Or this is more like me. I am up before the sun is. Waiting to see the first rays over the bay, although being on the West Coast it’s not quite the same as seeing a East Coast sunrise. But still, up before the dawn while on vacation? Check! √
I’m actually up because I wanted to chat with Ad. Now I’m starting to miss him. When I first got here we were able to text back and forth–or at least we did text back and forth, assuming there weren’t any charges. I kinda thought that might not be the case though, and told him to call the phone people and find out if there were any. Umm, yeah, there is a charge. Sixty cents a text for me to text him. Zero from him to me, but one-way communication is, well, it’s a monologue, not communication. And calling is hugely expensive, so…it’s online or nowhere. Problem is, his hours are screwy right now because he has his one employee on vacation too, so he is covering both set-up and take-down of their cameras, so when I am typically online he is not. Which means we haven’t spoken since Monday except for a brief couple of minutes online before he had to go to bed Tuesday, and then, on Wednesday, I cut off our chat because that’s when W and I talked about his really suck-ass schedule, in which I realized I wasn’t going to see him, most likely, until the end of the month, and so I was too upset to do chit-chat. Ad understood, of course, but still, it means we haven’t had a good talk since I got here.
Sad girl. :-(
I can’t imagine how people did it before the advent of instant electronic communication. What fun would vacation be if it meant you had to be totally out of touch with the ones you love? I guess you were used to it, like anything, but still. We are so spoiled, and I am so glad.
I did manage to have a first video chat last night with W though. We’ve chatted a few times the “normal” way, but hadn’t done the video thing. While I loved hearing his voice/seeing him…I’ll be honest and say that video chat is hard for me. There’s a reason I am a phone-phobe. Being on the phone feels like being on stage–can you say stage fright?? Being on video chat is a thousand times more so!! It’s like the whole getting pictures taken thing times a million. I was only able to manage it at all by minimizing my own picture so that I didn’t have to see myself. But, I got used to, and even love, having my pictures taken now, so…maybe I can get used to this. We’ll see. Hopefully W will continue to do chat with me in between video chat. I really enjoyed that.
One thing I am missing in our interactions though is sex. I miss the sexual tension that we generate when we are in person and when we play, and even at times when we email and when I blog, if we are talking about charged subjects. That’s really not possible to do over video chat now–although I have earphones so that The Missy can’t hear what he says, she can still hear what I say…so, we can’t even talk intimately. But what the heck, this distance thing is so new to us, maybe we will find ways to make it work, to keep the heat in it or generate a new kind of heat. I don’t know. I do worry about that though.
Oh, my camera? I love it. And now, every time I take a picture, instead of feeling a little bit of resentment, all I feel is love and gratitude. Every single time I pick it up I think about Ad’s generosity and love and incredible thoughtfulness. I like to think those feelings infuse every picture I take. They at least fill me and brighten my day a little bit every time, which isn’t a bad thing at all. Love breeds love.
The only bad thing about my camera is that I didn’t know the pieces of it yet when I brought it with me, so although I brought two batteries and a thing to charge them, I apparently also need a cord to do so…and I didn’t bring it. So until I can find a place to either replace the cord or buy a new battery, I’m having to be a bit stingy with the pictures, so that I don’t run completely out of battery power before our vacation is over. I’m hoping to find someplace today.
Speaking of my camera, I’m going to go take some pictures right now of dawn coming up over the bay.
7:05 AM
And isn’t the invention of laptops and wireless even more wonderful! I am actually out on the balcony watching the sun come up writing on my laptop. In my panties and a tanktop (this detail for Julian, who wisely counseled me to “drink more, wear less,” when I was missing the guys. So I am wearing less, dear Julian! Haven’t gotten to the drinking more part yet.) ;-) And I am drinking reheated three-day old leftover coffee (this detail is for W, who will be proud of me for doing so. I forgot that I am the only one drinking coffee, and that I only drink one cup a day, when I brewed my first full pot that first morning here. But I am too cheap to throw out a whole pot of coffee, so here I am, drinking the last of it three days later. I did drink more than one cup a day, though, just to get rid of it sooner. lol)
7:19 AM
Today’s plan is still in flux. My arms are surprisingly sore after swimming in the sea chasing dolphins yesterday. That’s literally what you do: spot the pod of wild dolphins; captain says, “Everyone out! Hurry, hurry!” And then you throw yourself overboard (“No splashes, quietly!”) and into the bay and swim frantically towards the dolphins, who he has pulled just ahead of. If you are “interesting” enough, the dolphins may slow to take a look at you, and even better, if they think you are fun, they will play around you! We spent a lot of time trying to be fun to a family of dolphins, which means chasing them (they swim fast!), diving down under the water, and spinning around if they decide to circle you. I am worn out, and drank a bellyfull of sea water, but I was also one who, along with only one other girl, managed to get within touching distance of a mama and her baby. We didn’t touch, of course (touching them gives the the okay to touch you, and since they weigh in at ~600-800lbs., not such a good idea!) but mama apparently wanted her baby to socialize with us, because she brought him over and circled us while he darted and dove between the other girl and I. It was an incredible experience.
The Missy got pretty close to the family as well. I was sorry that she wasn’t in the water with me when I got so close, but she’d been in several times before and was exhausted. I should have some better pictures when the naturalist that took us out sends hers to us.
It's really hard to see, but there are at least three fins out there. The group that we followed that day consisted of maybe 6 adults and several babies ranging in age from a couple months to the 8-month old that mama brought over to interact with us.
You can see one of the ones that got closest to The Missy here. She got within about 3 feet of this group, which splashed and played around her and two others with her.
This family is one that the wildlife biologists have been following and interacting with for ten years. They aren’t tame at all, and they don’t touch or feed them, but the dolphins seem as curious about us as we are about them, and will indicate their willingness to interact by slowing, circling or approaching the boat as you come up on them. The group that we interacted with slowed as we neared them, then gradually came closer and finally approached us several times. They will interact for several minutes and then swim off again, almost like playing tag with us–which is why the biologist kept saying, “Swim faster! Swim faster–chase them!” Apparently this is a common game to the dolphins, and their willingness to interact with us is directly related to our level of “playfulness.”
So, on the “possibles” to do today:
- Take the bus down to the Malecon for breakfast and shopping for trinkets to bring home to family and friends. I think I saw a flea market sign somewhere too…
- Take a bus up to Sayulita for the day
- Horseback ride up the River Cuale
- Canopy zipline
- Veg by the pool/beach all day
The Missy was funny yesterday when I was giving her our options. “I am loving this trip, Mummsie,” she said, “but you do more on a vacation than most people do in their regular lives! You’re wearing me out!” lol It’s true: I am bad at just sitting, except in brief interludes. But to be fair, I haven’t required us to do any of the things we’ve done, merely made suggestions and let her choose. If she’s wanted to relax at the pool and beach all day, that’s what we’ve done. And we have had large chunks of time in the middle of each day where we have relaxed at the pool or inside where it is cool, playing on the puters, chatting, reading or napping. So really, it doesn’t feel like we’ve been going going going to me…
But okay, I can take a hint. Maybe we’ll just shop a little and veg out today. lol (I can schedule the zipline & horseback riding for later this week.) ;-)
Finally--some color. 7:24 AM
And now, full light--time to start the day!
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