Yesterday we took our friends Matt & Emma to Niagara Falls. They are in Toronto on vacation from their home in Portsmouth, England. This is their first trip to Canada, and first time seeing Niagara Falls. I don’t remember my first trip to Niagara Falls, but being there with them on their first trip was refreshing. I think we take The Falls for granted, and forget how wondrous it really is.
I’m trying out the new .mac web gallery:Â http://gallery.mac.com/chrisandleah
Archive for the 'Travel' Category
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This weekend we headed to Kingston. On Friday, after making a quick, traffic free exit from Toronto, we got stuck in a long back-up on the 401 eastbound near Grafton. After 45 minutes of bumper-to-bumper traffic, and a fun detour through a golf course (ask me for details if you want them) we were home in Kingston. On Saturday morning we took my Mom up to Ottawa to visit Adam and Elizabeth and check out their new home.
It’s a great place, and I really wish that homes like theirs were being built, at Ottawa prices, in our neighbourhood of Toronto!
On Sunday we visited with Carol – who is making incredible progress in her recovery from here stroke – and then hit the road.
We are definitely going to have to have some people over for a tasting party!
Our time in Prince Edward Country was capped off with ice cream cones from the Black River Cheese Company. A perfect ending to a perfect day!
Another year of Le Tour De France has come and gone, and I have to show for it is a larger depression in my sofa! I love this event and can’t hardly wait until next summer as Leah and I are planning a vacation to France to take in a few stages of the 2008 Tour. I have a not-so-secret dream of being a professional cyclist; I only need more time in my day to dedicate to training.
In my younger days I focused on team sports and cross country running; it wasn’t until some sore knees told me that running was no longer an option that I started cycling. In hindsight I wish that I had of started cycling at a young age and skipped the running altogether. I get the high of the adrenaline rush from the physical activity, another kick from the high speeds, and suffer none of the repetitive pounding that is inherent to running.
But I digress, Le Tour 2007 was filled with controversy. So much so that some boobs were calling for the cancellation of the event! In an event as physically demanding as Le Tour, you are bound to have at least a few participants seek the assistance of illegal substances. Of the 189 riders that started the race only two tested positive for doping, and one rider was removed for not telling his team the truth about his whereabouts during pre-race training, and missing a couple of off-season drug tests. Rasmussen never tested positive for any illegal substances.
After all of the hoopla of the doping died down and fans were able to reflect on the event, it became clear that this was a fantastic event that went righ down to the penultimate stage before a winner emerged.
Which brings me to my only issue with Le Tour: Why is the final stage just a parade rather than a race for victory?
Today we hit the road with Kevin & Wendy, and Scott & Krista. We arranged to have a minibus tour us around for $80 US… however there was a miscommunication and it ended up costing us $120 US… but still not bad considering there were six of us, and we had the minibus and driver for 10 hours.
We started our day at Playa Rincon, then headed to Las Galeras, returned to Grand Bahia Principe Samana for lunch, and then made the trek to El Limon Falls.
Playa Rincon is an oasis. Absolutely stunning, and completely isolated from the general population, and tourists.
Las Galeras is the end of the road… and although there is a nice beach there, it was a waste of time going.
El Limon Falls are incredible, however you need to be in pretty good physical condition to get there, as the walk in took most of an hour, and was over rugged terrain from start to finish. Donkeys can be rented for $10 US, but it didn’t look like they were in any shape necessary to make the trip!
The drive home was capped off with a one litre Presidente cerveza for all of us, in the van!
It was a full day, but I wanted to get some pictures up before we call it a night…
Today we headed out into Samana Bay to go whale waiting watching. Samana Bay is where humpback whales come to give birth each spring.
We headed out at about 9am and spent nearly three hours on the water. We saw a few whales spouting, and a couple breaching in the distance, but nothing incredible up close. The whales are HUGE, but do not “perform” just because there is a boat nearby. Our tour guide said that we would do a lot of whale waiting, and he was right!
After the hours spent watching the whales, we headed for Cayo Levantado for lunch and some swimming. Although it was nice to see the island, after spending three hours there yesterday, we were ready to leave as soon as we finished lunch.
Tonight we are going to take it easy as the waves and sun have tired us out. Tomorrow we are going to hire a minbus, and along with two other couples, tour the Samana Pennisula. We have been told by other hotel guests that this is the best way to get a sense of what life is really like in this region.
