The DR2

In December, I took my side of our family to the DR.  Nickie and I, my daughters Celeste and Brittany, Britt's husband Kris and their 2 children Audrey and Lukas.  We had a grand old time, but found it a bit tricky to organize outings, as we were staying in 3 rooms in the resort.  On reflection, we thought for Nickie's side of the family, it might be better to rent a large house instead of several rooms in a resort.  We could spend time at the house, swim in the pool and enjoy meals as a family.  My side of the family numbers 7.  There are actually more than 7, but let's not overcomplicate this story.  Nickie's side numbers 14.  Most live in Ontario, but 4 are in British Columbia.  To say the logistics were complicated is an understatement!  Due to visa restrictions (I'm striving to keep this simple), one of her sons and his fiance could not accompany us.

Using triangulation, we chose a vacation spot that is equidistance from Ontario and BC.  Yes, you are correct, we chose Puerto Vallarta!  We had just finished booking the flights and accommodations when all hell broke out in Mexico.  A drug lord was killed and the riots began.  Where, you ask?  Hmm...  Puerto Vallarta!  I know what you are thinking... Bad things seem to follow me wherever I travel.  Perhaps it would be advisable not to travel to destinations where I am going.  One benefit of reading this travel blog is you can find out where to avoid travelling.  Just saying!

Time for Plan B

The re-booking could have been worse.  Nickie lost half the cost of the house rental in Mexico.  I can't quite blame the owner, as she was not likely to re-book it.  The flights were more complicated, as Nickie did not receive an outright reimbursement, but a partial credit that was quite tricky to re-book flights.

We decided on a large house in the Dominican Republic.  As the credits were with Flair Air, who do not have direct flights from Vancouver to the DR, it was decided to fly Nickie's daughter and family from Vancouver to Toronto.  A few days later, we would fly together to the DR.

Large pool!

I have never travelled with such a large group before.  Somehow, 12 of us made it to the airport and boarded our plane without much histrionics.  We played a version of musical chairs on the plane, primarily because Flair seems to deliberately separate travelers, likely so that they pony up the cost of obtaining conjoining seats.  An example is Sarah, Nickie's daughter was seated far from her sons, one being 6 and the other 8 years of age.  I know we are supposed to sit in our designated seats so that when the plane crashes, they can tag the remains, but perhaps Flair (and other airlines) could use more gracious algorithms for seating their customers?

Spacious downstairs

The owner of the house was very accommodating, booking rides to and from the airport, renting us 2 cars and responding quickly when there was an issue with the house.  And unfortunately, there always seems to be issues with accommodations in the DR, and other Caribbean countries.  Partially my fault, but when we arrived, we could not gain entry at the gate.  We were staying at a golf course and in order to pass the security gate, we had to show the guards QRL codes.  How do we get the QRL codes?  By providing the owner with our passport information.  Unfortunately, before we left Canada, she asked me for "information" on the party, so I provided her with the names.  I asked if this was sufficient, but received no response.  So we waited at the gate while Amita sent the owner pictures of everyone's passports.  We were then provided with the QRL codes.  It was fun, but not in a good way.

The house was quite large!  Our group consisted of 4 adult couples, 2 small children (1 and 3) and 2 older children (6 and 8).  We used 5 of the house's 6 bedrooms, all of which had ensuites, although at times, hot water was optional.

Nickie posing on the beach

The house also had a well stocked kitchen, large dining room, living room, outdoor dining room and pool.  Did I mention there was 12 of us?  I was flabbergasted at the amount of food, water, beer and wine (not in that order) we consumed.  We bought eight 10 liter jugs of water and had to buy more the next day!  It was great to see how everyone pitched in and helped with making the meals, maintaining an adequate supply of Pina Coladas and washing the dishes.  Yes there was a dishwasher, but of course it did not work.  We had need of a mechanic (Jason) in order to resurrect the BBQ.

