7 Days in an Undisclosed Location

Back from a lovely week in a classified spot in the caribbean. Here's a photo recap, day by day. Since a picture says a thousand words, here's about twenty thousand words on the subject... And no, you still can't know where it is. Enjoy the view, though!

The First Day

I flew shotgun (co-pilot!) over the crowded beaches and high-rise hotels of the main land, through a tropical storm. Nothing would stop us (my sister and I) from getting where we needed to be.

Even though the plane was very small, the amount of controls and toggles and odometers and things was like that gag in the movie Airplane! Where they just keep panning the camera, and its endless blinking lights haha

Look Mom! No hands! As we headed in for a landing...

...on a clearly much more rural island.

The Second Day

I took a walk across the street from my house, down the dirt path,

only to be charged by some very over-protective mother equines.

Hey, they have to grow up sometime,

don't stomp me out because you're an overbearing maternal horse mom!

Later that night, we headed down to La Nasa

and played Dominos in the dark.

With beers.

I got a really good hand.

Dominos is an underrated game, and an overrated pizza operation.

The game is so simple, you can play it after 40 beers no problem. No confusion over rules or anything. Loser buys the next round!

Salud!

The Third Day

This crab got too close for comfort while I sunned on the pier.

Although he's kind of cute in retrospect.

Had a Parcharita at Duffy's.

Parcha (passionfruit juice) + tequila + rock salt =

Parcharita

The sunset that night was one of the most beautiful

and most pink I'd seen down there.

This island just goes to show you

that wonders can be both big...

and small.

The Fourth Day

We woke up early to walk along the south side of the coast...

To get to THIS beach. Sun Bay.

Not the most creative name, but when it looks this good,

who care's about originality?

We were accompanied by a pervy beach bird.

On the walk back I disturbed horses lunching.

They didn't mind. A dozen or so blank stares,

then they went back to munching the grass.

The little one didn't even bother to get up.

He's not dead.

Just hot and sleepy. And adorable.

The Fifth Day

We hitched a ride with Lou and Nana to a very off-road beach.

Where we boogie-boarded and sipped cold beer from a can.

SIMULTANEOUSLY!

Then when I got home I plucked a mango from our tree in the backyard,

put it in the fridge for an hour,

and ate that thing like it was the last fruit on Earth.

Best mango ever.

The Sixth Day

Lou was gracious and awesome enough to give us another ride.

He showed us a house he was doing some landscaping work on, across from Hacienda Tamarindo. It's a huge sprawling piece of property, with separate poolside casitas and a glorious view of the south side of the island.

The pool, by the way, is saline, and not chlorine, which is worlds milder and better for you, and after you get out of the water, you feel like your whole body has been rejuvenated! Soft skin and hair, and no gross smell or taste.

Saline, all the way!

We had to get a cooler for our beer,

and the watermelon,

so we stopped by Lou's place

and he showed us his exotic bird collection.

Loco, the Cockatiel

(just like my 3 back home!)

It was as extensive as it was beautiful.

Then we proceded to go back to my favorite beach, and beer-boogie-boarded until the sun hung low in the sky. I even saw a rainbow. Forgive me for the lack of pictures of these events. It would not reflect well on any persons involved. Trust me.

That night, our last night, Claire (who graduated high school today!) we walked down to the pier, Coronas in hand, and sat down dangling our feet over the edge. Like some kind of omen, the biggest sting ray I ever saw swooped underneath us. Not a manta ray, not a spotted eagle ray, not things I have knowledge of getting that size, a circular STING RAY, 4 feet in diameter, was having a midnight swim for our viewing pleasure. I got a quick picture, but it does no justice to its size or beauty.

The Seventh Day

We woke up early, got the house clean and organized, had a lovely breakfast down on the Malecon, and took the scenic route to the airport. Our plane took off at noon, we left the island, and landed in Isla Grande at 12:30pm and were miraculously on our flight back to the city at 1:30pm. This included getting from one airport to another, checking our bags, going through security, and getting to our gate, in 60 minutes flat. It was nothing short of a miracle.

Though, say we had missed our flight. Would it really have been so terrible to kill a few more hours in San Juan? Probably not. But once I'm in travel mode, I prefer efficiency. You can take the girl out of New York, but you can't take New York out of the girl. Without a lobotomy.

I would just like to note further... Did you notice the lack of people in my pictures? That's not a strategy, there are just not many people down there, a very low population. Yes, we did deal a little bit with throngs of people from a drunken wedding party on the weekend, but that was it really. That's why I'm keeping the island a secret. I'm not about name dropping when it comes to traveling, especially this place, because a good secret is a KEPT secret. If you really want to know, I've sprinkled in a few key words for you nosy google detectives out there, and people who are reading this who may have already been.

The term 'keep it on the down low' was made for this place.

Hope everyone's summer is kicking off nicely. I know I was greeted by torrential downpours on my way home from the airport last night, and have yet to see the sun, as they continue all day today. Where are you Mr. Sun? Mr. Golden Sun? Won't you shine down on me?