lazy river

 It's our second last day in paradise… I'm already stressing about the trip home - will it be snowing when we land? Perhaps. I'll just squint my eyes and imagine that it's sand!

We've fallen into a comfortable routine: drop our stuff at the beach, have breakfast at the restaurant a few steps away before returning to our loungers, then a swim in the pool. Carm pushed me down the lazy river the last two mornings  - it's a bit too much effort for me to swim the whole length, probably about 600 feet, but relaxing on a floaty lets me enjoy the gorgeous tropical surroundings - I wish we had started this last week! Today we did it twice!

Much of the rest of the day we relax by the beach, dipping ourselves in either the ocean or pool, depending on the roughness of the water. I got knocked over by a wave a few days ago which put me off! The red flag has been flying for a few days now!

My main exercise is walking to the bathroom - I drink so much water! And the occasional pina colada (cheers Jo Ellen!). On a good day we'll walk down the beach for about a kilometre round trip. Around 12:30 we have lunch which is usually a hamburger by the beach, but we did have lunch with Jackie and Mike at the beach restaurant once. Rain drove us inside yesterday so we hit up the buffet before returning to our room.

We have a swim in our pool to rinse off the sand, then some days I try to have a nap before getting ready for supper. 

Last night we met with Jackie and Mike at the French restaurant. One of the things we enjoy about travel is meeting new people - we really lucked out this trip!

It's been very relaxing with lots of rest interspersed with gentle exercise so I've been doing well! Especially considering the lousy sleep I've been getting… without my sleep aid I wake up with drenching hot flashes every 2 hours, despite our freezing room… sometimes I'm awake for an hour before falling back to sleep. If it's past 4:30 I usually can't get back to sleep… but since I'm usually asleep before 9pm it's not too bad. 

I have discovered that eating a big meal drains my energy quickly - this morning I had two poached eggs with hash browns, and a pineapple smoothie - ugh! I was so full! My body battery dropped 26 points in just over an hour!

Am I ready to go home? Yes and no! I miss the dogs and Grace but otherwise I could adapt to this life of leisure! I won't miss having a sandy bottom though!

Awesome!

“sand, sun, surf”

good morning

 Good morning! We were a awake early 😀 

raindrops

 This morning we wildly changed up our routine by going to the beach first to get prime seats before going for breakfast! So many options… food first? beach first? Our chairs were under a low palm shelter which gave us good shade right from the beginning, and as it turned out, good cover from the pouring rain!

Yes, it started raining around 1pm, just after we'd finished our lunch… we were 5 minutes from leaving to come back to our room but our timing was off. But hey! We got to experience rain on the beach! We waited for about 20 minutes but there was no sign of it letting up so we bundled all our belongings into bags and under towels and dashed to our room getting soaked to the skin… as we got back to our room the thunder started. 

When we first settled into our chairs at the beach this morning we tried to take a dip in the ocean but the waves were crashing into the shore, threatening to knock us down into the surf, so we hit up the infinity pool which was as close as the ocean where we met Jackie & Mike from Nova Scotia. We've met many many Canadians here. Punta Cana is also known affectionately as Punta Canada as it is a favourite vacation spot for us northerners!

And so the morning went: a dip in the pool, back to the beach, into the pool, into the ocean, and a lovely 1km walk down the beach! Yes! I was able to walk that far without feeling worse! Bare feet on the sand with waves gently whooshing over our feet must be healing 😀 if not physically at least spiritually.

Christina, our new friend from last night, is a nurse and a personal trainer so I capitalized on her expertise to ask about my arm pain that I've been having, despite lots of stretching. She gave me a few pointers and WOW! It's about 70% better! I know what to work on so hopefully I'll be back to normal soon!

Time flew by this afternoon as we anxiously awaited for 4pm… why you ask? Well, we both had our first ever massages! Bliss! I could feel every knot and tight muscle being released… it was perhaps the quickest 50 minutes ever… too bad air travel didn't pass so quickly and easily… but I digress. I'll investigate options in our neighbourhood once we are home!

We were limp but hungry afterwards so we popped into the bar near the beach for a gin & tonic, then to the Mexican restaurant for supper. There's just too much food! I haven't had room for dessert yet! Not that I'm trying to avoid it. I find that by the end of the day, my energy is flagging which drops my appetite down too, although honestly, having an appetizer and then a main course is enough!

Awesome!

“cosy in our room with the sound of rain pouring down”

“walking on the beach”