Ярко brightly

I returned not so long ago, and I want to share the main impressions of the trip.
Departure from Moscow. Apparently we were terribly lucky, since our flight was delayed by only 40 minutes, which, judging by the numerous reviews of Transaero passengers, is a huge rarity, as a rule, delays for a much longer time. We flew in premium economy and did not regret it at all. Supplement for one person in both directions is $ 50, for this you get a separate check-in desk, a greater distance between seats than in a regular economy, the possibility of choosing dishes for lunch; economy, I don't know). For us, the distance between the chairs was fundamental, since both were taller than 170 cm. I can safely and firmly say that we did not experience any discomfort: legs crossed freely, extended freely, etc. who's into what.
They let us into the plane through the "sleeve", changed clothes and hid the jackets back in Domodedovo.

As for Prohibition on board... They sneeze at it, and that's it. Not for drunkenness, but for health, we consumed 150 cognacs each and fell asleep safely. There were more active groups with libations, but apparently the declaration of Prohibition makes people not so much comply with this requirement as violate it on the sly, without focusing attention, without any loud speeches; people secretly got drunk and fell asleep, some even under the chairs of their relatives and friends.
The film collection on board also helped to pass the 12-hour flight. The films are all brand new, though for those who like to watch all the new items, the choice will not be particularly joyful; Personally, I watched about 40% of the proposed ones in cinemas, so for me the choice was small.
Throughout the flight, they monitored their movement over the ball on the built-in screens. It's funny. They also tracked flight speed, arrival time, travel time, etc.
Fed 2 times. The first is a lunch type (fish, meat of your choice, 2 grapes, a slice of peach, bread; ), the second is a dinner type (pancakes). Ordinary aircraft food is not the best filling. The man will not eat for sure! We read about possible problems, so we took a snack with us.
The flight went without any discomfort and quite easily! They expected the worst.
Arrival. Dominicans take pictures with local girls right at the entrance to the airport (if this funny building can be called that). Pass the border guards and customs officers - 5-7 minutes, the luggage did not wait long. Then the representatives of TezTour quickly loaded us into the bus under white hands. In general, no more than 40 minutes passed from the moment I got off the plane, then boarding the bus, which I think is very fast.
Settlement. The advantage of our hotel was that it was one of the first on the way from the airport. And that means - the first to bring, the last to take; . We stopped at the hotel at about 23.00 local, the head is square, because. at my house at this time it was 10.00 the next day; . Fortunately, the TezTour manager quickly explained to the host what was happening and we were issued in 20-30 minutes, given the keys and went to see off to the rooms.

Number. On the territory of 6 3-storey buildings. The rooms are definitely 4 *, as most write in their reviews. The room is cleaned every day, but the linen is changed every 3-4 days. At first we thought that the shift was every day, and then we found out that they carefully tuck the loose sheet, straighten the blanket, that's all. We have no complaints about this, because And at home we don't change the bed every day. For me, the moment of residence was not on the 1st floor. The first floor, especially the corner rooms are visible at a glance, walking paths are laid past them, it is not very comfortable to relax, smoking a cigar and drinking coffee. And I was also afraid of dampness, because. the sun on the 1st floor penetrates worse. Thank God we were lucky, we lived on the 2nd floor in the first building. Garden view. The travel agency told us that all rooms have a sea view, if not direct, then side, however, it can hardly be called a view; At first we thought about changing it with a sea view. And then we decided it wasn't worth it. The wind blows from the sea almost every day. The balconies in the buildings, which are located closer to the beach, are perfectly visible, which means that it is not very convenient to go out on the balcony in what the mother gave birth to. We, in turn, went out in what we wanted, not particularly bothering; I also consider it important that the balcony looks at the sunset side, then the sun does not burn all day and the room remains cool. That is exactly what we did. The air conditioner was not turned on and it was very comfortable.
The complete set of the room corresponds to the declared: ironing board, iron, clothes dryer on the balcony, hair dryer, coffee maker. As for the hair dryer, I doubted, I was not sure of the power. But I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived. The air pressure is adjustable, the hair dryer is quite powerful and it’s good that I didn’t drag my own from home;
We left tips for maids a couple of times. Nothing changed from this: flowers and swans were not laid out, sweets were not left; Or we are spoiled, or they; Rather, it's both; Once, even after the tip, they forgot to leave us coffee, then she called and tried to explain to the employees that we needed it, she was afraid that they would not respond, because. the speed of reaction and the attitude to business among the Dominicans are very peculiar, however, they brought everything, even in double size; It pleased.
Well, what else about the room... I read somewhere in the reviews that the beds are terrible... Apparently the guys were not lucky. We had complete order with the beds - new mattresses, smooth surface; . On TV there is one Russian-language channel First. Broadcast to New York. Rest hours stared at Fashion Sentence, Federal Judge, and Let's Get Married; Cool ; Especially mixed with advertising for American Russian speakers.
In the fridge, local beer, cola, soda, sprite. We took practically none of this, so I can’t say anything about replenishing the bar.
No insects were seen. The bathroom is quite shabby, especially the bathroom, but everything works, and it was not planned to lie in other people's baths, but for taking a shower it is more than normal. Towels were changed without any problems.
Territory. Very green and well-groomed, all the time something is cut, cleaned, tinted. There is a train between the hotels. True, on foot from ours, to the farthest Bavaro Casino within 10-12 minutes. But no!! ! Everyone drives hard. we preferred to walk, as the rest is already recumbent.

