In the last week the hotel has slowed down a lot. Although our multiple activities keep it busier than most hotels, we are no longer at 100%. My general responsibilities have stayed the same: financials, check-ins/outs, ensuring that maintenance and cleaning staff are getting things done, maintaining relationships with on-site businesses, responding to emails, marketing, and hanging out with guests. The benefit of things slowing down a little bit is having more time to be creative. I have more time to write blogs for the hotel, update our Facebook pages (which you should all have already “liked” by now), plan our Jiu Jitsu Tournament in June and a women's only kite surfing clinic in April. 

 More time also means I have the opportunity to do fam tours. Fam tours or familiarization tours are a fantastic bonus for anyone who works in the tourism/hospitality industry. I’d rather be paid less and have the opportunity to do fam tours, than be paid generously and not do fam tours. Besides the fact that they are super fun, they are of extreme value to your job. Once you’ve done a zip line, rafting, snorkeling or atv tour, you know it through and through and can effectively sell it to your customers. It’s like convincing your friend to go to a restaurant that they’ve never been to. If you’ve eaten there, you know exactly how to sell it and close the deal. The way I see it, the better you know the tours, the better you can help plan a trip that meets the needs and desires of your customers. Also, if you’re making commission off of the tours you book, it’s to your benefit to know how to sell the right tours for the right people so that they come back happy and trust you to book more. To be credible as tour guide/agent, you need to stay informed and know the details.

 

It’s beneficial for tour companies to allow people in my position to go on free tours because it gives them a competitive advantage over other companies. Why would I promote tours for another company if I don’t know who they are, what their tours are like and how they’ll treat my guest? By building a relationship with complementary businesses, I know that I’ll get good consistent service and I know my guests will to.

Moral of the story, get a job as a concierge or at a tourist center. You meet people from all over the world, get to do fun FREE tourist activities, and make travelers super happy. Don’t you want to be responsible for making people trip unique and memorable?

 These pictures were taken during a fam tour I did last Sunday, its called the 7 Waterfall Tour and its pretty amazing. We started off the day with an introduction to cock fighting, then we checked out a local art shop, then head up to a coffee plantation and finish off the waterfalls. When doing fam tours, you sometimes get shmoozed with extra treats. This time I got to roll my own cigar, got some free rum,  a discount on gifts from the art store and a free DVD of my adventure. 

A few things I've learnt

I've learnt a few things around here. Some of them good, some of them…great J

-Everyone owns a machete. It’s like how everyone in Nanaimo owns chap stick. If you don’t have one, a friend can surely loan you one.

2.       The word “necesario” is somehow always involved in most conversations. Translated, I’m usually saying things like “it is not necessary to clean the blinds every day, but it very necessary that the fridge needs scrubbing” or “ it is not necessary for me to buy 15 bananas, it is only necessary that I buy 3”.

3.       Things can be cleaned just as well with only water…(TBD)

4.       If you know you are running low on cellphone credit, call the person and hang up immediately; they will call back and it will be free for you.

5.       All men know how to dance in Cabaretta, just like how all men back home know how to check the oil/

-       -Women in this town get a significant amount of attention purely because the ratio is 5:1. However, it is very important to keep in mind that every Dominican boy has a dream of one day being the father of a famous baseball player…the nation’s favorite sport. There have been many great baseball players in America who have come to the Dominican Republic. Therefore, if you are over 5’8”, 140 lbs and have some muscle definition… you are a baby making target. 

Crossfit demonstration at the de la Costa Fundraiser for the Jiu Jitsu boys going to compete at the Pan Am games

Zach and I selling mojitos and organic dark chocolate..yummm!

The Jiu Jitsu boys: Joe, Kelvin, Papo and ...Harlem

The Extreme Team

In the last little while, I’ve had to learn how to deal with a diverse handful of interesting problems. But none of them would have been solved without the help of the fantastic team I have here. The following people are the Extreme family members I’ve had the chance to get to know while staying here. They have all enriched my life in one way or another and I feel it is necessary to share with you my love of these people.

Zach: With a background in Kinesiology, Zach is an all-round health enthusiast. Zach enjoys eating books, girls and food from any plate. Always positive and playful, he has been the perfect friend to help us settle into this amazing lifestyle on a budget. Born in Seattle, Zach has been a key player in helping develop the fitness aspect of Extreme Hotel. Zach teachers classes at our gym, and is always reading up on the next fitness challenge. If you ever need to find him, he`s the one that never wears a shirt.

Erika: Background in sciences, Erika dropped out of med school to travel the world and coming to Cabarete on vacation to kite surf. While walking on the beach looking for a place to stay, she ran into Zach who brought her to Extreme. Later on, Zach asked if she got a room, she replied ``I got a job!``. Hired as a substitute assistant manager until I arrived, Erika has been amazing in training me. Sweet, kind and enormously helpful, Erika and I have been a great team tackling the day to day challenges of this place. We often like to have one-on-ones at the dodgy market across the street where they sell grande Brahma beers and BBQ chicken.

