oct172k9

People often want to know what I do in my down time. 

Today, I got a little sunburned; got  a little more sun than I meant to get.  No worries though, I’m just a little more than pink on my chest, shoulders and cheeks and by Tuesday, it’ll just be a tan.  The ironic thing is, I actually lost most of my tan when I was in Florida for two weeks.  Oh well.  I guess its really not THAT important. 

Today Gary, Marilyn, Carl (a mechanic in from the states for a couple weeks to assist us with some mechanical difficulties we were experiencing) and I went to Port Salut; the lovely beach about 45 minutes from the Mission Center.  There’s a great restaurant with a large straw roofed cabana right on the beach; lots of tables and chairs where you can spend the afternoon lounging after your meal.  And the food is delicious to boot.  Today Gary and Carl got lobster  and Marilyn and I had chicken.  And we all had banan peze (twice fried plantains) and diri kole (rice and beans).  Um, hello, yes, thank you and please.  I can’t say that I’m completely adjusted yet to the Haitian cuisine, but the stuff at this place is really good. 

The weather was beautiful.  Warm and sunny, perfect for floating in the ocean.  And the water was perfectly suited for relaxing;  it was cool and refreshing and calm.  I  spent a good bit of time just floating.  And there is very little sea life one has to be concerned about- so its great to go far away from the shore, and far away from all the little Haitian children who think you there to play with them.  They’re not always a bad thing, but they can be a little overwhelming when they want to climb and grab.   Today, Gary and Carl were going to try to head off the masses and swim out pretty deep.  I had a feeling it was going to be impossible to do.  Gary was wearing a bright yellow swimsuit and was carrying with him a bright yellow raft.  As I looked out to the water, all I saw was a flash of yellow swimming furiously away from a crowd of about 15 little boys swimming as fast as they could after him! 

I’m not sure the afternoon could have been much more perfect.  Sometime after we ate another couple we knew arrived and not long after that another large group from the Mission Center arrived.  I had some really great conversation with Mandi and Rico, a young couple who haven't been on the field too long.  Although I truly love all of the friends I have made here I am always excited to meet people who speak English, who are my own age since there aren’t too many of them here in our area. We even talked about getting together to play Skip Bo one night this week.  Hopefully that can happen. 

We arrived at the Beach around 11am and didn’t head home until after 4pm and I only got a little sunburned;  all in all a lovely day. 

But now, I’m exhausted.  How can a relaxing day at the beach be so exhausting?  Beats me. 

Its pouring down rain now; I expect I’ll sleep well tonight.