After Grand Turk, our next stop was La Romana in the Dominican Republic. It is hot, even early in the morning.

As we are sitting in our air conditioned bus waiting for everyone to board, we saw one of the primitive excursions. Glad we’re in our bus and not this one.

We are heading to Casa de Campo. This gated community is approximately 5 square kilometers and is a restricted area.

This gated community of 350 year-round families has four golf courses, a horse riding camp with approximately 3,000 horses, a private international airport, and an exclusive resort. Later in the excursion, we were also informed that the port we docked at was also owned by the Casa de Campo community.

Our first activity was a cruise on a Mississippi Style Riverboat (there words, not mine) on the Chavon river.

This river has been used for locations of several movies including Apocalypse Now, Predator, Anaconda, and several others. As we cruised up the river, it was easy to see these movies in this setting.

Next we went to the Altos de Chavon, which is a replica of a 16^th century Mediterranean village. As we are driving to the village, it is amazing the number of people working on the roadways mowing grass, making repairs, etc.

They have an outdoor arena that holds 5,000 people and is used several times a year for concerts. The next concert will be Julio Eglacious.  We also found out that these concerts are not open to the local residents of the Dominican Republic. Even the mayor of the nearby town of Santo Domingo has never been invited until the next concert. It is exclusive and you can see what money really buys.

As we head into the village, it reminds me of Eze, France which we visited last year.

Flamingo dancers were waiting for us as we toured the village.

The village overlooked the Chavon River, which we just cruised.

Of course, no Mediterranean village would be complete without its own church.

On our exit, a couple more shots of the village really show just how much it looks like it belongs in the Mediterranean.

Well, we make it back to the ship. I realized early in the tour that I had left my driver’s license on the ship. I figured I would have to talk my way through security or else Rexie would have to go to the ship and fetch my license back to me.

As it happened, because we were in a restricted area the entire time we did not have to show any identification except the ships sign and sail card. Again, I lucked out. But I am sure Rexie will never let me forget the forgotten Passports and now the Driver’s license. Why do I keep giving her ammunition against me? I don’t know why.

I must be off!