Perfect day today, apart from the morning downpour
and postponement of morning snorkeling.
We made plans with B (the new ER resident) to go snorkeling from West
End, a new spot for us. It’s ridiculous
the amount of snorkeling we are doing here.
I love it and yet I’m getting sick of it. This time we saw a tiny sunken submarine with
some exotic fish swimming around it. We
didn’t go too far out as there were some ominous rainclouds close by.
We ran into ER #1 and ER #2, who were on their way
to Utila (a nearby island) for a few days.
We also ran into M, who was with the boys. We persuaded him to accompany us to lunch at
our new favorite restaurant – The Lighthouse.
Our favorite waiter was delighted to see us again. I even persuaded him to give me a mix of french
fries and fried plantains instead of just one or the other. You should have seen J’s face when she asked
for the same and the waiter told her no.
Ha!
Since the sun finally decided to show itself, we
went out to our dock to suntan for a while and then made a stop at a fruit
stand for some more fresh mangos. J and
I headed back to Ed’s to freshen up before heading back to West End to meet up
with B and M later for some homemade guacamole.
Problem was our upstairs neighbor from the clinic was throwing a massive
birthday party for her 2 year old daughter, complete with an outdoor tent, all
kinds of food, and at least 50 people.
We decided to stop by since she had invited us the day before. After sitting down with a few other people
from the clinic, a very nice gentleman each brought us a heaping bowl full of
crab salad. Then a tall glass of
Sprite. Then a piece of birthday
cake. So much for the guacamole…
Oh, and I cannot forget this story! You’ll LIKE this one, if not LOVE it. So on our taxi ride back from West End to our
apartment, I was chatting it up with our taxi driver like usual. At one point he asks J and I if we are
married (this is all in Spanish mind you, so J has no idea what’s going on). I told him I wasn’t, but J was (only a few
months to go, so what’s the difference?).
So then he says, “You’re single?
I’m single too. In fact, I want
an American girlfriend” (‘novia gringa’ were his exact words). He then proceeded to tell me he’d like to
invite me out to West End sometime for dinner.
After asking him how he expected to get an American girlfriend when he
charged too much for a taxi ride, his best response was “gas is expensive.” Well, so is a girlfriend, J remarked later
on. Ha!
Then we started talking about other things so I asked him typically how
much it would cost to get from Sandy Bay (where we live) to West Bay (where the
resort we go to is) in a taxi (we are planning on going on Wednesday). He said he’d charge us $11 for the two of us
both ways, which is really good since normally it would be $20. I think he was starting to figure out he
couldn’t charge me so much money for a taxi if he wanted to see me again. Upon arriving at our apartment, I asked him
for his phone number so we could call him to take advantage of such a deal. Then he had the audacity to ask for my phone
number. He said he wanted to take me out
to Punta Gorda (another area of the island) to the beach for the day and he
wouldn’t charge me anything at all. He
even upped the ante by saying he’d drive me in an SUV, “porque me gusta el modo
suyo.” Wow, what a great offer, BUT after
telling him I didn’t want to give him my phone number, Jorge (great name by the
way) asked for a good reason why not. I
told him we’d see how Wednesday goes.
Question is… do I call him on Wednesday to have him take us to West Bay,
or not? However will I turn him down yet
again?
J and I finally made it back to B’s place in West
End where we cut up a few juicy mangos and made our homemade guacamole. We sat (I may have even sat in the hammock
for a while) on the deck enjoying the fruits of our labor and the ocean breeze
coming from the beach across the street.
M kept us enthralled with a few amazing stories. I could repeat that every night.
Afterthought: Somehow the sand fleas rediscovered
my juicy blood and I am again covered in bites from head to toe. Ay ay ay…