In Bavaro Casino and Familia DeLuxe (they are located next to each other), we observed several times the queue for breakfast and dinner. There seem to be a lot of residents, but there are not enough places for everyone. I think it’s very unpleasant to stand and wait for a place to become vacant… They couldn’t eat at our hotel, because they are “fours”, but we didn’t go to them, because. stopcreation. The beach is shared by all hotels.
What I didn't like the most was the location of the Familia Deluxe. construction is going on through the fence, the territory itself is very small, the buildings are close to each other and to the pool. As far as I understand, this hotel is for families with children and for children there really is a lot to eat, but in general the picture was not encouraging.
Nutrition. Wow, that's a different song! And this song is great! All the reviews I have read are completely true. The main restaurant of the hotel has a huge selection of meat. I don’t consider myself an active meat-eater, but I checked out some of the dishes. I especially liked cutlets, which are fried right in front of you and a turkey. For breakfast, a large number of egg dishes, you can choose ready-made ones, you can immediately order an omelette or scrambled eggs with different fillers from the chef. Lots of pastries, very decent. Various kinds of sausages, bacon, cheeses. A special woman with you in a blender makes cocktails from fruits that you choose yourself. In the morning, those who wish can treat themselves to a Bloody Mary (it costs both vodka and tomato juice) or champagne. We preferred the second. The tea offered is extremely vile, so they drank coffee in the morning. After such a tomorrow, you can not have lunch; . Which we did a couple of times.
For lunch, it expands with a choice of meat products, seafood, salads, soup are added, and an offer of pasta with various additives appears, I have not tried this, so I can’t say anything. Pastry is replaced by dessert, the choice is great, and ice cream (3-4 types).
Dinner almost completely duplicates lunch, additionally there are pancakes with fruit and rum. Yummy!!! ! I also added ice cream;
For lunch and dinner, they will bring any cocktail, red wine, white wine, champagne, beer, etc....

In addition to the main restaurant, we ate at the Dominican restaurant (behind the Italian restaurant, towards the beach) a couple of times, went there for lunch. By the way, this place has a menu in Russian. I ordered a goat in Creole sauce, very good, and have also been to the Steak House and the Italian restaurant. The Steak House also has a menu in Russian. We took the meat on the "h" I do not remember exactly what it is called, but there is such a sonorous name, something national. We were told that only this option is the best. Indeed, the meat is cool, men took supplements. For dessert we opted for brownies with ice cream. That's what I'll tell you sooooo good! Brownies are really good! And nowhere else from the restaurants do not offer it. Recommended for lovers of chocolate desserts.
The Italian restaurant (next to the pool) has a standard set of pizzas and pastas, grilled seafood deserves attention.
Once we dined at La Brize, a deluxe restaurant, which is on the beach, next to building 2. The assortment offered is no different from our main restaurant, we did not find any differences in food. located closer to the beach and more beautiful inside, that's perhaps the only difference.
At the end of the territory, near building 6, on the shore, there is a restaurant La Pina. We never ate there. also did not find a difference in the proposed dishes. However, some said that the difference is that meat and meatballs are cooked in front of you not on a hot stove, but on fire, on coals, so the taste is better. I have not tried it, but for meat lovers, I think it is worth comparing.
Now about drinks. Dominicans are very abusing salt and sugar. All dishes, for my taste, are on the very verge of salinity, but drinks are generally difficult to drink, they pour syrup mercilessly. also add too much ice. And ice, they say, they make from ordinary tap water. We took cola with ice a couple of times, I want to say that the taste is very specific, we sin precisely on the quality of water for ice. After several experiments with cocktails, we decided to drink clean drinks or mix them to a minimum. So I basically took martinis, martini vodka, Baileys, rum and cola in a bottle. My favorite drink was cappuccino with chocolate + Baileys… Divine!! ! I got coffee in the lobby bar.
As a matter of fact, the lobby bar has a menu that contains the entire list of free drinks and drinks for a fee. The latter include cognacs and expensive wines.

