An Unconventional Hotel Deserves an Unconventional Check-in
When you first arrive at Extreme Hotel here’s what to expect: Your taxi driver will drop you off, you’ll pay your $35USD and then walk into our Spanish school. Confused? Don’t be. Our main lobby is put to good use by our Spanish teachers and eager pupils. Instead, the extreme staff prefers to keep busy in the office at the gym. When you arrive here, that’s where you can normally find someone who can help you. Extreme hotel is run by a team of active, energetic and fun staff. We love our job, because we love to play. Our days start early with rise of the sun because that’s the best way to maintain a fantastic, active lifestyle. At extreme, our fitness, yoga, Jiu Jitsu, TRX, and trapeze classes all get started before the wind even picks up (normally around 1:00). You can always find some of us in the gym, running around the hotel, or having coffee with guests at the beachside restaurant. We opted not to have a hotel reception because our place is small enough that news travels fast, and we are quick to help you with anything you might need. But rest assured, we will always be expecting you when you arrive after your long journey. Based on your communication with Robbie via email, the Extreme Team will know who you are and when you`ll be arriving established by the flight information that you have sent through email (this is very important). Once you`ve arrived, we`ll have you checked-in, in your room and giving you a tour before you know it. This is a hotel, but we like to think that we`ve got the communal culture of a great hostel. Things may seem a little different at first, but that’s just because we`re not a conventional hotel. Depending on your vacation purpose, we`ll make sure you meet all the right people and experience all the gems of Cabarete. New places are always a little intimidating at first, but no worries, you`ll fit right in.
Lifestyle Change
What is a lifestyle change? When I arrived to Extreme I already had already engrained some pretty good healthy habits into my behaviour. I exercised regularly, I ate generally well and had a pretty good idea of what was good and bad for my health. The problem was that I had no self-discipline; I would overindulge in cheese, breads, cereal, chocolate, cookies, alcohol and probably any sweet that you put in front of me. I figured that the best way to improve my physic without giving up my lovely eating habits was to work harder, run faster, or do more reps… in other words, put more intensity into my training. The problem was that I knew that my strategy was flawed. I had come across some valuable information some time ago, something that should have revolutionized my lifestyle, but I decided to ignore it. I hated how I started to see it everywhere! And more I questioned it, the more it proved to be right. Curious what it is? It’s the 20/80 rule. To maximize and optimize your health and wellness, and to get the results you desire, 20% of the results will come from exercise and the other 80% will come from your diet. You can see now how my strategy was flawed eh? (yes I am Canadian). Ok so basically I was killing myself and getting nothing really out of it. Well it wasn’t all bad, but I did realize that I had to shift my lifestyle. So with the help of Zach and Matt, our coaches at Extreme I started changing my diet. Living in the Dominican Republic, the majority of my diet consisted of fruit and meat. Dominicans also eat a lot of rice, fried food and beans. Although I could limit my rice and fried food consumption, what I really needed was more vegetables. I decided to take advantage of the fruit and veggie stand that is across the street. Now I buy a big bag of fruits and veggies, leave it in a bowl in my room and munch on it whenever I’m hungry. The shelve life of a bowl of produce sitting in a room in the tropics is about 2 days. I also cut out wheat completely. This was super tough, but I noticed a difference in my body and energy level almost immediately. Within 2 weeks, I saw more definition in my stomach, I no longer felt bloated and I didn’t crash after eating. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a long way to go, but the point is that I’ve started to listen to my body and understand how my energy levels fluctuate during my workouts depending on what I’ve been eating. The 20/80 rule is legit!
Green Makes Me Happy
Why does GREEN make me so happy? Why does green make me so happy? Other than the fact that it’s a great color, it’s a great way to live! These days, Extreme Hotel is greener than ever. We’ve recently double the number of solar panels we have on our roof, improved our recycling program and continue to make efforts to wean off our dependency on paper. Although most of us are used to recycling programs back home, here in the Dominican Republic, the municipal and provincial system still has a long way to go. Without going into too much detail, I’ll explain to you how we try to achieve a greener environment. Generally everything that is discarded goes straight to the dump: Plastics, glass, paper, cardboard and garbage all goes to the same mountain of waste. From there, locals pick through the trash for bottles that can be recycled for some change. Unfortunately, because the bottles get thrown in with the rest of the trash, the bottles can get contaminated and cannot be recycled. Although Extreme can’t change the waste system, we can try to make their job easier. By separating our bottles from the garbage they will easier to detect and have a higher chance of being clean enough to be resold and recycled. In addition, we still email general information than print it on paper. We have added many whiteboards and chalk boards to deliver information to our guests. Our rooms have low flow faucets and everything is connected to our solar power system. Please help us get greener! We’d love to hear your innovative and fun ways of decreasing your environmental footprint! Whether it’s small or big, if you’ve got an idea that could help the hotel please write us with your recommendations. We’ll do our best to implement it and give you feedback. Gracias!
