Postcard from the Edge

Today was a visual slice of heaven. We had a chance to swim in the sea, then sip a pina colata on the lounge chair. The salty water stung my eyes more than the waters on Cape Cod do, but who cares? The sun set by about 6, its last little red crescent slipping behind the clouds after a bold and glorious dance.

I loved taking a bath in the giant tub--just read recently that Uma Thurman is all about hot baths, so was channeling her. If only I could step into the bubbles and emerge as beautiful as Uma.

But there was a knock at the door.

"Hello, housekeeping."

"Hello? Hello? I'm taking a bath," I called out. My brand-new luxury condo [at The Landings] has two bedrooms and three bathrooms, and I had turned the lights out in the entryway to save electricity. So it looked like I was out and that the coast was clear to turn the bed down.

"Hello, housekeeping." The poor lady was probably just as startled to hear my voice emerging from the bathwater as I was to hear hers. I just didn't want to leave my tub, so I asked her to return in 15 minutes, and she kindly said yes. It would have been scary for both of us if I had jumped out of the tub to tell her.

Before that, we went to learn about Creole traditions and see demonstrations--how to make cassava [the traditional unleavened bread made from a starchy root vegetable], how to dance in the island style. [I was a bit shy, so I sat and watched that.] We toured the farm there, where breadfruit, plums, nutmeg, celery and cinnamon grow. We went to the market and saw ripe, soft orange mangoes, heady with fragrance [the color reminds me of Tory Burch orange]; whole, fresh-caught tunas; herbs; tomatoes; and green plantains. Then lots of crafts--T-shirts, dolls, straw bags, wood carvings.

We had lunch and dinner--bite after bite of saltfish, lamb, breadfruit, banana ice cream, rum-raisin ice cream, pineapple crisp, banana carrot cake. We passed our dishes around and sampled them all. The women I'm with love the local Piton beer, but I hate the taste of beer to begin with.

I keep thinking of being in Hawaii with H. on our honeymoon--eating at the special restaurants, hearing the romantic music, walking under the soft lights. You can tell that a lot of older people are here for their significant wedding anniversaries.

I can see horses, cows and goats roaming outside my window. Our host tonight, Ian, told us that the animals belong to farmers but roam, though not in the roads--or the farmer gets a heavy fine of thousands of dollars or months in prison.

We have some time to ourselves tonight, so let me go rest and refresh.

P.S. One other thing. Bumble and bumble hairspray or not, I can't seem to have a good hair day. It must be the humidity. Maybe I will actually pull out the blow dryer tomorrow and give it a shot.