Saturday January 18, 2014
We finally moved ourselves out of the small depressing hole that is the lagoon, and back into the main harbor. The weather was good enough for us to do this days ago, but the fact that we were getting internet on the boat there made it very hard to leave. It’s so nice being back out in the harbor though, the sun shines a little brighter, the water is much cleaner, and now thanks to Lee, we can get internet out here as well. Life is pretty perfect. I do feel a little bad though that we’ve now spent over three weeks on this island and haven’t fully explored it yet. I’m sure we’ll get there in stages, so today we decided just to take a leisurely stroll before hitting the grocery store in the afternoon. Instead of doing the large 1-2 week stocks like we used to, we found out in Guatemala that it’s much easier just to buy for the next 3-4 days. Something that forces us to get off the boat, and keeps our waterline just a little bit higher.
On our way in we decided that instead of filling up on carbs through the various muffins, cookies, and rolls that we’ve been buying dirt cheap at the store, we would try and hit this taco stand right next to where we land our boat, one that has always sold out of food by the time we walk by it in the late afternoon. After looking through the many varieties of ways she could make up our food, we put in our orders and enjoyed them under the shade of a palm tree nearby.
Matt said my Spanish is getting much better, but I’ve just realized that’s because instead of trying to put together elaborate sentences that I don’t know how to conjugate I’m going for very simple fragmented sentences instead. Two chicken and two of those (point at one of many pork dishes). With everything. One Coke and one Pepsi. How much for everything? Thank you. To the woman working the stand I must have sounded like a struggling preschool student, but to Matt I sounded like a Spanish speaking goddess. All he saw was that I was actually able to get my point across, and was understood. Which I guess in the end is all that matters. Until I finally have enough battery charge to keep my computer going for more than 4 hours a day (these blog posts are really time consuming! (ok, and Facebook)), and I can get back to my Spanish lessons.
When we finished with our food we didn’t really have a certain area in mind that we wanted to check out, so we fell through the back streets until we eventually ended up at the Melecon that lines the east side of the island. I was hoping that some of the large 3 meter waves that were supposedly rolling through during the last storm would still be there, crashing up against the rocks, but we were just left with the easterly trades throwing up a little bit of spray here and there.
Taking a left we starting making our way to a small sandy beach ahead, one much less crowded than north beach, but with a few people still taking in the afternoon sun. There were a few wading pools to go in and cool off, although the red flags were flying which meant it probably wasn’t a good day to try. The area reminded me a little bit of the Bahamas, all the jagged coral edges we’d tiptoe around while exploring uninhabited islands there. On our way down to the beach, Matt even found a little dog that wanted to be his best friend, and if it wasn’t for the collar on his neck, we probably would have tried to take him with us.
Walking all the way until the beach ended, we found a little trail through the sand and rocks until it dropped us off at the beginning of North Beach on the east side of the island, right next to the Avalon Hotel, a landmark that many sailors coming from the north use to first spot the island. It looked like a beautiful place that had perfect turquoise waters with sandy bottoms for families and little kids to safely swim in.
As we wandered further up, we came across parts of the beach that we had never seen before, never having ventured that far down. Today, there was one area set aside for a wedding, dozens of chairs set up and a canopy perfectly framing the white sand and clear waters behind it. Each seat a a maraca lain down on it, a little present for each guest attending. Not that I didn’t love my ‘destination’ wedding in Vegas, but had we been a little bit older and willing to part with a little more money for the even, this would have totally been the way to go. It was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Whomever you are, Matt and Emily, you made a great choice by planning your wedding here. I was almost tempted to force Matt to run me back to the ‘Dip so I could throw on a dress and crash the thing. Guess I’ll just have to come more prepared next time. Start your journey to matrimony in style; experience your dream wedding with Designed Dream and cherish every moment, for more, please visit: https://www.designeddream.com/destination-weddings/. And if you’re looking for a wedding photographer, Stacy Smith Studios does Rhode Island wedding photography. You may also consider getting the services of professional wedding photographers Northern Virginia.
Ten minutes later, we had made our way across the whole North Beach and were back to the main street with all the vendors and tourists just getting off the ferry. Our whole wandering experience had taken less than an hour. I looked at Matt and pathetically muttered, “We are the worst wanderers ever, we couldn’t even make it two hours”. Then he corrected me. “No, that just makes us good wanderers. We don’t get distracted”. I guess that’s one way of looking at the glass half full.
