Taken from my travel journal…Spring Break 2018
Day 4:
There is actually Wifi in the room...it only works at 3am for me, when all the other hotel guests are asleep. I took the liberty of messaging friends and leaving instructions for the mail by the front door, and updated our Facebook profile pic before the Wifi went slow again (at about 4am). Sadly I was unable to update the cover image.
When traveling, no USA news is good news. Presently my resting heart rate is several beats slower than back home in the states. And let me just say, it is a constant increased rate when home. Yet here, I'm not worried about:
- being robbed by my neighbor's kid,
- seeing another dead black guy in the news...brought down by American Justice
- being hit by a cell-phone distracted driver while biking to work (they don't do it nearly as much here)
- Trump
It all makes my heart race and my head ache. When traveling we do not watch telly, read social media or any USA news papers when on vacation.
A few days hence--last year, that is--we were headed back to the airport from another restful spring break vacation & a 'helpful" American informed us of the United Airlines flight on which the crew bloodied a man's mouth in order to resell his seat. I didn't need to know anything of the latest disappointment coming from America on my last vacation day (and the guy from Ellicot City, Maryland) robbed me of my peace. As he spoke I felt my heart begin to beat faster and I know then that my vacation was already over.
Day 5:
I'm still rather timid in the face of these gigantic, surf-able waves. Even though I brought spare glasses, there's the fear of losing those balanced on my nose (I really am terribly, terrifically blind). Also I could be sucked out to sea, my swimming ability is present yet weak, y'know.
Hubby, on the other hand, is fearless...he likes to body surf the foaming breakers and can power through the strongest currents. He was out today barreling around in front of Hotel Banana Azul (where the right-pulling current is Herculean in strength, in my honest opinion), when he was beckoned to shore by resort staff, waving frantically.
He was asked to swim "more responsibly" in the strong currents, 'not just for you, but for [the safety of] everyone.' We had to laugh!
Day 6: The Penultimate
I slept almost none last night but instead listened to the rain and fretted a little about various and sundry. I felt my ultra smooth legs under the covers while hubby slept--the multiple tossings and tumblings I've taken against the sand each day has scraped off the winter-dead skin and left me with surprisingly beautiful and soft legs--like a hairless cat or something--and vowed to exfoliate regularly; planned my post-vacation blog posts, and my mentally composed my comic monologue. None sounded very funny in my head at 2 am.
But eventually, happily, my daily alarm went off and I was able to check Facebook and send a message that only took 2 minutes with the weak wifi rather than the usual 5.
Know this:
I feel better than I have felt in a while. I was feeling my mortality (or was it just winter) before we got back to Puerto Viejo. David our host and hotel manager greeted all guests in Spanish or English (as he saw fit), proclaiming 'what a beautiful day' then recounted a few of its virtues; the sun, the air, the people the weather, the nacion, the hope that all of these bring...
Beach Lessons:
- Exfoliate (dammit)
- Eat slowly (as the Ticos do)
- Everyday is a beautiful day (as David says)
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| Packing CUBES ROCK! |
We met Cathy K. and Joel K. on two planes run by Spirit Airlines (the surprisingly good, no-frills airline, where everything is made of plastic). What can I say I like Spirit Airlines. Got home at midnight...... drank water, slept, woke showered, exfoliated. Welcome home!
