20K and a Year Away

Before I lay out the bad, let me show you some good. Ana, Dayra’s daughter, was here with us last weekend. We had fun. She just wanted to hang out, go to the beach, and practice some English. It was a nice weekend. We did a photoshoot for her at sunset on Saturday. She made me chuckle with all the posing, but I guess that’s what beaches at sunset are for!

We went to a restaurant down the road – pizza and sushi. What an odd combination, but it worked out great for us because they wanted pizza and I wanted sushi. It wasn’t great, but no one got food poisoning, either, so that’s a win. The best part of the whole thing was when I asked for hot sauce, they gave me a bottle of sriracha! YES!!! I have not had any hot sauce I recognize since I left, and certainly nothing like sriracha. I was happy on the inside!!

Now, imagine if you will the following scenario… A young man who doesn’t speak the language and is shy – especially around ew gross girls, and a young woman who does not speak English, but wants to, who is not at all shy, spending the weekend in the same apartment. Well, it was me talking Spanish to Ana and English to Axel and them saying one word at a stretch to each other! Seriously, people! This was supposed to be my weekend off as the official translator. HA! We did have a rousing game of Uno the last night where they talked to each other in their own languages and did just great. She may come stay with us again before we leave. I think she wants a rematch.

Yesterday morning, we went for a walk on the beach. Now, as you all know, I am obsessed with high-fiving animals – all of whom are named Buddy. I know, it is a dangerous obsession that is likely to get me killed, but I can’t help myself. I am sorry, kids, I hope I haven’t passed it on to you genetically. Anyway, the whole point is that I had a chance to high-five a pelican. That has been a dream since our beach days in Florida where they would fly right next to me and be just out of reach. Well, this was my lucky day. This guy was just standing around waiting for his chance to high-five me! It’s like he has the same obsession. My kind of pelican. I got soooo close – without freaking him out. It was fantastic! We are now bound to each other. Forever. And ever. Buuuddddyyyy!!!!

So, now the sad story. We just got back from the swimming pool. We got a huge reminder of how things can go wrong and how you need to be careful wherever you go. Axel and I had been playing in the pool for about 40 minutes when a guy and his daughter showed up to swim. They were just playing around then the daughter left the water to go open the access door for her mom. The guy was just laying in the stair area – seemed like he was just floating – but when his people showed up, he told them he couldn’t move his legs. He did not yell or ask for help or anything. Axel and I were heading out of the pool when we heard them talking. We asked if there was anything we could do, but they said no, they were going to call an ambulance. We let the security guy downstairs know what was up and went back to our apartment. I checked an hour later and the ambulance was there and they were trying to get the guy on a gurney. So horrible.

That was the first time we had seen them. I bet they had just started their vacation. This is just a reminder of how it only takes one bad thing to ruin everything. I hope he is ok.

2/16 update- we checked on the guy who got hurt. He fractured some vertebrae in his neck. He is in stable condition and will be able to walk. Good news.