Sunday

I woke up early Sunday morning with the feeling of freedom you get after sitting in a hospital room with someone for a whole day. I felt like Paradise was just waiting for me to step up and embrace it.

Sea smoke over the islands. I'll explain why there are upturned palapas in another post.

Knowing we had to kind of step up our cooking in order to use up some of the groceries we bought, I made a fritatta with a dozen eggs and some awesome chorizo. I peeled and cubed a couple of mangoes and served the whole works with crema, the Mexican alternative to sour cream. It's milder and a little softer than sour cream-makes killer chilaquiles! By the way, it's available in the States-I've found it at Walmart.

We spent the day lazing under the palapas and arranging for a tour on Monday. About 4:30 we took the bus down to the Golden Zone to do a bit of shopping and eat at Gringo Lingo, a fun restaurant that specializes in all-you-can-eat menus. Sunday was seafood, perfect! We bought a few souvenirs, but we were amazed at the lack of tourists. Between the Swine Flu and the drug war rumors, the Americans and Canadians were staying away. We had the run of the place, but we really had to outrun the timeshare salespeople that manned every corner. They were desperate and we were the only victims on the street! We had to finally get a little rude to fend them off!

I felt badly for the ladies who sell souvenirs in the tiny shops in the Zone. I bought a couple of coffee mugs from a lady and she said a prayer of thanks-it was her first sale of the day, and it was after 5:00. A little girl asked to have her picture taken with Santa and we visited for a while with the shopkeepers since there were no customers. It was neat to get to know some of the locals.

An artist couldn't do as well as Mother Nature!

Back at the resort, I grabbed my camera and headed to the beach. We'd been there for four days and I hadn't seen a sunset yet, so I was ready. A crowd gathered around the sea wall to watch the sun go down. As the sun dipped below the ocean there was a round of applause. God can really do a spectacular show! We sat there for a long time just letting the ocean breeze blow over us and talking about this and that. That feeling you get facing the ocean and watching the waves is totally addictive! If I had anything to say about it I'd still be there. Forever if I could get away with it.