Day 5 – Punta Cana – I am Rambo

Man, it’s all becoming a blur now. Mental note, just go through the videotapes of the week…it would be easier recalling the events of the week.

Thursday was the wedding rehearsal day as well as the Bachelor Party. Big events to head to so we took it easy for the early part of the morning…went around some shops looking for a straw hat and had a bite to eat. Have I mentioned that so far in the trip, the weather has been very cooperative in that if it rains, it will rain in the morning while I am sleeping. I can’t complain about that.

In the afternoon I got out of the pool to head to the wedding gazebo. The gazebo is located right along the main strip which cuts through the resort and the trolleys pass by every five minutes. I personally thought it’s an odd place to have the gazebo. One would think it would be out of the way of the viewing public. But I suppose it may be a marketing tactic to have others think “Oh boy, we should get married at this resort!”

No one was there when we arrived so I went back to grab some drinks and found everyone heading over. When we got there, there was not much to do as we just went through the motions of how people would walk up, where people would stand, etc. I was there with Alain scoping out how we would videotape the wedding. I would handle some closeup shots and he would get the wider angle stuff. It’s like we were professionals.

Afterwards, we headed to the beach, had a decent day there and later on in the evening we headed towards the lobby to meet up for the bachelor party while the ladies went to the bachelorette party. Vero had quite a few things planned for her sister so I knew they would have a fun time.

Note of interest: Very hard to have a bachelor/bachelorette party on the same resort.

Unfortunately, there was a snag that hit us all in the form of the bride and groom receiving a phone message indicating that there reception hall for the wedding was bumped. Ouch. That was quite unforeseen and quite unnecessary at this point in the trip. Let’s recap how many things have gone wrong so far in the trip (in case I haven’t mentioned them all so far):

– Vero’s grandmother not having a room reservation upon arrival
– A few people on the trip having to change rooms all of a sudden with no reason of explanation. Sometimes a couple would have to change twice during the week.
– The wedding planner that they have been dealing with during the past year has been fired as of the Tuesday.
– Vero’s stepmother needing to go to the hospital off-resort (no fault of the resort)

So with that, the bachelor party started off with a fizzled start considering the groom and some groomsmen where with the manager tearing a strip off of him. In the end, all we found out is that there was a Tire Dealer Convention in town and needed the hall (no word was ever given as to who made the reservation first but one would think that with our reservations being made a year beforehand, we were in the right) and now we were being moved to an Italian restaurant on the resort.

Needless to say, everyone was in a lackluster mood when Steve came back to join the party but we made the best of it, had a few drinks and headed to have a bite to eat. The debauchery began when we headed to the karaoke bar with a few gentlemen after dinner. There were some classic tunes sang (Black Velvet!) and Steve and Greg made a new friend in the form of some guy who took it upon himself to back them both up on singing duties whenever they took to the stage. It was quite hilarious.

Afterwards we headed to the discotheque on the resort and met up with the women and had a good time. It was funny to see Anne-Marie in full bachelorette mode with a list of things she had to do during the night before she could retire.

After the discotheque we were walking by the pool and Steve and I decided to take a dip. Keep in mind that around this time of the night (midnight), it’s not necessarily allowed to enter the pool, but I couldn’t leave the groom hanging. We slithered in like snakes and went through the water like a couple of Vietnam vets. In fact, we felt like Rambo at one point.

Unfortunately we saw a flashlight come our way and Steve jumped out of the pool. I was already near the swim-up bar so I decided to hide it out behind the bar stools that were in the water with only my eyes gleaming out of the water.

Of course, everything was going well until someone called my name to warn me that a security guard was coming closer but I just heard my name so I assumed all was clear so I stepped out of hiding and there was the security guard standing directly over me!

While he said something in Spanish I feigned ignorance and said something in French to the effect of “Oh no? We’re not allowed in the pool at this hour? Sorry about that!” I have no idea why I decided to speak into French at that point but I’m sure it was a funny sight seeing me jump out of the pool in my underwear and return to the group who were having a good laugh. Ah well, all in good fun and no harm was done.

iplaying: Daughter (Live) – Pearl Jam – Touring Band 2000