Close.. but no cigar..

You would think walking a few yards down to the other Iberostar, the family resort called Bavaro, would be a good idea but you'd be wrong.  Well, wrong and right. The pools there were infinitely nicer.  Aquamarine instead of cobalt blue, and there were no missing or dirty tiles.  Plus, the water was deep so I could do my treading exercising without triggering off intense agony.  (I didn't need a modifier there, all agony is intense) Sure, you had to put up with a kiddie water park, and the sound of bucket water crashing into screaming kids below it, but it was better than counting missing pool tiles in a pool that was shallow and small and not as pretty as it thinks it is.. Everything was just peachy until we encountered our first smokers.  You'd THINK we would have found that with the drunken, tattooed folks here at the adults only resort, but nope, the smoke was as annoying as the face of the walrus at the water park. (a pretend one for decoration) I am nothing if I'm not an exaggerater, so yeah, those were the ONLY smokers we dealt with all day.  Two of them and they were far away. I never said I was a good person. The ocean was calmer there too and we met a bunch of Bostonian hairdressers.  They didn't have Chicago accents!! They weren't from Chicago! The buffet lunch was accompanied by wonderful Dominican music, and it included stuff like succulent baby lamb chops and carrots, where the buffet at our part of the hotel offered stuff like mashed peas and Geritol. The guests were hopping and the staff was hopping because nobody was sitting there playing cards and praying nobody would steal their cane. We're entitled to go to the show at the family hotel tonight, but it's a magic show, and we've seen enough card tricks at this point in our lives that we can take educated guesses on how they're actually done. So we'll go to the show here, called the "Chill Party" and let's just hope it's not watching octogenarians crocheting stuff for their great grandchildren in the lobby. While Jim was getting details about the magic show we're not attending, he directed me to the bathroom(the situation was dire) only this bathroom had no toilets, just shower stalls.  By the time I ripped open the fourth of fifth curtain I was about to commit what I'm sure is a misdemeanor when I  thankfully hear Jim's voice from outside saying "the full bathrooms are in the next area!" Just in the nick of time.  So if you do come to the Iberostar in the DR, make sure your bladder isn't full and make sure you go to the family friendly resort for daytime adventures, and the adults only "Grand" for evening  pampering and time share pitches.  Try to come while the pink flamingos are still alive and kicking, 'though I'm not sure I've seen  one actually kick..We took a refreshing dip in our ocean when we hear a woman say"I thought I was standing on a large rock but I think it might have skin and it might have moved."  So we go over to them, and GUESS WHAT MIDWESTERN CITY they were from?? I stopped counting his tattoos by the eighth one and both managed to keep their beers dry.  Still, I was curious as to what the  one in the bikini(the wife) was standing on. They are here for ten days and he has no luggage.  He cannot go to any restaurant because all the airline didn't lose was the swim trunks he had on and the parka he bought from (spolier alert!)..Chicago.  So they've been eating at the buffet but they might have been too drunk to care. I ask the guy if the airline had reimbursed him for anything and he said if the luggage doesn't arrive today they will send him a check I think for one hundred dollars.  And he says, "I saw the prices for shirts in the boutique here and I'm not spending that kind of money, even if I can't eat in a gourmet specialty restaurant the whole time we're here." He adds: "do you know how many CIGARS I can buy with a hundred dollars?" and I answered that I did not, but I knew it was time for that conversation to end. Tonight we will have Japanese hibachi and I'm more positive than ever that the conversation is going to revolve around the end of the Cubs' losing streak.