MSU played in a sweet sixteen game at 10:00 p.m., which meant that by the time the game got over, we had an hour and a half of time to sleep before we left for the airport at 2:00 a.m. We did it! We flew Grand Rapids > Orlando > Punta Cana. I thought it might be super busy due to spring break and TSA, but we didn’t have any long waits or problems. We even laughed because Max and Kris got extra legroom and special snacks in their seats, while I was slumming it in the back – and I’m the one that got all our tickets! This was the first time we’ve flown Southwest with their new seating system and it’s much better, even without extra snacks.
This is Max’s first country other than Canada, and so I prepared him for what it’s like when you get to the airport in many places - a crowd of people aggressively offering you a ride with their company. It’s helpful to have the transportation ahead of time so you have either already paid or know what it’s going to cost before getting into a van with a company you’ve never heard of before. We had booked with Amstar, so we found a representative and went the 30 minutes to Ocean El Faro, our all-inclusive resort.
We were a tagalong on this senior spring break trip, which expanded to siblings and siblings’ friends. Fourteen St Johns families went, totaling 49 people!
We checked into our room and immediately went to the beach. It was hot and sunny, and the water felt good. We met up with the Uptons for dinner at the Mexican restaurant, then with the Halleads, and then the whole group. I finished the day with a gelato stand that is open a crazy amount of hours, and ate there once or twice a day the entire trip. They had funny topping options, like hard candy in wrappers and raisins, but ice cream is perfect just the way it is.
Day two
I ran off the resort to the right, and as soon as you leave the beach it was just wilderness. No houses, no roads, just the beach and a single file path through really dense foliage, including cactus, and blooming flowers. Kris and I then walked to the left, where there was a path along the beach to the next resort about a mile away. We also saw mountains and grazing cattle – right next to the hotel! There was also lots of trash off the resort – both trash that had been washed up or thrown out. The resort beach was pristine.
We had to schedule our transportation back with Amstar in the lobby, where we quickly realized it was a sales pitch for buying excursions. He wanted to know who our leader was, and I said I didn’t know, but it definitely wasn’t me.
We went to the buffet restaurant, where I had a different fruit each day – passion fruit, papaya, guanabana (just like the restaurant name in Jupiter), and more. We checked out the hammocks, then played bocce ball on the beach with the Uptons and Halleads. We went in the lazy river, and then we went to the pool with the big group and enjoyed hanging out with everyone all afternoon. Some of the guys went fishing and caught fish, and they wanted a resort restaurant to cook it for them. This extended on for days, with the guys getting more and more creative in finding someone to make it. They offered people money, riches, fame, and no takers. It was being kept in a bathtub full of ice the entire time. Matt ended up giving it to a man on the beach to take home and cook so it wouldn’t go to waste!
That night we ate at Route 66, a diner, with the Halleads and Uptons. Chris Hallead was eating macaroni and cheese and didn’t like it. I joked that he was still eating it, and he said there were just too many good memories with mac and cheese, and his brain just wouldn’t accept that it could look so good and taste bad. We also gloried in the Duke basketball loss here!
We met up with a bunch of our friends and sang karaoke at their outdoor entertainment. Many of us sang and we all had fun!
Day three
We ran and walked both directions again, and then checked out a tennis tournament the resort was hosting. We met up with the group at the beach and spent the morning on the beach (mostly) and in the water (a little – huge waves.) They had tiki huts for shade, a swing with the hotel name on it, a volleyball court where the kids played. We headed back to the lazy river and pool.
A woman from our group (Sue) told me I was famous in the lobby, and she explained that the transportation company was pressing her for the name of a leader. Was it Carla? Was it Andrea? It turned out that they were trying to get “the leader” to change our excursion booking to their company instead of what we had, so they were looking for the decision-maker, but no one would point any fingers!
We met up with the entire group at the hibachi grill for dinner. Max had never been to one before, and it was entertaining as these places usually are. We bowled in the bowling alley, where Andrea blamed the curvature of the earth on our poor scores, and then we saw a show with a magician that may actually have been magic – I don’t understand how they do it, and I’ll never look it up!