Home in the DR

Because we spent so much time together, I think the objective of reuniting the family (and for me, getting to know them better) was a success.  We spent considerable time at the pool, went on a few walks along the golf course and hit the beach on 2 occasions.  We ate supper out twice.  It was not overly expensive, once you factor in that we were 12 people, but eating at the house was much more relaxing.  Not that anyone imbibed excessively, but driving in the DR is not something I would recommend after 6 glasses of wine.  At the house, a few drinks during the meal was more comfortable.

The flight home was uneventful.  The next day. Sarah's family had to fly home to Vancouver.  All in all, although a beach vacation is not my preference, it was a fun week!

Nicaragua: Not crowded!

In January 2026, Nickie and I were hunkering down in Ontario, enjoying the massive snowfalls and chilly temperatures.  What could be better, you ask?  Let's take a look!  We had considered Costa Rica, but we had left it too late and accommodations were sparse.  Since Nicaragua was a less popular travel destination, we were able to find reasonable flights and accommodations.  We booked a trip leaving in 5 days!

Some shoveling required

Temperatures in January/February in Nicaragua are quite pleasant.  Of course, anything is pleasant after enduring -20 degrees and shoveling snow until your arms fall off.  Since driving in Nicaragua is tricky (plenty of horror stories regarding what happens if you are in a serious accident) and we were not familiar with the country, we decided to stay in an ecolodge.  They picked us up at the airport, which was a really good idea.  I have no doubt we would not have made it to the Hacienda without getting lost for 3 or 4 days.  The main highways are well marked, but there is no signage on the secondary roads.  And the country roads are almost impassable!

The road to the Hacienda!

The Hacienda was wonderful.  Well appointed cottages, a small but refreshing pool and incredible vistas.  In the distance was a volcano with smoke pouring out of it.  The hacienda was not busy during the week and was visited by locals on the weekend.  It was a bit surreal as we were the only guests for most of the time.  It gave us a feeling of what the rich and famous experience, when they allegedly rent the entire lodge. 4 - 5 staff waiting on us, no waiting for meals or drinks.  We had supper with a couple from California one night, which was a refreshing change from eating by ourselves.

Masaya volcano as seen from the Hacienda

Because the hacienda was rather remote and we did not have a car, we were forced to spend considerable time lounging about the bar and pool.  Not exactly torture, but infrequently I find idle time to be a challenge.  By "infrequently" I mean "frequently".  We went on 3 excursions and hiked almost every day.  We hiked near the volcano, which was cool but a tad disturbing.  Our guide would show us smoke coming out of the ground, which was awesome, but made me wonder what exactly we were walking on...  Hmm.  Don't dwell on it!

View from the pool

We drove to the top of the Masaya volcano and peered into the smoking caldera.  Again, totally awesome, but just don't dwell on what might happen if the volcano went KABANG!  Time at the volcano was limited to 5 minutes.  I did not have the nerve to ask why.  Let's assume it was the toxic atmosphere, not the likelihood of getting coated with lava.  Nickie's hat blew off her head and landed on the other side of the barricade, a few inches from a 300 meter vertical drop into the caldera.  I offered to retrieve her hat (it was worth more than $10!) but thankfully she declined my offer.  Actually, she mentioned something about limited cerebral capacity.  I think she was talking about the hat.

Masaya Volcano

Go get the hat please...

Another excursion was to the nearby city of Granada.  We took a boat out to some islands that had formed during an eruption of the Mombacho volcano.  There were some very cool cottages on the islands whom our guide declared to be worth a million dollars.  It is hard to be impressed with the value of large cottages on private islands when they cost about the same as a shack in Toronto.  We visited the old section of Granada, then went on a hike along the Laguna de Apoyo.  The hike was great and we met up with a few fellow Canadians.  We saw some local wildlife that looked a bit like an aardvark.

Nice cottage!

Other days we hiked along the dirt roads and trails near the hacienda.  The area is rather poor (we were told not to hike with our phones) but quite beautiful.  We hiked into the small town of Masatepe and ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant.

Sunset at the Hacienda

Overall, Nicaragua is safe enough to visit and a worthy country to explore.  It is quite poor, so be careful when travelling there.