Sick in Paradise

I woke up sick in paradise, sadly, and missed a canoe trip to see turtles - and while apparently there were no turtles, I'm not sure my morning of reading in the most uncomfortable hammock in existence was a better call. I finished The End of Faith and moved on to reading Travels in West Africa while travelling in West Africa, which has some hilarious quips about dying. Ortencia and I chatted, wandered down the beach to the Oasis Resort for lunch (though I stuck to water, in an attempt to settle my stomach). There was much debate about whether we should stay another night in the hopes that I would start feeling better or move on. We attempted to order more chocolate bars and ended up instead with hot chocolate with milk and sugar to be added - though considering how chilly it was when the sun wasn't out was just fine. I had plain rice for dinner and Ortencia refused to plan any board games with me! Apparently I'm too intimidating a Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit opponent, so I did some Sudoku by the lantern light and went to bed.



My Moleskine notebook from the trip is just made up of short notes most of the time that I'm having to translate (rather after the fact) into a narrative. One of the few actual sentences in the notebook was from the beach:

"Are travel and new places the norm now? No disconnect in suddenly find myself in Rome, Accra or on a beach with pounding Atlantic surf, a flickering lantern lighting my book and crabs coming out of the holes to climb up legs."

The next day remained restful, as I spent most of it lying on the beach reading Time and The Economist and doing Sudoku. I skipped lunch and coffee in the hopes of healing my stomach yet again, and when Ortencia finally caved, there were no board games available! There are notes about coconuts and handwash, though I have no recollection as to why now.

"Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining-room table. I have no interest in doing it." Barney Frank, Congressman, regarding health care reform town hall question that compared it to Nazi policies.