Two Weeks in Breezes POP

Well, Cris and I just returned (Dec 22) from 2 weeks in Breezes (AI) POP. Anyone complaining about this resort could be likened to "Lovey" and Mr. Thurston Howell. It was excellent! The food - variety, quality, presentation, was great! The staff - friendly and helpfull. The pool - clean, with waterfalls, planted arches, water slides, "trenches" to swim to different open areas (perhaps a little deep overall for younger kids, but there's a separate shallower pool for them too!), water volleyball, lots of lounge chairs and shady areas to escape the sun, a swim-up/walk-up bar... overall an exceptional pool area. The evening shows were very well done. Obviously the talent is not equal to Hollywood or NewYork, but they sing and dance their hearts out, and they work their asses off to entertain ... and it's definitely worth your applause.
The beach is excellent... brown sugar sand, clean with lots of beach chairs and shade. The beach bar is open 24/7 with food available also, although the menu never varies here. (except when it's Tex-Mex night)
We upgraded to a 'Superior' room which has a separate area with a sofa (pull-out bed), an armchair, TV & fridge. The kingsize beds are kingsize mattresses on plywood bases (no boxspring) which has since made me wonder.... why the hell do we spend all that money on boxsprings????? These rooms seem to be corner rooms with larger than normal balconies. We had origianlly requested a pool or ocean view. The room we were given had a pool view - if you brought binoculars! So I went back to the front desk and basically indicated to them that I was going to stand there all night until they gave us the room we had paid for. I was promised a pool-view room by 2pm the following day. And Jaqueline (at the front desk) came through swimmingly! We got a great pool-side room with a fabulous view!
Overall I would recommend Breezes POP, for the things stated, but also because of it's location. Half way between Sosua and Cabarete (with 3 free shuttles daily going to and returning, and being close to Puerto Plata.
I managed to get 3 scuba dives in at Sosua which was great! And met a wonderful Canadian couple (from my hometown Vancouver) who own/run 'CheckPoint', a sandwich bar near the busstop in Sosua (if you go there, please say "Hi" to them from 'the Canadians who brought $5 for the bus driver". They'll know what you mean. These were great people and she makes a fantastic chicken salad sandwich!!
While in Sosua we walked to the 'Escuela Publico', and were escorted to one of the classrooms, (30 kids in a semi-dark room - very hot for me who sweated profusely!! but they seemed comfortable enough), all dressed in uniform... so cute!!!! We brought boxes of pencils, crayons, glue-sticks, pencil sharpeners, felt pens and colouring books for the kids. It was one of the highlights of our vacation! All the kids wanted to 'high-five' us as we left. It was great!
Walking the streets of Sosua and Cabarete is very different from walking the streets of Santiago. In tourist towns like Sosua and Cabarete, you walk along the street passing shops and restaurants, and you are constantly 'invited' to come in and see what they have. If you do not want to go in, you simply have to smile and say a polite, "No, gracias, senor." And 99% of the time they will leave you alone. The other 1% of the time, you have to say a polite, "NO, GRACIAS, SENOR." I never found it necessary to be rude... as a matter of fact, I often joked with the more persistant vendors and told them they were, "muy bueno vendador!" (very good salesman), they smiled and backed off. One "muy bueno vendador" said to me, "You are Canadian, no?"
I replied that I was, and how did he know? He replied, "Because you are so polite!"
This was a huge, huge compliment to me.
Santiago:
There are, in a person's life, times which can only be described as "turning points" or "milestones". These are times when a person looks back and says, "I'm a better person because of that experience."
This happened to me in Santiago.
Hillbilly (Luis) and his lovely wife Asunci?n, invited us to come stay overnight with them in their home in Santiago, and to join them in a party, Asunci?n
was throwing for the Mathematics Dept of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre Y Maestra, at their home. Cris and I were delighted, to say the least!
Hillbilly and his wife opened their home to us, and introduced us to their family, friends and co-workers, and I can never express how grateful I am for this honour. And it's here that I experienced a milestone in my life.
That evening Cris and I were sitting in a large living room/dining room area where chairs had been placed in a large circle. And seated in those chairs were professors, mathmaticians, statisticians, the Dean of the Universidad, a politician, and people of academia that I had only read about in books that I had barely undersood. I looked around that room, and I found myself in a position that I had never, ever thought I would be in.
I am a white anglo-saxon protestant, born in England, who emmigrated to Canada in 1957. I dropped out of highschool before finishing grade 10, but have since returned to night-school to get sufficient credits to graduate high-school. Since then I have educated myself sufficiently to enjoy reasonably well-paying jobs. I now consider myself a reasonably well-informed, well-educated professional, who is open-minded, who is receptive to new ideas, who is resistant to blind prejudice and stringently opposed to unfounded bias.
But, then I look around that room..... and my eyes tell me I am looking at "blacks and hispanics"! I see an elderly black man sitting across the room from me, who "appears" to my eyes "an old black man", but in fact is a retired Mathmatics Professor of the Universidad! To my left sits a 'Hispanic' woman, who is in fact Dean of the Universidad! And her husband a polititian!
It suddenly occured to me that my "exposure" to 'blacks and hispanics' has so far only been via the media, and that my so-called 'understanding' of them has been influenced by the media, and not by my own experiences.
It is the first time in my life that I have felt what so many others must have felt .... I found myself in a situation where I was a minority, I was the least educated person amoungst them, and I lacked the language skills to communicate with them.
I was a "dego", but... Luis and Asunci?n's guests were the epitome of graciousness. Each and everyone of them made Cris and I feel perfectly at home; at no time did we ever feel unwelcome; and everyone we tried to communicate with, made a valient effort to befriend us.
Their gift to us is that Cris and I will, in turn, make every effort to reach out to foreign visitors in our own hometown.
Luis drove us around Santiago and showed us a smidgen of real life in Santiago. I say a smidgen because what we saw was through the windshield of his car as we drove through the streets of Santiago. What I hope for, is that next year when we return, Cris and I (who will be studying Spanish like crazy) will be better able to communicate with the people, and get a real understanding, or as much as possible, of Dominican life. This visit reinforced our desire to return to DR and make it our home one day. Cris and I want to contribute to DR, and we want the kind of lifestyle DR has to offer in return.
My only regret is that we didn't manage to meet Bushbay and Planner while we were there. The combination of the weather, car mechanical troubles and Montezuma's Revenge made it impossible..... but for sure, next time!
I'll post pics of our vacation.
Thank you, Dominican Republic, we love you!
Keith&Cris