Scott: Scott is our all American boy. Covered in a mural of American themed tattoos, Scott thrills us with his stories of Jeep 4x, deep frying turkeys and going on wild music festival adventures with his buddies. One of Zach best friends from home, Scott is here for the next few months applying his contracting knowledge in building our Aquaponic structures and cabins up at our organic farm. Always reliable and hardworking, I admire his philosophy on life. He once said `I want to learn how to do things, so that I don`t ever have to rely on someone to do it for me`, wise words mi amigo.

Robbie: As the owner of Extreme Hotel, Robbie has been amazing in providing me a well balance meal of freedom, responsibility and structure. Over the years, Extreme Hotel has been able to develop great relationships with the people that come and stay here. Because of Robbie’s charismatic personality and because of the vibe this place has, people keep coming back and recommending this place to their friends. Robbie has an amazing vision for this hotel and together, the team will be adding more activities and opportunities for our guests to have fun. This includes tours up to the organic farm for a lazy river tour and BBQ, health and fitness camps, yoga camps, personal training camps, not mention all the events we will be hosting in the future which includes a Jiu Jitsu competition this May.

Moving to the Dominican has been amazing. I am thankful that I have great people who surround me and support me. I hope some of you find time to come down and visit in the future!

Adios! 

On Wednesdays the team goes up to the farm to discuss plans to expand and grow new plants. Between cabins, more worm farms and fruit and vegetable planting, its clear that we'll need some Wwoffers ! We hope that by the time the summer comes we'll have enough fruit and veggies to supply the hotels restaurant and other small cafes and shops. We'll also assign the responsibility to someone to sell at weekend markets and network to do weekly deliveries to the richer foreign locals. 

http://www.wwoof.org/

Miracle Berries: Chew on them before putting something else in your mouth and everything will taste sweet :)

Honey wheel: This hand power spinning device allows us to remove the honey from the combs without damaging them. We insert the combs between the two square gates and start spinning the crank. Just like a salad spinner, the honey spins out and pools at the bottom of the barrel. 

                                                                                 

The farm is cut by a lovely fresh water river :) hummm soak and swim 

I’ve been taking Spanish lessons for the past three weeks now. In addition to learning Spanish, my favorite part of class is enjoying the nice cup of instant coffee and the three cookies I get in the beginning of every class.  I try to disregard the fact that the Dominican Republic produces amazing organic coffee and that I’m not getting any.

Our teachers name is Maria. She’s very sweet, kind and..interesting. I’d say she’s about 50 years old and you could tell that she was a total knock out in her day. During the first few classes, I felt that her approach and teaching style complimented my learning abilities very well. Flash cards, an exercise book and conversations helped me pick things up quickly… but I feel like the honeymoon is over. I’ve now started picking up on some of her flaws and it’s starting to make the teenager in me squirm.

You know how some women decide to ‘stick’ at an age? Well, Maria has decided to stick to a dress size.  My favorite outfits so far are:

·      

             Skin tight white pants with full bum underwear

·         A gold satin blouse so tight that its buttons are running in opposite directions

·         A ‘snug’ flower print dress that may have been made intentionally shorter in the back?

Our classes are generally two hours long and are fading in productivity. Sometimes she’ll ask Kieran a question “K-ran, tiene la cara como un machete?” never covered this before. As Kieran’s trying to figure out what she just said, she pulls a pocket mirror out of her purse and starts checking herself out, typical. Kieran has no clue, none of us do. Finally she laughs and says “it means, you have a face like a machete! Hahahaha” uh…wtf? “that’s what we say when people are mad, they don’t say that in English?” “hum no”. Her phone rings and she picks it up, typical.  

What makes this fox so much more of character is that her husband is a 23 year old Russian chain smoker. He’ll come with her to her classes and sit in the corner and play on his phone for hours. White dress shoes, jeans and button up shirt, total babe.

I didn’t go to class today.

 Where I went instead of going to class :)

Would love to have more 'members' please sign up!

Genevieve

Extreme Activites

Full day of fun.


Staff meeting, kite surfing, Zumba, check-ins and check-outs and a bit of networking.


The hotel is gearing up to host a couple surf parties for the competition happening next week.


Crossfit classes are 3 times a week and are always full of guests and locals. The great thing about it is that its always different and its accommodating to everyone's level of fitness and ability. 


ps This video makes me laugh so hard. 

Great New Stuff !

The circus crew got hired for a private show in the gated community 20 mins away from Cabarete. They also teach trapeze and ribbon classes almost everyday to guests and locals. Lately they've been really busy with Groupon deals that hotel has been selling. One week stay, plus 5 days of lessons $300!

A new roof for the half pipe. Monday to Saturday its covered in mats for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes, but on Sunday, the locals rip it up on their skateboards. 

When we were kids the thought of working hard to stay fit never crossed our minds. We stayed fit because we played and had fun. Climbing trees, tag and running around a playground. What better addition to this Extreme playground for adults then monkey bars. This will definitely be incorporated into our Crossfit classes.

