinda lame to sign up for a tour of some bars with the tourists, but had we not gone with the group we would have a) payed assloads of money to get into each bar (it cost 40 bucks to get into all of them), we wouldn't've had free drinks, and we probably wouldn't have gotten into the last club CocoBongo. All four clubs were fun with fun music and fun/ny dancing. Coco Bongo's really the only one worth describing, though. It was huge, PACKED, and interestingly enough was not necessaryily a real dance club. Like yeah everyone was dancing, but every two or three songs the music would kind of stop and we would all pay attention to the short 5 minute show about to start. They had people doing silks routines from the ceiling, bungee trapeze, acting out Beetlejuice/the Mask/the Matrix/etc. flying around the ceiling. It was quite an experience. And people watching was also pretty interesting. Preeti and I had fun at the last two (as Saumya kinda lost steam from the early morning wake up call) but we all had fab times.
Sunday we slept in (kinda) then hung out by the pool all day. Basically the clothing I packed was not needed because we were wandering around in our bathing suits 24/7. We swam, drank (I drank the drinks marked "sin alcohol" since Friday had been enough for me), and hung around. Then we ate dinner, met a really nice couple and talked with them for like three hours. Then we saw the perfect couples contest (which was hilarious, Preeti got a great video of it) and hung around. Preeti and I wanted to go out but we missed the boat and also didn't want to spend the amount of money to go to the clubs on our own. We thought we'd try out "La Pacha" the disco run by the hotel. It was pretty funny. Not very many people, not much rhythm, but wonderful people watching. When that got too painful and too detrimental to my self-image Preeti and I went down to the beach, hung out by the pool, and then talked with our friend Jacob ("Hakob") our bar tender from Friday night. We hung out with him for a few hours, asking him what it was like living down there, constantly in the party atmosphere, 'twas nice. From him I received a marriage proposal, but alas it was not to be. Leaving the next day at 8 rather hindered that plan.
Then our flight was delayed an hour, it was rerouted to Florida for 6 hours because our plane's de-icing equipment wasn't functioning (and Chicago was too cold to fly into...ahh the tropical climate of the Chi-town), and we FINALLY got home 7 hours after our regularly scheduled arrival. Sad now that Preeti has left (safe travels and I'm sorry I wasn't up!) but our adventures in Chicago are not too far off!!
And Saumya, fear not, for our paths shall cross soon enough.
All right, breakfast for the Caitlinator.