Riu Mambo - The Resort

We stayed in the Riu Mambo, and it was very nice.  Most of the rooms were in small complexes like this, each complex consisting of 16 rooms.

Our room was in the back left corner, and this complex was the furthest away from the pool/dining areas/etc. This meant for a little more walking, but the extra privacy made that well worth it! We had not requested one room vs another; this was simply the one we were assigned, and we were thankful for it. Although it was beside a noisy machine (their generator?) it was privacy to be thankful for.

 

The complexes were all different colours, you can see green,  yellow, and peach on this picture, but there were also pink ones, and they were not all the same shades either - some lighter green, some darker green, etc.  With the palm trees it was very pretty!

Everything was very clean; the locals were also very friendly.  Everywhere we went, we would meet hotel staff, whether they were grounds crew, housecleaning, entertainers, and they always greeted us, usually with a simple "¡Hola!" or "¡Buenas Dias/Tardes/Noches!". :)  Outside the main restaurants there was always a staff member (dressed in the housecleaning uniform) with a bottle of hand sanitizer.  She would offer a squirt to each guest.  It was funny to watch everyone walking in rubbing their hands together.  Courtesy of H1N1 I guess!

Our room was fairly simple; two double beds pushed together.  One night (while sleeping) I did push Rob out, but he was on the side where the other bed was, so he really didn't go far, just in the crack between the beds!

Each room also had a balcony or terrace..  The hallways were open at each end, so this picture was taken from the end of the hallway, looking over to our terrace.

It was an all-inclusive resort, so all our meals were provided.  We could have done nothing but eat!  The food was good, sometimes very good, but not amazing. Rob found the fish basic, but amazing to eat. However, since I wasn't cooking - no complaints!  The Riu Mambo was one of a trio of resorts situated together.  Next to the Mambo was the Riu Merengue, and next to the the Riu Bachata.  We could use the pools in all three, and other facilities.  We could eat lunch anywhere we wanted, but breakfast and dinner were to be in our own resort's restaurants.  Breakfast was probably the best meal - anything you could possibly want, and more, it could be found at the breakfast buffet.  Bacon, eggs (fried, scambled, omelette, boiled), sausage, toast, french toast, pancakes, potatoes (fried/hash browns and mashed!), fruit, muffins, croissants, cereal, oatmeal.  Given that vast list, guess what Rob ate?  CEREAL!  Oh, he had some warm food too, but he'd always end with a bowl of cereal!  I do not understand his affinity for cereal. :)

For dinners, there was the buffet, and two "a la carte restaurants".  At the buffet, each night would have a theme, and the place would be decorated accordingly.  For example, chinese night.

The dinner buffet always had more decorations than the other meals, such as these "creatures".

The salad bar at one of the meals.

For the "a la carte" restaurants, they had Italian and a Steak House.  We ate at the Italian twice, and the Steakhouse once.  We had planned to do each once, but the first night at the Italian, we met a British couple at the table next to us, who said the steak was better on the Italian side than the Steak House side.  So we had steak twice, once at each!

The "a la carte" restaurant was in the pool side restaurant, which is a buffet of various foods fro most of the day.  Then at 6:00 they dress it up a bit, for the fancier dinners.

Our room was air conditioned, but nothing else was, just open windows and lots of fans.  The dining areas were not hot at all, although they may be in June or July.  Sometimes we managed to snag a table next to the open window.

The first two times that our room was cleaned, we were given towel creatures.  Much to Rob's chagrin, I named them.  Meet Maxine...

 

and Gerald & Geraldine...

 

Each of the three resorts (Mambo, Merengue, Bachata) had a pool.  Overall, the Bachata was the fanciest of the three, and the following pictures were taken in its pool area.

Right next door to Riu Mambo is some one's home/farm, and there were several roosters/chickens.  The rooster spent a good part of the day making sure the world knew he was there!

We also saw quite a few of these little lizards.

Each night they provided some form of entertainment; we walked by a few times, but didn't actually sit down to watch.  This was held in the "stage" area.

The seating in the above picture is mostly under a roof, and the next picture is more seating, but it is all roofless.

The beach.  The beach stretched the width of the three resorts, and thus was private to guests at the resort.  The sand was okay, it was a bit gross going into the water, and even in the water, you had to watch out for seaweed, but as the water wasn't very clear, you couldn't look down to see that.  Watershoes solved those problems, and the water was delightfully warm.  Salty though! :)

We learned that there is no forestry permitted in the Dominican Republic.  So, if there is a tree in your way, it is going to stay in your way and you'll just have to build around it!

On our honeymoon, 5 years ago, on California, we saw what looked like a giant aloe vera plant.  When we saw another one in the Dominican, Rob took a picture of me in front of it, just like he did 5 years ago.  I guess this means we need to find another such plant in 2015!