Beach. This is without comment. Amazing. Perhaps this is the main attraction of the Dominican Republic. We got up early, at 6.30-7.00, went to the beach to swim, run and meet the dawn....the first impression that struck me was that the sun rises from the other side; Logically, of course, given that the other hemisphere, but somehow I was not ready for this; . There are no animals in the water, so those who brought masks with them did not use them. I swam in goggles and saw a couple of times sea urchins in algae and small silvery flat fish, that's probably all.
Enough sunbeds, no problem with towels. Palm trees provide natural shade, so you can always crawl into the shade from the sun. We never burned out even though I'm white with freckles. They brought with them 2 creams with factors 50 and 20. Stronger for the first days, weaker for the next. They didn't regret it. However, after 13.00 it is very difficult to stay in the sun, so they crawled into the shade. When there is a strong wind from the sea, the people settle down by the pool. There are umbrellas, but there are very few of them, which is inconvenient.
I liked the fact that our hotel is the last one on the beach. Therefore, looking into the distance, you admire the palm trees and the wild beach, and not the buildings of other hotels. We walked in the other direction, to see how others are resting. IFA is right next to us. Not impressed at all, uncomfortable, palm trees are small and somehow untidy. Then came the more expensive Paradisus hotels and some others…. On the beach, very interesting sunbeds of various shapes were made for them, there are even sunbeds for two at once, there are swing beds. Very impressive. Everything is well-groomed, we went to the territory of Paradisus, the pool is huge and there are sofas in the pool in the shade. Everything's OK. There is only one minus - there are practically no palm trees on the shore, and without them there is a feeling of a desert. We concluded that our beach is much longer and cozier. This is due to the fact that our hotel complex is one of the first hotels formed on this coast. Apparently planted earlier and everything managed to grow faster.
Entertainment. Animation at a very antediluvian level. The Dominicans themselves are lazy people, so they don’t bother and work out for a “C grade” I went to morning exercises on the beach once. It's just ridiculous... absolute primitivism. Lessons of bachchata, salsa or merengue all look like one dance. . . Apparently, the Dominicans believe that foreigners shove even such a primitive version. . . It was disappointing, I expected more.

There is a disco on the territory, it starts working from 23.00. We hardly held on until this time, because. got up early in the morning. One day we decided to go see what kind of disco there is. By 23.00 there were about 3 people. We turned around and left. Then the Russians said that at one in the morning there were about 10-15 people there and only local music was playing.
The Tropicalissimo show takes place twice a week. It is located in the Bavaro Casino 4 * building. I read somewhere in the reviews that this is the level of our district recreation center. I totally agree. The costumes are shabby, the dancers themselves barely move. Apparently this is in the nature of the Dominicans - they do not do anything "excellent", everything is somehow.
There are daily entertainment programs in the hotel itself. They take place from 22.00 to 23.00 and are competitions with the obligatory participation of vacationers. You can see.
By and large, there is nowhere to hang out in the hotel. Entertained themselves
Contingent. The main part of tourists, about 40% are Hispanic. About 40% of English speakers (Canada, USA, England), the remaining 20% ​ ​ of all are little by little - French speakers, Germans, Russians. There are not so many of our compatriots, about 5-7%. We stand out from the crowd, and I don’t even know why, but I see Russians right away and have never made a mistake ; . I must say that the reputation of Russian vacationers, usually negative, has not been confirmed in any way. We were neither heard nor seen. They got drunk at the pool bar, laughed loudly and behaved defiantly, mostly Americans and Spaniards. Several times barely alive Spanish girls were taken by the arms to their rooms. They don't know how to drink, however. In the dining room after lunch or dinner, Spanish or Italian families with numerous offspring left a real garbage dump on the tables... I don’t understand this, it’s disgusting to watch how they eat. Yes, children, but can they be taught to behave properly at the table? ! people don’t bother… they leave behind tablecloths and napkins smeared with sauces.
Excursions were also taken from Tez-Tour. We opted for 3: Santo Domingo, Altos de Chavon + Saona, and Dolphinarium.

