Monkeys & Maria's House

As mentioned in my first post of my recent trip to the Dominican Republic, the trip was free. My husband won this trip at his job due to his performance through out the year. Part of the complete package included two activities, we were given the options to choose from Zip lining, visiting an island, monkey experience, a dolphin experience, snorkeling, and one more but I can't think of it right now. We choose the monkey and dolphin experience.  Our first activity was the monkey experience. I was so busy with work that I never really had time to research the monkey experience and really know what the experience consisted of. Well when I arrived I was informed that we would be visiting a monkey sanctuary where we would be able to feed and touch monkeys. Needless to say, I was a little scared!

View from the monkey exposure

I was scared of a monkey attacking or biting us, these our wild animals after all. I was nervous of how it would feel to have a monkey actually touch my skin. I'm just a big scaredy cat!   After a 45 minute ride we arrived at the monkey sanctuary and it was like we were in the jungle!  I held it together and made my way into the sanctuary. It was so beautiful and green! Oh it was super duper HUMID!

As soon as we walked in, monkeys started to come out of the trees and before you know it they were on top of our heads, backs,shoulders and arms. We were given small bowls with fruits and seeds to feed the monkeys. We didn't really reach out to touch the monkeys but rather let the monkeys come up to us. I felt so nervous and tense that I didn't really take many pictures. My husband was so entertained with the monkeys the he also didn't take any pictures of me with a monkey on my head.  After a few monkeys jumping on me I was finally able to relax a little and take these pictures. I was literally scared for nothing, these are 2 lb monkeys that are just looking for a piece of banana from each bowl.

The actual time with the monkeys was very short, probably 25-30 minutes. Once we were done with the monkeys they loaded us back on a bus and drove us to our next destination.

The view outside of Maria's house.

We were taken to a typical house to see how locals live. It's hard to pick a highlight from my trip because there were so many, but I gotta say, visiting this home was up there. The house is small, bright pink and very humble but in paradise.  The owner of this house is Maria who is married with grown children and grandchildren. The house is surrounded by lush green trees, coffee trees, cinnamon trees, cacao trees, and beautiful plants and flowers. They brought us to this house so we can see how natives use their land to grow a variety of resources that they can consume or sell for income.

This photo was taken from a speeding van.

coffee beans

Maria's daughter

Roasted coffee beans

Cacao

The inside of the cacao.

While we were at Maria's house they showed us how they grow coffee beans, roast and grind coffee.  They let us taste the cacao, which has a fruity taste to it. It was such a cool experience. They also let us taste Cacao Cinnamon tea, which is made at Maria's house as well. At the end of the visit they sell you some of the products that they produce. We bought some of the delicious cacao tea. Its like a smooth chocolate tea!

Driving away from Maria's house.

If you will be visiting Punta Cana and are interested in these activities, I've linked some of the sites where you can learn a little more about them.

*Monkey Experience
Casa Maria

I'm not done with Punta Cana, so come back soon for more. 

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

This photo was taken from a speeding van.

You guys, I traveled outside of the United States and it wasn't to Mexico! Through out my life I've only traveled within the United States and Mexico. My parents are from Mexico and its our neighboring country. I went to the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana to be exact. I'll be honest, I never ever planned or desired to visit this country. For starters the flight is more than 5 hours. The max I've flown is 5 hours and as I've mentioned before I have a huge fear of flying. Fear can really hold you back, but that's a story for another day. I knew very little about the Dominican Republic and honestly never considered this a vacation destination. Boy, was I ignorant!

So you're probably wondering how and why did you end up in the Dominican Republic? I'll tell you. My husband worked really hard all year and as a reward, his company rewarded him with a free trip to Punta Cana! All expenses paid!!!!!!! I feel like this post is going to have a lot of exclamation marks! I apologize in advance.

We stayed at the Secrets Royal Beach Resort which has access to an adjacent resort called Now Larimar. Both resorts are so beautiful! The hallways are lined with beautiful arches and decorative patio furniture where you can sit and relax at your pleasure.

Private beach access with wait service at your disposal and if you weren't really feeling the ocean you can hop on over to the pool. I should mention the pool has a swim up bar! 

I've stayed at all inclusive resorts where you get to indulge in unlimited food at buffets within the resort and while yes it is unlimited, the food is usually very bland and or average.  This resort is not like that at all. The food was so good. We had rib eye, rack of lamb, filet mignon, oysters, burgers, and shrimp to name a few. I've never eaten so much meat in my life.  That's not a sentence I'm proud of but its the truth. The resort did not limit you to only eating at the buffet, we had the option of 24 hour room service and  restaurants that made you feel like you were at a 5 star restaurant.    

This little boat was filled with oysters, by the time I snapped this photo more than half were taken by guest!

Okay, let's move on. I mentioned that the resort has a beach access, right? Agh! The beach! The beach was so beautiful, with its white soft sand that when the water washed up to shore it reminded me of horchata! I know its crazy and silly, but it did! 

Swimming in the pacific ocean for my entire life, I naturally eased my way into the water thinking it was going to be ice cold like it is here in the west coast. I was wrong it was lukewarm!! 

view from the ocean towards the resort. 

On a small corner of the resort, there is a booth where you can sign up for kayaking, snorkeling, windsurfing and para sailing. Can you believe that some of these activities were also free? talk about all inclusive!  Right of the bat, the first thing you notice is the para sailing because of the huge air balloons or parachutes that are passing you by. As soon as we saw this my husband was determined to do the para sailing and insisted I join him. Remember that fear of mine of flying, well this one time it held me back. I couldn't do it!! It really did look like a lot of fun and something I would remember for the rest of my life but I just couldn't do it. 

While my fear has held me back from some stuff throughout my life I never let it hold my husband back. I insisted he should do the para sailing without me and he did. While he was flying high I stayed on the beach and enjoyed the sun

I know this post was mainly about the resort but I felt like I should dedicate a post to it because it was truly a beautiful and relaxing place to stay at. I will be posting more on my trip and hope you will come back and visit. 

p.s. This post contains photographs taken with my cell phone and Nikon DSLR camera. 

TBT: New York

 

 Ever since I've known my husband the only place he's ever wanted to visit was New York city. So the second big vacation my husband and I took as a married couple was to New York city. I had gone to New York prior to getting married with my sister and friends and it was a cool experience but very tiring. I guess as an Angeleno I wasn't used to all the walking. Nobody walks in LA! Anyways, in today's TBT post I wanted to share some pictures of the trip my husband and I made to New York. These photos were taken with a basic Cannon camera.

 

To see previous TBT posts click here.

 

Butterfly Wonderland

I was on vacation this past week, for this vacation we decided to do a family vacation. Our destination was the Grand Canyon, in Arizona. My husband, mom, sister and myself all headed to Scottsdale first. My mother's brother lives in Scottsdale so we figured we'd make a stop there for two days and then continue on our journey.

Our stay in Scottsdale was short, two nights only. We mainly hung out at my uncles house by the pool, went to a few consignment shops for a light shopping and went to the Butterfly Wonderland! You guys, I've never seen so many beautiful butterflies in my life! I honestly didn't think there were so many varieties. So if you like butterflies or even if you don't like butterflies I think you will enjoy this post.

 The colors, sizes, and patterns are all so beautiful. I honestly don't know which one is my favorite. Do you have a favorite? Let me know in the comments section. If you find yourself in Scottsdale you should check out the Butterfly Wonderland, its small but very informative and beautiful. I'm sharing a link to the Butterfly Wonderland website here.

I'll be sharing more of my vacation this week so I hope you come back.