Viva Dominicus… Forever!

I can't explain what I feel every time I return to the Viva Dominicus… just thinking about the next time I'll go back (the fourth!) is enough to overcome the nostalgia that grips me when I return to Italy and for all those months I spend here.

A song, a bachata, a merengue is all it takes for me to picture myself again in front of that view, the green of the palms that set off the turquoise of the sea so beautifully, to think again of the smile of the people, of those who work in the resort, the entertainers, the gardeners, the waitresses, the sellers of paintings on the beach, of all those who with their hard work and their endless friendliness and warmth help make a holiday in that place always unforgettable… Maybe those who have never been there can't understand, maybe it all seems exaggerated, they'll think it's like any one of the many resorts in the world…and yet for those who have been, maybe not for everyone but I think for many, every time is different and it leaves you with so many happy memories, memories of a magical atmosphere, made of views, of music and of spontaneity in relations with people, memories that stay

in your heart for a whole year, warming you when it's cold and foggy here, memories that make you wait and hope you can go back soon and maybe for longer… Maybe one day I'll go and live in Bayahibe, who knows, maybe right near the little markets where I've met so many friendly people and maybe, when I want to treat myself to a luxury, I'll go into the Viva Dominicus for a day, as the few Dominicans who can afford it do now…or maybe this will remain just a dream and I'll simply keep spending my holidays there, every time I can…maybe giving up some gift and many useless purchases in Italy… By now everything has already been written about the resort, about the organisation, about the excursions, about the entertainment, so instead of repeating the usual things, I'll just add one: go there, try to enjoy the holiday to the full, surely seeing beautiful places but also trying to talk to them, b

oth inside and outside the resort, try to let yourself be infected by their zest for life, with little money but with great friendliness and cheerfulness, maybe it's really true that smiling at life helps a little to overcome many difficulties…... But go there with the right spirit, not to criticise everything and always find what's wrong — often they're just little things that seem huge when you're used to our standard and our frantic, exaggerated lifestyle — but to observe and reflect on another way of living, theirs, surely poor but simple, spontaneous and with a cheerfulness that is contagious. And if at the end of the holiday, when you get on the plane and return to Italy, you die of nostalgia….I did warn you! But you can always go back…for a while or…forever! Muchos Besos! Danita68