October 18th, 2015:
Sosua, Dominican Republic

Holy moly! Last night was definitely our drinking night... After dinner, our awesome waiter just kept on bringing us different drink specials to try! We honestly went through so many different drinks... Tevin found a couple that he really liked (surprisingly) and I just drank everything that he didn't want. Actually, I pretty much drank everything that everyone didn't want. Including a couple.... or maybe a few.... tequila shots... Janie was in the same boat... We we just hammered by the time 10:00 pm rolled around. I unfortunately have a couple videos of that... and NO, they will not make it into the GoPro video album... We soon learned that Dominican drinks are like 80% alcohol, 20% juice/other stuff... We also learned that happy hour is every hour in the Dominican! Our waiter was the best guy ever. We tipped him like crazy!

BUT YEAH! It was fun! I don't think Tevin ended up actually getting drunk, but he came pretty close! (It's a big deal because he's never been able to get drunk before. Which is just another reason why I love him so much... He has no desire to drink, and I only do it... Well... When I'm on vacation I guess. So we get along really well because of that.)

Today! We woke up, had some breakfast, swam in the pool, complained about yet another problem with one of our rooms, and headed out to the Sosua Beach to shop some more, and to find a place to try paddle boarding. We had seen an advertisement for $20/hour to rent a paddle board. Sure enough, we found a place near the beginning of the beach. It took a little while for them to get ready, since apparently the shop isn't usually open on Sundays. They we making a special exception for us since there was 5 of us. (Christian wanted to sit on the beach watching us and reading a book.) We got to use these brand new paddle boards. They were beautiful. The water and the sand was even more beautiful, though. I can barely do it justice with only words. Luckily I had my GoPro with me! And this time, Cayly offered to wear it on her head so that I could be in a couple shots! :) How awesome is that? I never get to be in front of the camera, so it was really nice of her to offer to film for me!

Anyway, we got the hang of it pretty easily. The boards were pretty sturdy and easy to maneuver. Like I said, the water was crystal clear here. So it felt like we were gliding over glass... The water was really tame, too, so we could basically see the ocean floor from our boards.

At one point during out little outing, a guy and his kid came paddling up to us in this tiny little kayak-looking thing. He explained to us that on the opposite side of the beach, by the rocks, were crabs?? I could barely understand him since he mainly only spoke Spanish, but we went over to the rocks anyway. Sure enough, there were tons of little crabs crawling up the side of the rock! I don't think the GoPro captured it, but all of them were sneaking up the wall at once! It looked like the rock was moving! It was kind of creepy, actually. I made sure not to fall off my board at that point!!!

We paddled back, and about half way, I noticed a bunch of little leaves blowing around me. It was very strange. I thought nothing of it at first, but then I realized that there wasn't enough of a breeze for leaves to be blowing around us... Then, I realized that it wasn't leaves at all... It was a bunch of tiny little BUTTERFLIES! It was so magical! It was just strange that THAT many butterflies were flying around us that far off the shore! It was beautiful. With the bright blue water, the white sand, and the butterflies... It made for the perfect moment. I loved it.

When we got back to shore, we decided to come back to the hotel for snack time and pool time. It was so hot out at this point, I felt like I was melting! (Not complaining, but this place is literally the hottest, most humid place I've ever been to! It feels like +40 degrees all the time!) So we ate chips with cheese sauce, pizza slices, french fries, and drank a whole bunch of water! Then we went to the pool to cool off a little while Christian and Janie went to change their room. I can't remember if I wrote about this already or not, but the door on their old room was so broken that it wouldn't even latch closed. It was so unsafe and insecure... Anyone could enter their room at anytime, even without a key. A toddler could have leaned on it and it would have opened. It was horrible. Not to mention that their A/C wouldn't work and their room wreaked of cigarette smoke... On top of all that, Cayly's room STILL doesn't have a bathroom door handle! We're definitely planning on saying something about it...

After the sun started setting, we got cleaned up and went to the buffet for supper. Yes, it was all the same old food. I can't wait to have a delicious Canadian home-cooked meal.

When supper was over, we brought out the board games and started playing "The Resistance." It's a pretty fun game that has to do with secret spies and winning missions. Christian was already in bed at this point, and Cayly, Jesse, and Janie soon joined them. Since Tev and I weren't even tired, we decided to go exploring around the resort at night time. We wanted to kill an hour until midnight. We had heard rumours of a second snack time buffet that opens at midnight on the other side of the resort.

After walking around for a little bit, we found ourselves at the jacuzzis by the ocean. The bubbles weren't on, so we assumed they were closed... But there wasn't a gate around them or anything..? And there wasn't much else to do to kill an hour! So we snuck in and went for a night time swim! It was fun, peaceful, and scary all at the same time! We sat in the jacuzzi, trying to keep the water as still as possible... It was almost like a challenge. A couple resort employees walked right past us. I SWEAR they looked straight at me, but it was pretty dark, so maybe we just blended into the background... After a security guard walked by with a flashlight, we decided it was time to leave... Even though he didn't see us, it was too close of a call to stay!

We sneakily got out of the jacuzzi and walked all the way back to the buffet to see if the food was ready. Unfortunately, THERE WAS NO FOOD! We were told lies!!! Well, actually, it's probably because it's a Sunday night. I think they only do the midnight snack time on weekends.

Discouraged, we went up to the room and pigged out on the chips and chocolate we had bought at the supermarket a couple days earlier. It was just as satisfying- if not more satisfying- than the snack buffet would have been!

Now I'm just writing this blog entry... I'm getting pretty tired so I guess it's time to go! I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Talk to everyone soon!

Love always,
Lindsay