Hollis Got Sick

Monday - Liz followed through on her commitment to have her hair cut by Zena this morning. She learned that Zena has decided to move back to Canada, so Liz' plan to justify semi-annual trips to Mexico in order to have her hair cut has unfortunately fallen through.

Liz had some spare time afterward and went to do a bit of shopping. She spied a very cool item to take home in one of the coolest shops in town. The art plays off the idea of revolution, which only a year after the end of centennial and bicentennial celebrations of the two big revolutions in Mexico's history still has a lot of resonance here. Images of various revolutionary folk heroes have been re-imagined as current cultural symbols with lots of Banksy-esque graffiti art.

Hollis, who had started not feeling well on the boat tour, stayed home for the afternoon while the rest of the family headed to the beach. We finally followed through on the promise that had been made to Bowen to try paddle boarding, and two boards were rented. It proved to be much harder that it looks to be able to balance on one of those things and propel oneself about on choppy water. And forget about surfing!  At least on the first day.

Hollis was feeling well enough to come join us on the beach for happy hour at the end of the bathing day, but was definitely not firing on all cylinders. We did manage to foray out as a whole family to return to Mangia Fuoco, the Italian restaurant that Liz and Bowen had patronized on the evening of Remy and Hollis' ill-fated attempt to catch the bull fights earlier in the trip. The food was awesome (again) and the final bill cheap (which strums the strings of Remy's heart), and the dessert of nutella pizza was enjoyed by all.

We arrived home and began the usual night routine. Remy happened to move a shoe by the door and noticed what initially appeared to be a squashed bug underneath. A closer examination proved that what had appeared to be the bug's head was actually its tail, and that while very flat, it had not been squished- the fact that it moved proved that! We took a souvenir photo (useful as well in the case that you have to show a doctor what actually had bitten you) and Remy shooed it outside. A bit of searching on the internet seems to indicate that it is a type of, or is at least related to, a scorpion. The same research also revealed that we are in the area of Mexico that reports the highest number of scorpion bites (50,000 per year!) of any in the country. Other than the cockroach that Hollis found in the bathroom and the few gigantic ants that visit our livingroom at night we haven't had any real issues with creepy crawlies. In fact, we keep the windows wide open at night and have yet to be bothered by even a mosquito. The dengue fever fumigation truck we've seen buzzing around on two occasions seems to take care of that. Although it makes being outdoors delightful we can't help wonder what that technique is doing to the population that lives here full time.

Remy and Liz, the new-agers that they are, actually set the alarm for an early wake-up on Tuesday morning and went to Om Yoga to take a class. We met Josh from St. Louis, who sported about 15 lbs of dreadlocked hair on his head. He led us through 1 3/4 hours of kundalini yoga which, as Kekine described it, involved lots of "fire breathing and flapping of arms". All we know is that it was a workout which, after a week and a half of daily happy hour sessions at the Breakfast Bar after a hard day of laying on the sand, kicked both of our respective butts! The studio at Om Yoga, which is set in a wholly Mexican barrio on the south side of Sayulita, is beautiful, with a pleasant breeze blowing in under the palapa roof. Only occasionally was the tropical bird song drowned out by the roar of some badly out-of-tune Mexican heavy truck roaring by.

That night was a long a long one for Hollis, who ended up paying our portion of the white man's debt to Montezuma. He was so strung out and dehydrated the next morning that he had no energy to join us on the beach. We met Caroline from Canmore (which sounds like an Air Farce character) on her next-to-last day in Mexico. She and Liz traded contact information so maybe we have a new set of friends in that mountain town. We think it was pretty cool that she brought her 13 year old son, Luke, to Mexico on her own and spent time taking Spanish lessons and surfing with him as a means of connecting with her teenager. We certainly appreciate the value of such things!

We kept another long-standing promise to Bowen and rented a couple of regular surf boards. Well, actually a couple of beginner soft-top long boards. Of course, Bowen with his lower centre of gravity and long experience with skate- and snowboards, was able to stand up right away and surf smaller waves right into the beach.

 Remy, on the other hand, took a while mastering "paddling with two arms while lying flat on the board in calm water". The photo below shows the apogee of Remy's abilities on a surf board- the Special Olympics technique, which dogs and chimps can also be trained in.

 Liz, soft-top notwithstanding, managed to bash herself really well and bruise her leg. For a while, we were the people that normally we are afraid to be around when playing in the surf.

The rest of the day was rounded out with more purchases from vendors on the beach, boogie boarding and general horsing around in the water. Remy and Liz celebrated happy hour (again!) on the deck in front of The Breakfast Bar, which has now officially joined the Remy's panoply of "happy places" on this beautiful planet we all call home. Sitting on a plastic Adirondack chair on a coco lumber deck in Mexico, sipping an illicit margarita has become one of the favourites even among favourites. 

-Remy