Day four
We ran, walked, and watched some good tennis at the tourney.
We gathered in the lobby to take our transportation to our excursion. Andrea said they were being really weird about it, and she had to take a copy of the drivers’ licenses and the paperwork to the lobby that morning to allow them in the driveway.
“Andrea, if you show up they’re going to know who the leader is,” I said.
“That’s when I’ll reveal myself – It was me all along!" she said. "And twirl around, maybe in a cape.”
So, Andrea announced to the 47 of us going, “St Johns group! Let’s go!” And we walked out of the hotel to see…two giant open-air vehicles!
We piled in for a crazy ride. We were on a highway, and everyone was driving and weaving as fast as humanly possible. There were lots of mopeds. We could see the vehicle in front of us, and they turned down a drive that was so steep, we all gasped. Our driver went down a different one. Then we turned into a tiny street with clearance so small, you would trap your arm between vehicles. I saw someone reach out and pat another car. Sometimes we were between a car and two cement walls, speeding as fast as the driver could go. It was dicey.
Suddenly, we were stopped in a place that was too narrow to continue.
There was a garbage truck parked on the side of the street, and a man was using a snow shovel to lift trash into the truck.
We waited awhile, but it was obvious we couldn't pass. Our driver got out and talked to some drivers, but no luck. Then the driver of the first open air vehicle got out, and they talked. Our driver got mad, and they both went into a boxing stance and started fighting!
“They’re fighting!” I yelled to the people in the back.
My adrenaline shot up, and I thought shoot, now there's going to be trouble. In a foreign country.
But nope! They were just joking. They laughed and returned to their vehicles.
“Everyone out!” our driver said. “You'll walk from here.”
We wove our way past the garbage truck and through the traffic. I didn't see it, but Jill told me Bryce, one of seniors, had just been clipped by a car. She said the little old woman hit him in the leg while he was walking, he put his hands on the hood of the car to make it less of a jolt, and she looked really annoyed at him for being in the street. Bryce was thankfully unhurt!
We walked a few more steps, and suddenly it opened up to the beautiful blue of the Caribbean, with tons of boats and tons of people waiting to get on them.
We were handed over to our tour operator, a man named Louis, and we got onto a big, two story boat. (See how nautical I am? I’m sure two-story boat is exactly what they call them.) He seemed kind of harried and treated us like elementary school students who weren’t listening to a teacher. He and his crew piloted us along the coast to a place we could snorkel.
The water was so blue and so beautiful. Jill said, “This water is why I got married here.” We all understood – gorgeous.
We put on little lifebelts and snorkels and went into the water. Kate took a really nice picture of us. It was kind of cloudy, but by the reef we saw lots of fish. I was kind of wishing they would chum the water, and then I saw our guide had a bag of Tostitos he was crumbing in his hands to attract fish. Max, Kris, and I went over by him and there were lots of fish! Max touched one, and I tried to, but pulled my hand away at the last second. There were a few different kinds, and we snorkeled around looking at them for awhile, until the bag of chips was gone.
We got back onto the boat and went down the slide that went into the water. The second group of people snorkeled. Then when everyone was back on the boat, they offered chips and cheese - the same chips they were feeding the fish! We’re not so different.
They piloted to a gorgeous beach. Just picture perfect blue water, white sand, green palm trees. The photographers on the boat pulled Kris, Max, and me aside and said he would take our pictures and I could buy them later. I knew I wasn’t going to buy them, but I thought posing for a couple would be polite.
“Hold hands, all together,” he said.
We reluctantly all held hands.
“Now, jump on three,” he said.
We obeyed.
“Okay, that’s enough,” I said, as Max made his escape.
“Just the two of you!” he said.
Chances of me purchasing pictures of Kris and me posing together in bathing suits was slim to none, but I politely stood there for a few.
He positioned us in what I refer to as the prom pose, where Kris stands behind me and we clasp hands.
“Now put your arm up behind his head,” he said.
“I can’t do it,” I said, laughing at how ridiculous it was. “We’re good.”
