Since the last post my camera has broken :( I can't retrieve the hundred or so pictures I have on there and have missed out on a bunch of great photo worthy opportunities. I'm very sad so please don't remind me that there are no pics....Moving on, since the last post I have naturally down a few blog-worthy things. Also, no dates are mentioned because frankly I really never know what day it is!! My days generally start out with a call/text/im to Javi to find out what's going on today with a generaly I don't know what to do you want to do, with an I don't care, with I'll pick you up soon. On this particular day we had Miguel and Julio keeping us company and off we went to centro in search of activity. This brought us to La Pova, a hidden-backyard-garden type club where many locals hang out. I was told they often have concerts and today was no exception. There was a cuban dance troup coming to perform. So we settle in and the boys order rounds and food (despite being on an island 1:00 is still a little too early for me to start drinking!) and many friends come to hang out. It turns into quite the party and around 2:00 p.m. the show is ready to start. Well let me just say that the dancers here should be on a pole back home! I had a front row shot to all the booty shaking I care to see for a long time! Not to mention I was only 1 of 3 girls in the whole place and naturally the only white girl! The commentator had fun with that, especially since it was all in Spanish and well I don't know Spanish! Assurance around the table that he was not talking bad about me, hmmm. LUCKILY, around 4 Miguel had to go home to get ready to go to work so we left.
Another cool thing I got to experience was a Whale Shark Festival. It was a whole weekend full of activities dedicated to whale sharks. I only went for Sunday night because Javi and The Band with No Name were playing at it. Javi told me to be there at 9:30 p.m. So I catch a taxi and I saw Centro por favor. The other occupant in the front seat starts blabbering off while staring at me. I offer the usual No hablo espanol and he chuckles and then asks if I'm going to the festival. Ahh, the joys of a tiny little island! I say yes and he assures me it will be fun, a little more small talk, he translates for the taxi driver and then we drop him off. The driver drops me off at the Supermercado and man this event is ALOT bigger than I thought. I quickly decided that there was no way I would find the band and that I was going to head to OM to find a friend and make him come back with me, lol. Then I notice a huge ship, like the size of one at Six Flags that is a ride. Upon my gawking I notice the whole band standing off to the side so I join them. It is where they will be performing. The evening is fantastic, the band plays all local music which the crowd loves. Everyone is dancing on stage. They even had a dance contest where the winners won a trip to go swimming with the whale sharks. Then at the end another dance troupe! I had already decided what was about to come and that I was just going to mosey on down to Faynes or OM but the boys in the band "wanted to chill for a bit!" Needless to say I was correct in my assumptions about the type of dancing plus I got a front row view for many backstage costume changes (i.e. bras, panties, and the men's tights!). Finally we head to Faynes where we finish up the night. Some friends of the island had come into town that night so it ended up being a great night. The group consisted of Gardner and his wife Mia plus a group of about 20 of their friends, children, and children's friends. Turns out Gardner is a huge benefit to the island and helps people more than I can even give him credit for on here.
Another memorable event I experienced here is watch a 42 party boat burned down in the ocean. One day Miguel and I went to town to eat and get some things and then after he convinced me to go walk around the beach. It is so hot here that unless I'm in a swimsuit the last thing I want to do is walk in the sand in the sweltering heat but I decide to not live up to my bossy reputation and go. While hanging out at the new dock swing bar at Sergio's we notice smoke and decide to go check it out. The boat was anchored at Chi Chi & Charlies and when we arrive only the top level was burning. Remind you the Navy is based on the island, but they were in no way helping. But what do you do about it, can't get a fire truck out there! So for the next hour and half or so we just watch it burn down. All the while moving farther and farther back because we don't know if this thing is going to explode and if so we are sure to get hurt. It was only maybe a 100 ft offshore. We only saw one medium explosion which was probably just the propane tank in the kitchen and maybe some liquor bottles exploding. Finally the navy towed it out to see where I heard that it sank and I've also heard it actually did blow up. Who knows!!
As for the rest of my days I am usually sleeping late, then running around with Javi, or going to the Marina to hang out with a cool family that is living here on their boat. Joe, the dad, plays in the band with Javi. Alex is the mom and she is just great motherly and friendly and fun. Their children Courtney who is 14 reminds me of me, way to grown up for her age but a great kid who appreciates everything and likes everybody and then Joey the younger son who is just full of life and is happy with anything. They are great people and we often will go hang out with them in the pool at the Marina or on their boat. Usually it turns into a party with lots more people joinging.
I realize this is alot so I will save a few more things for my next post. I hadn't realized how much room a story takes to tell. I've been putting off a post because I figured I didn't have enough to talk about. So tell me folks would you rather hear from less with more to tell you or more often with only a few things I've done??
