For our first full day at the resort, we planned to spend the entire day at the pool. Before we left our room, we applied the first of many layers of sunscreen. Then we had Tim’s favorite meal: BREAKFAST!! The buffet had a huge spread. All of the standard fare were offered: pancakes, waffles, french toast (several syrup options) as well as eggs done several ways and local breakfast foods. There was a bunch of different fruits and breads and even a selection of fruit smoothies. Oh, and there was CEREAL! Tim went for granola topped with a banana (two bowls) while Janie had pancakes. What a great start to the day! (and every day at the Riu).
Back to the room, we prepared for our pool day by applying lots of sunscreen. We got to the pool before 10am, so we had our choice of beach chairs: in the sun, under a trellis for partial shade, or under a thatched umbrella for full shade. We chose wisely: the full shade. After sitting for a while and reading, we went for a dip in the pool, which was at a perfectly cool temperature.
We noticed several people wandering around the resort carrying giant cameras and wearing shirts that said staff. They were there, of course, to take pictures of guests in different poses which could be purchased later at the nearby store. While we were swimming, Sol from Argentina approached and asked if we’d like to pose for some pictures. Figuring there was nothing to lose for posing, we did. A fake rocky wall was nearby, as well as a ledge, so she had us in different poses leaning against one or the other. Later in the week, we ended up purchasing some pictures…only two from this ‘shoot’ made the cut.
Sitting near the pool made for great people watching. It was a little surprising about how many people had tattoos, and of those, how many tattoos just looked dumb (in our opinion). And, there were plenty of people who were wearing swimsuits that should have been wearing something providing more, um, coverage. And, there were those that looked like they didn’t know where they were (or didn’t want to be here). Janie got a lot of enjoyment out of watching this old fogey, with his socks and slippers.
This day (Saturday) was probably the busiest of our stay there. During the afternoon, the back of the pool-side bar was often two-deep for drinks (seen in background above). Before we ate lunch, Tim got a coconut-water drink that they were chopping fresh.
In addition to the people wandering around, a common sound was the squawking of these birds, that looked like starling relatives. They weren’t shy about hopping on nearby chairs, or onto tables to investigate and snatch food left unattended.
We did several cycles of sitting in the shade then swimming for 30-60 minutes and then returning to shade and a reapplication of sunscreen. For dinner, we re-visited the excellent buffet and tried to not stuff ourselves too much. That evening was another nice sunset.
