Day 7 — Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

  7/19/24 Friday

Itinerary:

• Breakfast at El Mercado 
• Adventure Boogies
• Dinner at Noodle & Thread

We woke up early today at 8am as we have a booked tour with Adventure Boogies at 10:40am. After a quick breakfast, we went upstairs to get ready for the tour and went to the lobby at 10:30am for the bus to come and pick us up. The bellman asked us to just wait and he will call us when the bus is here. Once the bellman calls us, we proceed to the bus and there was already 10 other people on the bus. We waited a bit as there was another family from our hotel and they were late. After they came, we left to pick up another group of 8 people at Westin hotel before driving about an hour to the Macao area. 

The tour that we booked at the hotel was Adventure Boogies and they have their own ranch in the area of Macao which is the Dominican countryside. We had booked the Honda car which is more expensive than the Boogies but more comfortable and also higher so that we wouldn’t get as muddy. After we arrived at their company, we were given a wristband and also sign a waiver before they led us to our car. They told us to go to the Can Am vehicle, so we just followed and the first 2 cars that we tried were broken so had to change to the third one that worked. We then followed the leader and drove about 20 minutes to Domitai Park. We parked the car and walked to the cave called Cueva Iguanaboina which is the largest private cenote to cool off and Mason did a quick swim there while we just watched him. After the swim, we were shown their local products and offered to taste their chocolate and coffee.

After the tasting, we were asked to go to the village where the island’s indigenous people performed their dance and it was very entertaining.

When the show finished, we were asked to return to our cars and someone took Anthony’s car, so they gave him another car to drive. This time, we were taken to a route with muddy trails and Mason went a bit wild and the mud was all over our face and body but it was so fun. Along the way, there were many local kids waiting on the side asking for money. The car in front of us slowed down to give money to one of the kids and it was dangerous as we had to stop suddenly. On another instance, the money flew off and the kid just ran across to pick it up. We went through a couple of the muddy trails and it was so fun. There was also a lot of dust along the way, so our face and clothes were all covered in dust. I couldn’t even recognized Anthony and Madison when they drove past us as their face was covered in dust. I think if we were to do this again, we definitely need to wear the eye googles as dust went into our eyes and there were times that we can’t see.

After about 45 minutes of riding, we returned to the place where we started and took a quick rinse before heading to our bus so that the driver can bring us back to the hotel. We were missing some group members, so we had to wait quite a bit before the bus could leave. Once he gathered everyone, we started to head back. On the way back, the driver got into a fender bender with another car but he wouldn’t stop, so the other car chased after him and blocked him from driving. The bus driver had to get out and talk to the other driver. Then he left without exchanging any information. The other driver was so mad that he hit the bus but our driver just ignored him and drove off. 

After about an hour, we finally reached our hotel and headed back to our room to take a shower as our face were all covered in dust. We were also supposed to go to the souvenir shop but since we returned later than expected, we missed the shuttle and had to rebook it for tomorrow. After we all took a shower, we took a few family pictures before heading to Noodle &Thread for dinner to celebrate Anthony’s birthday. We didn’t have a chance to eat lunch, so everyone was super hungry and ordered a lot of dishes.

When we finished dinner, Mason and I went to the beach to take more pictures while Anthony and Madison went to El Mercado for some fruits. We joined them later and has some coffee as well before heading back to our room.

The lady came to our room for turn down service to refill our snacks, towels and unfold our bedsheets for us. It’s a really nice gesture that they do every night.