Day Three. Massage Two.

So, the dancing was kind of a bust. We went out for “Red Dress Night” (yes, despite the fact that I didn’t have a red dress) all ready to live it up… we even put makeup on and everything! Quite the feat in a place where you are pretty much guaranteed to sweat it all right back off within 5 minutes. But, after much optimistic walking around and finding nothing but empty place after empty place after empty place (and me falling in a huge puddle of mud along the way), we finally accepted our fate and settled in at a beachside restaurant where we were the only people there. We asked the waiter where everyone was and it turns out that apparently when it has rained in the afternoon and everyone goes home to get out of it, very few of them come back out. Add to that that it was Sunday night AND the off-season and, well, Red Dress Night pretty much consisted of the three of us and an equal number of mojitos. But, really, what else do you need? So, in the end, not a bust at all.

I’m not sure how it’s possible, but today was even MORE relaxing than yesterday. Seriously, I would have laid down cold, hard cash against the statistical probability of it being possible but we made it happen. Here was our day in a nutshell: beach, massage, dinner. And that was it in its divine entirety.

And yet, it was so much more than that. After yet another relaxed start to the day at the French bakery (okay, that was just Katie and BJ), we headed the other direction on the beach, again in search of the superbly shady areas. Success. We found a lovely little cove full of palm trees and camped out on what turned out to be a perfectly lovely, sunny-yet-not-too-hot-or-humid day. It was the quintessential beach day. Katie and BJ headed back to the hotel a bit before me but I just couldn’t tear myself away. Went for another swim, struck up a conversation with a Dominican and, at the end of it, got a cool motorcycle ride back to the hotel from my new friend Jesus. Gotta dig kind Dominicans. Doesn't hurt when they're good-looking, either.

But, alas, we had to tear ourselves away at some point for….. another massage! It was just SOO good yesterday, we couldn’t not go back. It IS vacation after all. More showers, more Turkish baths, more massages, more fresh fruit while sitting outside on their cushy couches. More bliss. Best money I’ve spent in a very long time. And, again, a torrential rain storm at just the time we were getting massages which, with the open windows, provided such a wonderful, relaxing sound in the background. Couldn’t have been more perfectly planned. Plus, as a bonus, super good looking spa guy. Nice.

We meandered back to the hotel to shower and then go to dinner. Not too shabby when you're biggest stress of the day is making your 4 o'clock massage appointment and your biggest decision of the day is where to eat. I have to say, we have had some amazing food in this country (to be perfectly frank, much better than I had expected). It started with the pumpkin ravioli we had at the restaurant by the spa after our first massage and continued right on into tonight. We were SO relaxed from the massages that we didn’t want to go too far and actually ended up at the Italian place right by our hotel. Odd how it was so close to us the whole time yet we didn’t discover it until our last night here. The ambience in and of itself was amazing. Enclosed, yet with a large open-air section with palm trees in the middle so no matter where you sat you still had the sense of being outside. In addition to the ambience and a gregarious Italian owner, the food also just happened to be de-lish. I am still drooling over the warm goat cheese salad. Seriously, drooling right now as I write this. Throw in some pasta, some mahi mahi, some a-MA-zing desserts, some mojitos and some complimentary “chupitas de la casa” and it equaled a most enjoyable 4-hour dining experience. Most enjoyable. Indeed.