He went off to find other polite couples. We then watched and laughed as he positioned people in what can only be referred to as J.C. Penney poses. For instance, he had Chris Hallead lie on the ground, and then Andrea was propped up behind him, as if she were peeking over his torso. He had Samantha jump onto Bryson’s back and both of them held their arms out like they were pretending to be airplanes.
We swam in the warm water and hung out on the beach for awhile. Guys threw footballs, and we had a nice time. Too soon, it was time to go. But we knew…we had the adventure of the trip home to look forward to!
We got into our waiting vehicles, and this time I was on the leading vehicle instead of the following. Again, it was a tight squeeze through the town, as we passed a lot of barbed wire and walls.
BANG!
We turned around to look at the vehicle behind us.
Max texted me from that vehicle – “We just hit a car.”
Oh no, I thought. This will not be good.
A guy looked at it for one second, and then the driver started up again!
Almost immediately, Heidi and I ducked because a tree branch whipped through the window. We both got out of the way, and Kris magically had one of the leaves from the branch in his hand! He held it up like a trophy.
We made it through the city and got on the highway. It was bumpy, windy, and wild.
“I feel like I’m on a roller coaster!” Jessica yelled behind me.
On one of the turns, we saw that an accident had just recently happened. There was an overturned gravel truck, and I wanted to take a picture, but there was a man standing there holding a rifle looking at us.
My rule is not to take pictures of people holding rifles when you’re in an open air vehicle. I didn’t have that rule until that second, but it seemed right.
We made it back to our hotel sunburnt, happy, and in one piece.
We had an hour until our dinner reservations, so we got ready and met the Halleads and Uptons at the steak house. The naming conventions at this resort were so clear! The restaurant’s name is: Steak House.
Kris started laughing as soon as we walked toward the door.
“What?” I said.
“Look at that!” he said, gesturing to the giant statue in the middle of the restaurant. “It’s a steak house, and that statue is of a dairy cow - complete with an udder!”
Sure enough, a black and white Holstein with a pink udder greeted us.
We laughed. You KNOW it’s going to be good steak when they feature a dairy cow.
We hung out with the big group, and then we all went dancing – one of my favorite things to do.
Day five
I got up early and ran one more time. I was looking toward the mountains and saw a rainbow. What a fitting end to my time here.
We ate at the breakfast buffet, which I loved every single time, and met up with our transportation van at 9:30 a.m. Since it was an international flight, we had to check in at the airport. Amstar chose the time based on our flight time, and this gave us lots of leeway.
Instead of going straight to the airport, we went to another resort and we realized we were in a shared transportation van. He parked, got out, and we sat in the van for 20 minutes waiting for people. I was getting increasingly impatient, since I knew we were going to have to wait in line at the airport to get checked in. Finally, everyone came, and they were crude and smelled strongly, and I wondered why we didn’t get our own transportation. By the time we got to the airport, we had been in the van for an hour and a half.
But! The airport was incredibly organized, everyone was so helpful, and there were very short lines. We made it through everything in less than 30 minutes.
We had a four hour layover in Orlando, and our time through customs and TSA was incredibly quick. We spent an hour eating at Cask & Larder, and then we went to our gate, which required taking two trains. Good thing we had four hours.
When we arrived, a man came on the speaker and said that we could see the shuttle launch from the windows! It was the Artemis II, the trip with four astronauts about to orbit the moon. We had just been talking about it but didn’t consider we’d be able to see it from the airport!
Everyone moved to the windows and many people had the audio from NASA playing on their phones. Then – a collective cry from the crowd! Everyone pointed! There it was – the rocket! We all watched it as far until it disappeared into the clouds, and everyone applauded. What a surprise treat!
We flew home, made it home by 1:00 a.m., and slept in our own beds.
This trip was great because of the fun (and funny) people, the different experiences, the beauty, the weather, and the adventure. Max had lots of firsts, and he liked them all. Ty and Cole each got to go on their own spring breaks, so I didn’t feel like they were missing out, but if I’m going to purchase a picture of us holding hands and jumping…it’s going to be of all five of us.
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