The Visiting Marrows

So this week, the family came to visit me. It was great to have a break from work and finally spend some time at the beach. I met them at the airport on Saturday. It felt very strange to be speaking English again and they commented that my accent was a little wierd. 

We stayed in an all-inclusive beach hotel, which basically meant lots of sun, sea and sustenance. Having eggs every day was a luxury that I had almost forgotten about.. The girls enjoyed sunbathing a lot and I suppose one of the biggest jokes of the week was how pale I am, considering I have been in the Caribbean for over a month. I just tell them that I still have 6 months of sun to look forward to: slow and steady wins the race!

My siblings also took pleasure in blaming me for any moment of cloud cover, any lost tanning time, despite it being thanks to me that they were here in the first place. Other highlights were my parents' failure to grasp the necessary Spanish words: 'vino tinto' (red wine). Our last evening was pretty funny too. Mum went out of her way to be an embarrassment, somehow reaching new levels of peculiarity. She insisted on befriending the waiters and having photos with them. Ben actually disappeared for a few minutes, returning in a disguise of hat and suglasses!  

It was a very lazy week. We didn't really do much. A trip to the nearby 'Boca Chica' beach on Wednesday was our first excursion. Every 30 seconds we would be pestered by people selling jewellery, hats, pictures music and more. On Thursday, we took a catamaran to an island, Isla Sanoa, off the South East Coast. The white sand and turquoise sea was very refreshing, not to mention the beach barbecue. On the way back to the mainland we took an exhilarating speedboat ride with a brief stop off at one of the island's many natural swimming pools. The drivers raced each other, an example of the relaxed attitude towards safety. As we had spent the day getting burnt, we agreed that the speedy trip back to the mainland was helpful. 

On our final day we briefly had a look around the Zona Colonial in the city to please mum, and a look around the shopping centre to please the girls. Our taxi driver took us along the casino strip and it was nice for me to see other bits of the city, as I have generally been based in one area. It was a really relaxing week, but now it's back to work!!