A couple Dominican kids that work from GoKite are fixing up a kite bladder for one of out guest. 

New worm farms for our organic garden. Housed in big rubber maid bins, these litter suckers eat half their weight in a day and double in population every month. These hard workers are essential for our farm and will be healthy food for our aquaponic fish. 

Another great day in paradise. Today I had a day off, but who needs one?

8:30am Wake up and do the hotels cash for the day
9:00am Breaky: coffee, eggs and star fruit at the hotel bar while finishing up my Spanish homework
10:30am Spanish class with Yolanda "es mono romantica?" "no, mono no es romantica"
12:30pm Lunch: Salad, bbq pork with sauteed rice with hot sauce
1:00pm Visit Kieran in the garden who's building composts and worm farms
nap
4:30pm Body Thrive!!! best hour and a half of booty blasting fun!
     Today's Circuit: Dive Bombers, weighted rows, sumo twist and reverse sit-ups. You can expect a video soon! Oh, and did I mention its taught by a total babe called Kieran?
6:00pm Beach run down to a sick surf spot called Encuntro
8:00pm Diner at the Chicken Shack. A fantastic place where they cook up a mountain of succulent BBQ chicken. Its served with rice, beans, salad and your choice of yuka, plantain or green bananas. Tonight I had  green bananas covered in sauteed onions yummm. They taste a lot like potatoes, but are a little sweeter.
9:30pm gelato

Tomorrows gonna be another full day of adventures!

ps
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16yuTV2_ZEM&feature=youtu.be
   

Located 20 minutes away from Extreme Hotel, the owner also owns a 40 acre organic farm. In addition to growing tasty fruit and veggies, his team has also started harvesting honey. Nestled on a hillside, beyond the pastier, the bees are tucked away in a shaded area.

Good dedicated workers they are. Always reliable. Stealth, fast, determined.

Today the boys went up and prepped for some honey harvesting. In a couple of days, I'll be enjoying my organic Americano with steamed coconut milk with organic honey...om nom nom.

 In other news...

•  I discovered that our security guards' weapon of choice is a nine iron
• We've had 4 earthquakes in the last three days
• Good peanut butter is incredibly difficult to come by, and..
• we're building monkey bars in our gym!

The other day I learnt how to ride a motorbike. My friend Erika asked me "have you ever driven a motorbike?", "Yup" I said, a complete lie. I've driven an ATV and a bike..I guess I figured they'd count if I put them together. 


I felt pretty badass driving it. In my mind I could picture myself driving this motorbike like one of those characters from MadMax. Hair blowing in the wind, causal backwards lean, a deadly look on my face, topped  with some sick shades or an eye patch. In reality, my knees where bent waist high because Erika is about a foot and half shorter then me. I had her massive dirt biking helmet on, short shorts, a flower print shirt and my muddy running shoes. If this were a dating game, they would probably brand me as the "cute and fun girl that doesn't mind riding with the dogs in the back of a pick-up truck".


I felt pretty good driving around. All the other bikers seemed to accept me as one of their own, of course their motor bikes fit slightly better. 


I only got concerned twice. The first time was when I had parked the bike in an alley and realized I left the keys in the ignition. The other was when I realized that the break fluid was leaking all over my leg. I convinced myself  that that was just typical though. 


All in all a good day. I even drove past town to find a local garage sale that sells dresses and baked goods. 


Jo quiero una cinnamon bun ahora!  

Since graduating university a month ago, I have packed up my life and moved down to the Dominican Republic. I have settled into a fantastic new job that has yet to be ordinary. Working as the assistant manager at Extreme Hotel in a town called Cabarete, I am pleased to be finally applying years of education and hard work. I enjoy my growing administrative responsibilities, as well as the challenge of working with Dominican employees; needless to say my Spanish vocabulary is growing quickly. I am excited to be working for one of the Dominican’s only eco hotels and I am even more excited to share with you the many changes we are making in becoming increasingly sustainable.

I truly believe that I have found my perfect “first” career working at the hotel. For those of you who know me well, hospitality is something that comes very natural to me. I love entertaining and making sure that my guests feel comfortable and at home. Having the chance to do this at a small scale adventure resort with people from all over the world is even more rewarding.

For there to be a connection with the organization, ones values to match those of their employer and business. After only being here a week, I feel that I can see myself as an ‘Extremer’ and part of their team. I can identify myself within the hotels values of health, wellness, stewardship and sustainability.

From a very young age, I vowed I would never get stuck behind a desk… you know the type of job that has you imprisoned between beige walls, casino carpet and stale air? Well I think I’m golden.

This blog is meant to tell the story of girl who never lost her ambition. I may not be the smartest, the fastest or the most creative…but I’ve got heart and drive. I hope to share with you my experiences working at the hotel and the many adventures I will experience. I am a Canadian in a foreign country, so be prepared to read some wild, hilarious and unique stories.

Adios!