Today was another great day in paradise. Surprise! I'm sure it's becoming monotonous for you, but not for us. We are becoming more and more relaxed as we forget what day it is and forget to care about what time it is. Michael surfed this morning and I went for a nice long walk on the beach. It's really nice being so close to the beach because you can just run down there to see what the conditions are like, and it takes 2 minutes on the bike, if that. The maid was at the house cleaning when I got back from my walk, so I took my bicycle and rode over to the french bakery at Cafe de Paris. Yes, they have a french bakery here and it's great! The cookies and pastries and tarts are to die for - very authentic. The bread and croissants are good too, but a shade off. Don't get me wrong, it's still better than anything in Durango, but perhaps not quite up to Paris itself. I'm splitting hairs. I'm sure it's not easy to duplicate the conditions of a Paris bakery in the tropics at sea level. I have a feeling I will be visiting them anytime I want to indulge in something sweet, which didn't used to be that often. However, I'm on vacation and their confections could make it worth it!
This afternoon we went back to the beach and Michael gave me a surfing lesson. The plan has been and still is that I will take lessons from someone else, a professional instructor here at one of the schools. We agreed before we came that ultimately it will be better for someone else to teach me. This was not just a cliche, but sound common sense regarding relationships. However, there was no harm in fooling around in the whitewater and having him tell me about some of the basics and help me get a feel for being in the water with the board. It was good fun and he was patient and helped me catch some little waves on the board. First I stayed on my belly. Then I tried kneeling and standing up. In surfing you are either regular footed or goofy footed. I am learning all this terminology! Regular footed means that your right foot is back and your left foot forward when you stand on the board. This is most common for right handed people, of which there are many in this world. Goofy footed is just the opposite; right foot forward, left foot back. Well I am most definitely right handed, however I seem to be more comfortable trying to stand up on the board with my right foot forward, i.e. goofy footed. Go figure! Anyway, I did eventually manage to actually stand for a bit while riding a little whitewater wave into the beach. It was great! I definitely want to try that again.
This evening I made my own attempt at the local dish gallo pinto (rice and beans). I realized I had never actually cooked beans from scratch before; i.e. from a dried state. We soaked them last night and simmered them today. Then tonight I cooked rice and onions and added cilantro and lime and chile etc. It came out pretty good! I'm lovin' the gallo pinto! Michael cooked some more snapper and we had beautiful french green beans from the Farmer's Market too. The fruit and vegetables have been great down here. So, so fresh. And everything we got at the Farmer's Market was organic too. I'm also finding that things cook so much faster here. We are used to Durango at 6500 ft. Rice cooks in no time at sea level! So far the food has been great and we are enjoying all the fresh, natural ingredients that are easy to come by here.
We'll get some more pictures up soon. Hope all is well back in the U.S.
Pura vida,
Sojourner Sarah
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