Santo Domingo ($90). I read in the reviews that a difficult and long road... I don’t know, for me 3 hours on the bus are absolute trifles. Through the expanses of Siberia, in such a time you will reach the nearest more or less residential town, it will take 7-8 hours to drive to a large city, which has been done repeatedly, so 3 hours in one direction and 3 hours in the other flew by for accustomed people completely unnoticed. We took a trip to Santo Domingo in the VIP format and did not regret it. Firstly, the number of tourists is 3 times less, and this is important: I think there is a difference of 15 people or 45. Secondly, a microbus that travels faster. By the way, about the roads, I read in the reviews about their quality... You know, ours is worse; In any case, the Krasnoyarsk-Abakan highway, which is federal by the way, is 100 times worse in some sections. So everything is more decent with this case. Those bus passengers who are motorists were shocked by driving on the roads of the Dominican Republic. Even a couple of times they turned to the guide with a request to ask the carrier to go slower. I do not understand anything about the rules of the road, so I calmly enjoyed the views from the window. In fact, there are no traffic rules in the Dominican Republic, no one knows them and, accordingly, no one observes them. There is one principle on the road: who is more, he is right. The roads are narrow, even within the city limits. There are practically no traffic lights, except for 3 in the capital. The traffic police are located next to the police stations so that they are under control, because before, when they stood where they wanted, they did what they wanted - they turned into a gang of robbers, as the guide told us, they took from everyone and for everything; The average level of education in the police is 5 classes. Some cannot even spell the name of the detainee correctly. A person with a higher education in the Dominican Republic is a rarity. And so the people are cheerful, they dance and sing all the time. There is no social support from the state, which means no pensions and benefits, provide for yourself as best you can. Here Dominicans breed and multiply, and only 20% of marriages are officially registered in the country. This is an expensive pleasure for them, not everyone can afford it, so they live in a civil marriage. A man can have a permanent wife and several mistresses, whose children they give birth to him recognize as his own and support financially. This is also normal, everyone is calm about it. If there is discord and divorce in the family, and it comes to the division of children, then the mother takes the boys with her, and leaves the girls to the father. It is supposed to be so, because if the mother lives again with a man, then the girls should not tolerate an outside representative of the stronger sex next to them. But in general, as a rule, children stay with their father. And this is absolutely normal, in no way infringing on the rights of women.
Dominicans consider a beautiful woman of impressive size. If a woman is full, then she is healthy and secure. Full ladies emphasize all their advantages as brightly as possible; A very important detail is the butt. They all have this part of the body developed; It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, it doesn't matter how big you are. Even a skinny girl will have a round and plump butt; . I think this is a breath of Negro blood.
Dominican men are very fond of white women. It is believed that a white woman is a rich woman. And many Dominicans dream of marrying such a woman and not working anywhere; Laziness and gaiety are the main features of the Dominican.
Despite the filth reigning around (and the cities are really dirty) and poverty, prices in the Dominican Republic are unreasonably high. India, China, Thailand - it's just a price paradise compared to the DR. The most primitive magnets from 7 bucks. Coffee is much cheaper, however, it is heavier;
So, about excursions to Santo Domingo. We were not lucky with the guide, there was Galina, a former resident of Ukraine, so she has obvious problems with the normal Russian language. A bunch of words of parasites for 6 hours of the story greatly cut the ear. As it turned out later, this guide is not a full-time employee of the Tez-Tour, she was taken for an urgent replacement, we were just unlucky.