Escott...

Grahame is correct. I did not mean to imply any lack of communication skills on the part of Luis' guests. The "lack" is solely mine. They were all gracious and did endeavor to include Cris and me. At no time did we ever feel exluded, other than as a result of my own inability to communicate in 'my host's' own language. But that will be corrected by our next visit!
Yo promesa!
Victor and I managed to agree to email each other on a regular basis - he to help me learn Spanish, and me to help him learn English! :nervous:

BushBaby said:

As Hluwud has already said Keith - an EXCELLENT post.

Having sat in that room on MANY ocassions, I could picture all that you were writing & know WELL the hospitality of The Great Curmudgeon & his wife. I note you didn't mention the lack of English of Luis's guests - just your inability to communicate 'In Spanish' to them. Most of whom I have met in that house DO speak fairly good English, make the effort to involve you in their group & show the friendship you speak of, BUT (as we all know) it is impolite to exclude their NON-English speaking friends in the group & so lapse back into their native tongue so as to involve them too. I suspect THAT is where you wished you had more Spanish - to interchange with ALL rather than just the English speaking ones? I commend you on your desires to become more "Intergrated". I suffer the same feelings at times when the Spanish speakers rattle on at 150 mph Spanish & I can only pick up 20 or 30 words in a two way battle of words between educated people - I feel I am missing a LOT by not being confident enough in my Spanish to 'yell back' at them in their animated discussions!!

Sorry to have missed you too but as you say .......... next time. As there WILL be a next time, we look forward to making your aquaintence then. ~ Grahame.

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Luis, you have "hit the nail on the head"!
In western Canada, I can go all year and perhaps bump into one black person, and two Latinos. On the other hand, we have a large population of East Indians, Asians, and native 'indians'.
And because of my experience at your home, I have resolved to make an effort to better understand and appreciate these people and who they are.
Thanks again!
Keith&Cris

Hillbilly said:

was when I introduced the Academic Vice Rectorr to Cris and Keith, and said: "They're from Vancouver." Her eyes sparkled and she said: "Oh, Vancouver, I go there a lot!" I thought their jaws would not go back up..

And I think Keith is being a little modest. He spent almost the entire evening talking to people and taking pictures...The "Victor" mentioned was a former PRD official, retired, more or less, since August. And, of course, they all spoke some sort of English, some had done their advanced degrees in Canada and others in the states.

I think the point that Keith was trying to make was that there is, in many people's lives, a limited exposure to such an initmate and wildly different group of people. Sure in New York, like Escott says, you can meet ten nationalities in ten blocks, but most folks in other parts don't have that oportunity. From what I understand, in Western Canada the Latino and Black minorities are very minor. Asians are a more dominant group. So, to me, at least, Keith's feelings rang very true, and I truly appreciate the kind words and sincerity.

A Merry Christmas to all!


HB from the Hovel.

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Thank you.

"Please tell him that his "brother" Scottie told you about his school. He would love to share his wonderful school and students from grades K-12 with you!"

DominicanScottie: Thank you for this, I'll make sure we get to POP and visit this school.

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"Next time we will get together regardless of what goes wrong!!!
Ps. by the way, did you get my 2 messages at your hotel??? I will PM you later....."

Planner: Absolutely, for sure next time! And we did get your messages, thank you.

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"I plan to see HB and his family, (as well as hopefully Planner - she and I met in Calgary) and am looking forward to this honour, as well. I've only met him once, but he sure leaves an impression on you."

Trina: He certainly does! They both do!