Hola and Happy Valentimes Day from Sunny Samana! (Yes, I know that is not how you spell Valentine’s but if you watch 30 Rock, and you should, you’d know why it’s funny this way…)
Today we spent the morning hiding from the sun, before heading over to Cayo Leventado (an island in the bay directly offshore from our resort) to do some of the “watersports” that the resort offers. We snorkled for about 30 minutes, but grew tired of it, and the limited underwater scenary. We saw a few fish, and a couple of huge starfish, but that was it. Afterwards we wandered the beach, and explored the resort. The Grand Bahia Principe Cayo Levantado is brand new, and was nearly empty of guests. The property is incredible, but I would not trade it for ours as the layout and distance between rooms and the beach and the pool and the restaurants, etc is huge whereas ours is compact and better laid out.
After returning from Cayo Levantado, we cleaned up and headed to Le Gourmet (one of the a la carte restaurants at our resort) for dinner. The hotel staff had the entire eating areas at all of the restaurants decorated in a Valentine’s theme, and some of the staff members (specifically the Animation Team – responsible for entertaining the guests) were dressed up as Cupid, Romeo & Julieta, and an old loving couple… It was a nice treat!
Tuesday was hot. And windy. Very windy! So windy that I think it tricked most people into thinking that it was not as hot as it was – evidenced by the number of people sporting vicious sunburns today! As it was extremely hot and sunny, Leah also managed a bit of a burn; and although it looks severe, it’s actually pretty mild…
Late in the afternoon, we headed into the town of Samana on the free shuttle that the resort offers. It runs at 4pm and gets you into town in about 15 minutes. The town is pretty much shut down at this time, however it is still bustling with people returning from work, school, etc… During the day you can go into town by taxi ($11 USD) or for the more daring you can hop on the back of a little motorcycle and have a local take you to town for $1 USD. A nice price, but definitely not for everyone!
We wandered the town for a couple of hours – more than enought time to get a sense of it – and enjoyed some local fare; sugar cane right from the harvest! For $1 we got a 2 foot long section – I know I paid more than market value, but it was worth it. Sugarcane is chewed on a couple of times, and then spit out. Although it was refreshing at first, after about 10 minutes of chewing on it my jaw was getting sore, and the allure of trying something local had worn off.
We spent the balance of our time in town watching some locals play baseball on a makeshift field. They really enjoy the game, and displayed an amazing amount of talent despite the less than stellar playing conditions.
OK… We’re spending the morning on Wednesday (Day 4)Â hiding from the sun before heading over to Cayo Levantado (a sister resort on an island in Samana bay) for some water sports (windsurfing, snorkling, volleyball, etc…)
Prior to departing, we read the reviews that were posted to tripadvisor.com, and were quite concerned that we had made a mistake in selecting this resort.
Boy were we wrong! From the minute we walked out of the airport in Samana we have been taken care of admirably.
The airport is small – one runway, minimal staffing, no shops or restaurants, etc… but they moved us through quite quickly. The Air Transat rep met us there, directed us to the appropriate bus and we were on our way for an enlightening bus ride (75 minutes through the countryside) to our resort. We were greeted at the resort with dancers and singers, a cool drink and a quick check in.
This is an isolated resort in a Spanish speaking third world country… the staff speak Spanish, and do their best to understand our English requests. Jenn hooked us up with her Spanish phrasebook and it has been helpful; as have the daily Spanish lessons on the pool deck!
The weather, other travellers and staff are all wonderful! We started our day with a buffet breakfast, followed by a swim in the ocean, Spanish lessons (Chris only), aerobics in the pool, reading, swimming, eating, etc…
In the weeks leading up to our trip we had read some less than favourable reviews on tripadvisor.com and some other similar sites.
All of the negative reviews that we read are wrong. This is a lovely resort, staffed with enthusiastic employees who are more than willing to do the little things to make a vacation enjoyable.
The old world charm of the facility draws you in, as do the staff – who are always smiling, despite being dressed in formal wear (black pants, black shirts and white bow ties for the or similar for the inside males, equivalent attire for the inside females.)
Anywho… I’ve taken a number of photos, and some video and will get it posted when we return… unless I can figure out how to connect my camera to one of the three brand new, internet enabled PCs that they have free for our use…
Hello Hello from sunny and hot Samana!
After a long day of travel we have settled in to the resort lifestyle, and have decided to stay. Forever. And ever.
The weather, resort, staff, and food so far are great.
Keep it tuned to www.chrisandleah.com for updates as the week progresses.
Love Chris and Leah. (We’re a Dot Com!)