The tour itself is interesting. We visited the Three Eyes Cave, in the capital itself, then we were brought to the square to the cathedral, from there we walked on foot to the house of Diego Columbus. Business lunch (buffet) and free time for shopping. All tourists are sent to Columbus Plaza. The main purchases are coffee, cigars, rum, souvenirs, jewelry. Coffee here is by far the cheapest of all outlets that I have seen. And the choice is good. We went to a local supermarket, it is located near Columbus Plaza. If you stand facing him, then turn right and to the nearest street (50 meters), turn left along this street, i. e. we move away from the square and to the nearest intersection, it is on the corner here that their local supermarket is, there is no choice of coffee, but rum can be taken cheaper. There are still a lot of souvenir shops on this street, so I advise you to come here for any souvenir small things. And in Columbus, take cigars and coffee.
Jewelry in the Dominican Republic, in my opinion, is unreasonably expensive, given the handicraft work and a minimum of originality. But this, as they say, the taste and color...
Altos de Chavon + Saona ($120). The city of artists, Altos de Chavon really liked. Some kind of special atmosphere, comfort and intimacy... it’s a pity that they don’t give so much time to rest here, in fact, they galloped across Europe, took a quick photo and went to Saona. Otherwise, I would like to sit in a cafe, drink coffee... A very pleasant place and beautiful photos turned out. After a quick walk around the city, everyone is put on motor boats and we are moving along the Chavon River towards the Caribbean Sea. In the Sea on boats, it throws well, especially those sitting in front; We were unlucky with the weather: clouds swooped in, the wind rose, it rained, the sea became very dark, so in places it was even scary. After some time, we were brought to a natural natural pool in which starfish live. Roughly speaking, this is a shallow place, quite far from the coast, where you can swim and take pictures with the stars. Men dived and got them, and then the women took turns posing. Again, due to the lack of sun, the pictures turned out not as bright as we would like, but still great!
Sailed to about. Saona, there was lunch and free time to take pictures and swim. The sun was shining. The Caribbean Sea is even brighter than the Atlantic Ocean, it's impressive.
The way back was on catamarans, with an open bar and dancing animators. It started to rain again, but we were already under the roof and we didn't care. The sea in bad weather becomes a stunning blue color, very mesmerizing.
I want to brag about the guide from Tez-Tour, who was with us on this tour: Nastya, thank you very much, they told a lot of interesting things!!!
It was already dark when we got back to the hotel, around 20.00.

Dolphinarium ($140). The shortest excursion we have chosen, within 4 hours. They offer 2 check-out times, at 8 am and 10 am. We went at 8.00 am and regretted it, the sun was not high yet, so the photos turned out more in the shade, there was not enough brightness when swimming with dolphins. Therefore, I advise you to go closer to dinner. On the way to the place about 20 minutes from our hotel. Animals include white tiger, fur seals, boas, parrots of different colors and, of course, dolphins. In the park, they give a Russian-speaking guide, she translates the instructions and helps to orientate. We dress rescue. vests, divide into groups of 5-6 people and move to the water. The dolphins carry out commands according to the gestures that we were shown in advance, plus instructors with us in the water. Very impressive and captivating, in general, emotions over the edge! There is no way to take pictures with your own cameras, they just don’t let other photographers into the zone of normal visibility. There are local photographers who then sell the shots for $15 each. Depending on the number of selected pictures, a discount is made. But even for this price you are not guaranteed normal quality. Of the 15 frames that were offered to me, I chose only 2, the rest are generally worthless. True, our group was not lucky with the photographer, he was clearly lazy and simply did not come close enough, so everything is blurry. As I wrote above, Dominicans are very lazy and do not bother even when it comes to their earnings.
After swimming with dolphins, fur seal show. I saw this for the first time, so I was impressed, who had already seen such shows, they said that it was simple, but still only positive emotions.
Present. As a gift to relatives and friends, I carried mainly coffee, as well as cocoa, cinnamon and dry mamajuana. Mamajuana is a local drink made by infusion of roots and healthy herbs in wine and rum with honey, then drunk. Guides will tell you more about how to do it. Mamajuana is sold ready-made in stores, but I didn’t want to drag an extra bottle, so I bought the roots and herbs themselves, and set it to infuse at home. As I wrote above, I was not impressed with larimar jewelry, I don’t wear gold, and silver is poorly processed there and the products look rather rough.
Many take rum, I am an exception in this regard, so I can not give any recommendations.
Connection. For those who care about cellular communication, there is an option to buy a local SIM card. Not far from our hotel there is a shopping center Palma Real, they sell SIM cards with a passport. I didn’t buy it myself, but I heard from the stories of compatriots that they bought and talked without any problems. This mall can be reached on foot (30 minutes) or by taxi for $10. We generally left on a local bus for $1, walking back along the seashore. Palma Real has many souvenir shops, but prices are higher than in the capital. In addition, the swimwear and beachwear shops impressed. Bathing suits are very good, for such money you can not buy such quality from us.
The hotel has Internet, cost $ 4 for 15 minutes, this is in an Internet cafe.
Weather. We went in late January - early February and read that the weather can be very unpleasant... Not at all! It rained a couple of times, but at night, so it didn't bother us. The only thing that was embarrassing was the wind from the sea, as I wrote above, but it was 4 days old. The temperature was around 32, the sea is warmest !!!

Thanks to the Dominican Republic for a pleasant experience! I will not promise a quick return, because. I love to see something new every time! Therefore, if I am brought to the Caribbean, then, Cuba, I will come to you!