Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly
Friday, February 22, 2008
Paradise Chronicles - Day 2
Sounds like I got out just in time. While snow and ice are wreaking havoc with your commute, I spent my morning trying to count all the different colors of the lizards that scamper across the courtyard.
I am here by myself for five days before a couple of friends fly down on Monday to round out the rest of next week. Since we'll be staying at one of the luxury resorts when they arrive, I wanted a real get- away- from- it- all experience with as much peace and quiet as I could find before they got here. And I think I found it. I have ensconced myself in a little beach bungalow - one of 6 owned by a Dutch couple in the sleepy little village of Pos Chiquito on the southern end of the island far, far away from the main city of Oranjestaad where all the cruise ships disembark, or the high rise resort areas in the north. I have a beach front bungalow with it's own little veranda and hammock, a small kitchenette, and an astonishing selection of wonderful books lining an entire wall - too bad they are in Dutch!! I do not have hot water, but cool showers feel really good in this climate, and I use the outdoor shower most of the time anyway. This is not the high rise resort area - exactly the opposite. Chickens and dogs in the street, the occasional rusted out car along the road, and very modest cement block homes in various stages of construction or repair. There is a little spanish bodega across the street for groceries and wine - oh and the local Balashi beer. The water is 20 yards from my door with a gorgeous reef teeming with fish, fishermen's huts down the beach where I can buy the catch of the day and throw it on the little BBQ out back, and it is as close to heaven as one can get.
All that and internet connectivity too? Why didn't I stow away in your suitcase?