Waking Hungry

I was up at 6:30am, just after the first rays of sunshine burst through the seams in the draperies covering our scenic view of the Caribbean. I felt great after 12 hours of sleep. I cleaned up and started some coffee. The coffee, by the way, rests in the bathroom so it’s an easy transition from brushing teeth to making coffee. For a brief minute, I slipped out onto the veranda to sniff the Caribbean air and see the surf and sun. I snapped a picture with my Blackberry and sent it off to my peers at work. Back inside I sat at the desk by the sliding glass doors and started writing about Tuesday. I wrote for the next 20+ minutes or until 7am when I dressed and left for a run. Even at 7am the sun’s rays were quite warm. Along my usual trail I spotted an adult iguana devouring an egg about the size of a golf ball. I ran between 5 & 6 kilometers just like the day before. I was quite steamy upon my return to the hotel. The concierge had a towel and bottled water ready in hand as I entered the lobby. Thank you! I took my time heading back to the room. The mild AC felt great. The hotel’s decor is very nice and a pleasure to the eye - a mixture of art, flora, and music. Elegant comes to mind. It was 7:40am (8:40am EDT). Mindy was still in bed but awake. I did some more writing while she puttered and eventually readied for breakfast. I moved towards a shower around 8:30am. We readied and left for breakfast even before 9amCDT. I grabbed a USA Today (Caribbean version) at the restaurants entrance. We were seated at Mindy’s favorite table, right by the rail overlooking the sea. The sky was exceptionally blue, as was the water. The sea looked clearer today than previous days, a direct result of calmer tides. Our server was once again Jorge. He greeted us by our names, Mr. & Mrs. Wright. We ordered the buffet, and Jorge promptly brought us a couple mimosas and saw to it that we had coffee. We sipped our mimosa and coffee before making an assault on the buffet. I don’t think that I’ve differed much at all in the food that I’ve gathered for my breakfast feast each day: bacon, sausage links, shredded potatoes, nachos, croissants, and a made-to-order omelet. I read the headlines while enjoying my food. An article about Brett Favre and the Vikings caught my eye straight up. A close friend of Brett‘s, Steve Mauriucci, was quoted as saying that if Brett’s healthy enough, he’ll play for the Vikings this fall. I also checked the national weather forecast. I noticed only two cities across the entire nation were forecasted for sunny skies, Phoenix and one other in New England. Everywhere else was partly cloudy or expecting thunderstorms. However, take Cancun for instance, our forecast has called for thunderstorms each day but we’ve had nothing but blue skies and sunshine all week. The forecast can be deceptive. I took special note of the PNW forecast. I have a friend/team member vacationing in Portland/Seattle this week. I noticed a favorable forecast. Good! We hung around at breakfast for a good hour or so. We again got our fill of food and mimosas. We headed back to our room to ready for the beach. Mindy pretty much followed the same blue print she used Tuesday. She leaped back into bed while I readied for the beach. My thinking being that I could nap on the beach if the urge struck. But sleep was farthest from my mind. After all, I slept 12 hours Tuesday night. I lathered up with sunscreen, still using SPF15. I woke Mindy and had her do my back. Sorry hon! I headed down to the beach around 10:45am. Mindy would join me later. I grabbed two towels even knowing that Javier had already created our little oasis of beach chairs - two in the sun, and two under the shade of a papala. I read intently for the next hour or so. I finished the medieval period ending with William of Ockham (Ockham’s Razor). I was ready to move on to the Renaissance philosophers starting with Rene Descartes. Descartes’ thinking/writing might interest me the most. As much as he respected the ideas of his predecessors dating back to Socrates, he chose to start fresh to determine what he knew for certain, and without an iota of doubt. He argued that many/most of his predecessors assumed many things true without verifying them wholly for themselves. Needing to cool off, I donned my snorkel gear and backed into the Caribbean. I was hopeful that the day’s calmer tide would yield a clearer view into its immediate depths. But my hopes were dashed. I went out about 50-75 yards but was only able to see a few scattered hunks of coral through the sandy water. Mindy joined me sometime around noon or slightly after. She brought her own rum drink. I, on the other hand, was still nursing ice water. I was determined to drink two large tumblers of water before partaking in any booze. I could feel my body dehydrating during my hot morning run. Again, a combination of playing in the hot sun, not enough water consumption, and alcohol. We eventually threw caution to the wind and ordered rum drinks from Javier. And we had him keep ‘em coming all day. We played on the beach for most of the afternoon, but like the day before we eventually found our way to the pool where we took in all the flora and waterfalls. We stayed at the pool until almost 6pm. We headed back to our room feeling no pain. I’m quite sure we both though that we’d eventually shower and order/head for dinner but we didn’t. Instead, we fell asleep. I drifted in and out of sleep until it was even too late to order from room service. I was hungry having not eaten anything but nuts since breakfast. We caught the last part of The Tonight Show with Conan, and then part of the Late Show with Jimmy Fallon. I drifted back asleep during that Late Show. Mindy must’ve killed the TV. I didn’t wake again until morning.