Day 4 - Tuesday December 17, 2013:

Today, we all got up late (10:45 am?) and missed the buffet breakfast altogether!  But, I remembered that there was a continental breakfast from about 10:30 to 11:30 am and we were able to just make it to that.  Brent had gone out the previous evening and I spent the night with James so that he wouldn’t be alone.  That arrangement has been working really well for us.  Dave, meanwhile, would have his king bed in our suite all to himself, a fact he did not argue with anyone about. 

After our continental breakfast, we decided to use one of the other numerous swimming pools around the resort.  It was sunny again, as usual, but we got some regular lawn chairs and loungers under an umbrella.  We still have to pay close attention to the intensity of the sun, but it was okay today.  We did not overdo our sun exposure.

I had made another appointment at the Health Spa, this time for a pedicure.  Pedicures are nothing new to me, but I had not been planning to have one here in Jamaica.  However, I decided that, due to being on vacation here, I needed to pamper myself and not think about doing it when I get home to Canada.  Again, it was Donna who did my pedicure and she did such a great job that I tipped her $10US again.  I also made a third appointment for a full body massage.  This entails having a sauna if you wish, and then having a full body massage, front and back, by a professional female masseur, with the use of deep body hot oil moisturizer, scented candles and soothing music.  It felt so good yesterday, I’m going for another massage on Thursday this week!

We’re going to La Bella Vita later tonight, the Italian-cuisine restaurant that we made a reservation at yesterday.  Our seating time is 8:00 pm, which is a lot later than we are used to having dinner, but it was the only time that was available to us.  To attend this restaurant, we have to sort of dress up.  Men have to be dressed in trousers or dressy shorts and a shirt with sleeves.  Women should be in a dress or a skirt and blouse.  Proper shoes are required.  While the dress code is not exactly formal, we must be dressed like we are going to a nice restaurant, not a fast food place.  I’m told the food is very decent.  We all like Italian food (pasta, bread, salad, etc.) so it should be fine – we’ll find out later on.

Brent doesn’t know yet whether he’s going out or not after dinner is over.  He said the last two nights, he just spent his evenings at one of the bars downstairs at the resort.  The bars are open until 2:00 am, but you can drink as much as you want – the booze doesn’t cost anything extra.  He came back by 4:00 am the first night and by, I think, about two-ish, the second time.  I didn’t care; I was watching TV while James slept, and when I was tired, I went to sleep too.  But, Brent had to crash on the living room couch, which was okay except for the fact that there were no blankets or sheets for it and he forgot to ask the maids for some extra ones.  However, I think he was too drunk or too tired to care by that time.