Why I love to work at Extreme
The sun is your only alarm clock. Guests and staff are as friendly as your next door neighbour. We start our day with Sun Salutations, representing our gratefulness for such wonderful opportunities we are presented daily in this paradise. Richard from GoKite continually demonstrates his inherent ability to read the wind. With his chill Dominican demeanor, he demonstrates a wiseness far beyond his years, one can’t help but feel in good hands. Talking to the many wonderful people staying at hotel, they are always happy and well fed by Chichigua’s amazing Dominican style cooking. Guests who have a green thumb are teaching me about plants in our organic garden. Afternoons are filled with laughter from kids in Circus classes and adults comparing war stories from Crossfit classes. Staff meetings are primarily opportunities to find new and great ways to better the hotel: How to produce more fruit and veggies in our organic garden? How will we build our outdoor pizza oven? What reusable materials can we use to build an Earthship inspired green house? How can we develop more fantastic activity packages to help people get away from corporate world and come recharge with us? Siestas are a way of life and not a treat. Every day is an adventure!
Obtaining a Dominincan Driver’s license
Many long term guests want to drive in the Dominican Republic. Officially you can use your home driver’s license for up to 3 months, but if you plan to stay longer, it’s not a bad idea to obtain a Dominican Driver’s license. Here are the 3 easy steps for Canadians. For Americans and other countries, you’ll have to check with your local embassy to see if they can validate your home license. You will need a Cedula, Recency Card, Canadian Driver’s license and about $3500 RD. Step 1. Visit the Canadian Embassy with a copy of your passport and provincial driver’s license. The Embassy will validate your license. The wait time is 3 days at a cost of RD $1800.00. The Canadian Embassy address: Canadian Consulate Santo Domingo Av. Winston Churchill 1099 Torre Citigroup en Acropólis Center, piso 18 Ensanche Piantini, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana 809-262-3100 sdmgo@international.gc.ca Step 2. Take the validated document to be authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Next door to the Ministry is the Banco Reservas. You can save time by prepaying the cost RD$620.00. Be sure to tell them what it’s for first. You can avoid a second trip by paying for your license as well, another RD$950.00. Once you have the receipts, go to the Ministry and get in line to deposit your documents. Cancilleria Av. Independencia No. 752 Estancia San Gerónimo Santo Domingo Distrito Nacional República Dominicana. Step 3. Proceed to the Secretary of State of Public Works. Make 3 photocopies at the front desk of your license, cedula, residency card, documents and receipts. Take this to the Juridico DGTT and then the Sub-direccion DGTT offices. From there the process gets a bit quicker. The steps are numbered and you need only to do step 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8. Register, eye exam, blood type, document check, and the last step is getting your address and photo. It is only a five minute wait from there to get your card. SEOPC Av. San Cristóbal Esq. Av. Tiradentes Santo Domingo Rep. Dom. 565-2811 Ext 3111 Now all you need to do is figure out how to drive here in the DR!
A sunny and windy thursday on Kite Beach, Cabarete.
Today started amazingly with very warm weather early in the morning and people even being able to kite at 11am because there was some nice wind, it then just got better and better as the day went on! The circus school was in full swing today as well, had a very busy morning class followed by a staff training session which got quite a crowd watching them flying around! Kaiceitos circus school runs flying trapeze classes at 9.30am and 4pm everyday Tuesday to Saturday, they are closed on Sundays and only run indoor aerial arts on a Monday. Our on site kite school here at extreme hotel has been unbelievably busy resonantly, There instructors and equipment are notable the best on the beach and it shows when you see how many students they have, defiantly something awesome to try with us here at extreme hotel, Cabarete. Today was also an awesome day for Mi gym, the on site gym here at extreme hotel, Cabarete. They just received a lot of new work out equipment and cross fit training equipment to make them the number 1 cross fit training center in the Caribbean!