My mom’s cousin, whom I call my Aunt, vacations every year at a resort in Puerto Plata with her friends. I have never spent a night a resort, but I had heard her wild stories of their previous trips spent basking in the sun and enjoying the copious drinks and food at the resort. Her perennial trip fell on a three-day holiday weekend for us here in the Dominican Republic, so my friends in Santiago and I decided to take a guagua to the north coast and look for her. We went to the 30 de Marzo bus stop in the center of Santiago and headed north. The ride to Puerto Plata is gorgeous, with beautiful views of mountains, palm trees, valleys, and roadside vendors.
After about an hour, we hopped out of the guagua right in front of the resort and headed towards the lobby. The front desk staff could not locate her, but we couldn’t look on our own becuase we did not want to pay the fee to spend the day at the resort. We were set up with a security guard to bring us around the premises. I had never been inside a resort before, so I was excited for this search party. As we walked around, we saw aerobics classes and pools, spoke with a DJ, got a tour of the VIP section, and passed the various restaurants. We saw the entire resort, but no aunt. Eventually the guards felt bad for us and offered us mimosas. Talk about customer service!
We trekked every inch of the resort, but could not find my aunt. In defeat, we left the resort and went to the beach in front of the resort to enjoy the beautiful day. As we were getting settled, I looked up at the resort and who was there, sitting with her friends at the edge on a patio overlooking the beach? My aunt. We started yelling her name until she realized who the crazy girls were. She immediately came down to the beach to meet us. We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with her at the beach and enjoying the waves. To this day I cannot say “I’ve been to a resort” but I did enjoy the VIP tour.
Lens by Sarah 
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