IN IT FOR LIFE: The Roth Wedding in Punta Cana

DAY 3: Friday November 7, 2008

Today was a fun jam-packed day. I had to wake up kind of early today to go horseback riding on the beach! I have always wanted to ride a horse on the beach, so this has now been checked-off on my bucket list of things to do before I die! It was about a 45 minute drive to the ranch. On this drive, you get to see how the "real world" is of Punta Cana. It's a 3rd world country, but I think it is a thriving 3rd world country. There was a lot of construction going on, it didn't look too bad. But once you got out of the towns you see how the natives really live. In shacks, tin shacks (now remember it was like 80 some degrees, plus humidity, so can you imagine living in a tin shack with that heat?) It really makes you aware of what you take for granted every day of your life.

Back to my horseback riding adventure....

My horses name was "Negro". He was a nice horse, and once we got down to the beach and to the water, all he wanted to do was just run and catch the waves! I got pretty wet! I just enjoyed this whole adventure, I hope to do it again soon!

For some reason, my pictures went out of order again. So, I will give you some captions for the pictures.

The beach that we went horseback riding on. It was beautiful, but a lot of trash was on it.

The view from the ranch. Believe it or not, the inland of Punta Cana is very mountainous.

Another view of Punta Cana from the ranch.

Scott and Kristin

The picture below should not be located here right now, but here is a picture of some of us having dinner tonight. It was very yummy. It was Devan's birthday today (the girl there at the end in the front with the short hair), so we had asked if they could bring out a dessert with a candle in it. They did, and even sang Happy Birthday to her in Spanish! She was so surprised!

Later on in the day, the Bridal Party (and their dates), were invited to go on a private party boat for a rehearsal luncheon cruise and also to go snorkeling. I had never been snorkeling before either, and this was kind of scary to me. I had many thoughts going through my mind. Are there sharks? Will I suffocate b/c I don't know how to breathe out of this mask. It was scary at first, but you kind of get the hang of it. I didn't see too many different kinds of fish and coral, probably b/c my mask kept filling up with water and then it fogged up, and then I would suck in large amounts of sea water, but it was fun to do. Snorkeling was not one of my bucket-list items though.

After we had gone snorkeling they had served us a yummy lunch, shish-kabobs and french fries, as they took us to this one point on the island. They let us swim around in the water some more. A few chicken fights went on, and a few swimming races happened too.

After we got off the boat, we went directly to the gardens for the wedding rehearsal. Then off to dinner!