Day 9

Tuesday already?  You may wonder about a few practical details about life in a resort.   Did we pack enough clothing for two weeks?  Nope.  But I thought we could do laundry while here.  Lots of hotels in North America have laundry facilities, coin operated machines.  We asked and the man at the front desk said there was a form and laundry bag in the room.  Surprisingly, the form indicated the charges for laundry services:  underwear-1.75; t-shirt-2.25;pants-5.75.  Well, needless to say, I decided to handwash a few items and hang them to dry!  When drying laundry in a tropical country, outside on the balcony is not that effective.  Things dry somewhat quicker in the room.  Best strategy?  Partially dry them with a hair dryer! 

Another surprise was the Wi-Fi service.  We intended to keep in touch back home via Facebook.  Assuming we would turn off our cell phone/I-phone here, we understood that we could access the internet through a laptop.  For free?  Nope.  There is a little office next to the tour company desks that is basically an air-conditioned cubicle.  We could pay $3 for 15 minutes on a computer or $6 for 30 minutes.  There were six older model Dell computers available.  Another option is $70 for a week of Wi-Fi that could be accessed in the common areas of the hotel, but not in the rooms.  Wow!  As luxurious as everything seemed, the level of technology felt like we were in a third world country.  So we limited ourselves to connecting every few days. 

We were fast realizing we could not afford every excursion available and yet we wanted to make the most of our time here.  What could we do that was new, exciting and cheap?  Walter’s one item on the “wish list” was to snorkel.  Our friends had visited the Dominican for their 30^th anniversary and the husband had raved about his snorkeling experience.  So as Walter was inquiring about costs for this and other water activities, he came back somewhat discouraged. 

But on this day as we hung out around the beach again, we were approached by a salesman for the waterfront rental booth.  Snorkeling, $15 for an hour.  I grinned at Walter and silently thanked the Lord for once again providing for our hearts’ desires!  Walter booked for himself at 11:10 am Wednesday.