Bob has had 4 weeks of non-stop med teams without a day off, other then to go to Santiago to get our mail and go grocery shopping. One med team would leave on a Saturday at noon and three hours later the next team would arrive at the airport. So.....today was OUR day!
We had heard that there was a beach we could go to near our apartment but had never gone there. WOW! Such a nice surprise to find so close...3 minutes from our front door by car. We pulled up to the parking lot and the guard let us in. We walked down to the beach and indulged in 5 hours of relaxation...no phones, etc. There are comfy beach chairs, little tables, or tables to sit at. a huge beautiful crystal clear pool with a waterfall (lounge chairs and tables with umbrellas around that), an open air restaurant. It is actually owned by the Guavaberry Golf Resort about 8 miles away. But the resort is not on the beach, so they purchased this to have beach access. If you stay at the resort, this is free. The only thing we had to do was buy a beverage (coke for 25 pesos = approx 75 cents). Since it was our first real day off together in about a month, we opted to also buy lunch. We could have had it served to us right on the beach, but we opted for the restaurant. I got the most delicious hamburger. Well the menu called it a hamburger with portabella mushrooms and cheese. It was a 1" thick steakburger! with fries, etc. Bob got a "cesar ensalada con pollo" He did ask them to hold the anchovies! But then had to send the salad back and ask them to please put "el pollo en la ensalada" For those w/o Spanish knowledge --he had to ask them to put the chicken in his chicken salad!
But this beach is very quiet, soothing music playing in the background and the sound of waves hitting the coral reef. No street sounds, no merangue music, no construction sounds...just total relaxing sounds... Not very busy either. The entire time we were there there were never more then 30 people there at the most. There is a guard so it's okay to walk off and leave your stuff on the chair.
We relaxed, we walked on the beach collecting pieces of big conch shells for our coffee table display (we decorate different here) and pieces of sea glass (broken glass that has been worn smooth by the water and sand (again, we decorate differently here!), we each had a coke, we read, we walked some more, we went into the ocean, we read, we ate lunch, we went into the pool, we walked on the beach, we read...we didn't want to leave.
What's nice is that this is a very safe place I can go to by myself on occasion. There are very few places I can do that. Even going to the store requires going thru SanPedro traffic (NOT relaxing).
So, we are grateful that the LORD has provided this place that is close to home that if we just had a free morning we could go to. We can order cafe con leche and sit on the beach and read and not feel guilty about spending money. Cafe con leche was only 35 pesos ($1.00).
I am totally relaxed ...and my hair is back to blond compliments of the glorious sunshine!
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no merengue music!? that's a plus? i love merengue!
ReplyDeleteyour day sounds lovely, and i'm happy for the two of you. impressed with bob's spanish, too:) hope you get a few more days like that, though maybe a little closer together!
~d The salad actually said it had anchovies, he pointed to the word and said "NO!". Somehow they translated that to leaving out the chicken also! We did inspect his salad closely looking for any hint of chicken before sending it back. After all, he did pay an extra 35 pesos for the chicken over the price of a regular salad.
ReplyDeleteIf his Spanish impressed you, today I told Pabo, the caretaker at our apartment: "Cuando tu tiene tiempo, yo necisito un botella de agua, por favor." (We use five gallon jugs of water and no way can I carry it up two flights of stairs) But I did say the whole sentence without any stumblings, or 'uhs' or 'ahs'. Do I get any awards for that one?
Oh, by the way, I do like the merengue music, it's just that normally it is blasting either from 5 foot speakers from the back of a truck, or I can hear it in the distance from our bedroom window at 1-2 AM.
good times. i could definitely use some sunshine, sand and water to wash away this exhausting day. be right down ASAP. (i wish...).
ReplyDeletewow, anna, you're spanish is coming along very nicely!
ReplyDeletemuchos puntos para ti :)