Tag Archives: sunset

Pint night

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This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

Last night was a very fun evening. My second pint night since I moved to SLO. The first one was the first week of school last quarter.

I went down there at 9pm with Måns, Pelle and Toby and met up with people down there. We thought we were early but when we got to SLO brew the line was enormous! Fortunately we found some of our neighbors halfway to the entrance and sneakily cut the line. No one noticed. We probably saved ourselves an hour. It still took us an hour to get in, good thing it wasn’t too cold. And the company was great. After a little while Matt joined us too. We got in and bought cheap beer. It was extremely crowded in there and very loud, but when we finally got a table as far away from the bar as possible it was easier to talk. It was the five of us who hung out the whole evening. The three Swedes, the German and American. I am a little bit embarrassed to admit that we spoke a lot of Swedish. But it was just one night, I will go back to my normal English (and weird-feeling Swedish) as soon as Måns has left tomorrow. I don’t know exactly when he is leaving, if he stays so we can go to Farmer’s Market or if he wants to stay even longer and go to line dancing. He should, but he also has a long drive down to LA. We will see. I have a long day in school first, noon to 6pm without any breaks except for the 10 minutes between classes. I don’t think I will be a big fan of Thursdays this quarter.

Before pint night yesterday I had my first day of classes. It started with Introduction to Urban Planning at noon to 2pm. It seems like an interesting class, but a lot of work. There are only two midterms, no final, two assignments, so not too bad. BUT, we do have readings before every class. Just skip the reading you say? Nope, because we also have a quiz before every class (which is twice a week). So this time I will have to do all the reading. Ugh… This morning I read more than 20 pages and took the quiz between my two classes today. I got 88% because the short answer questions needed to have the exact phrasing. I knew the answers, but typing it wrong many times. Annoying.

My second class was German and I can already say that I love that class and that it will be my favorite class this quarter. I didn’t miss anything on Monday, the teacher just talked about the syllabus. And yesterday he went through all of last quarter briefly. I recognized everything so I don’t think I will have any problems at all with this step 2 class. And the teacher is funny. A very important trait with teachers. He made us laugh all the time, and he seems to know most of the students since last quarter.

Right after class Lauren, Måns, and I went to Slodoco to buy 23 donuts for Rachel’s 23rd birthday yesterday. She got really happy! And now we all have donuts to eat whenever. Not too good… But still very good!

Then Måns and I went to Pismo Beach to watch the sunset, and it was a glorious Californian sunset. No clouds and it was warm. Oh yeah, the whole day had been really warm. Like a summer day. Almost 30C. Winter? Nope, SLO goes straight for summer. I love it! I was afraid it was gonna be cold when I got back from the Caribbean. Today has been as nice, but I was at home most of the day and didn’t go out until in the afternoon. Still very nice though.

Pismo Beach Pismo Beach Pismo Beach Pismo Beach Pismo Beach seals Seals were swimming right next to the pier.Pismo BeachPismo Beach

After the beach I bought food since I threw everything out when I left for winter break. Pizza was ordered for dinner and I took a hot shower with our new showerhead the maintenance guys put in over the break. Awesome!

 

Today was another day of school. I did the reading, went to my German class (where we watched an old 40’s movie about post World War II), and then took the quiz, and went to my first Public Transportation class. The teacher talked extremely fast, and he was Indian so I had to really focus on what he was saying. What I hear was that we don’t have any class next week, yay! And he also talked about the different public transit modes for an hour and a half. I talked to him afterward and I was still in the class, thank god!

I went back home, watched the last part of Sex Tape with Måns, and then he started cooking dinner. He made poppy seed salmon with haricot vert/ginger/honey pasta. It was delicious!! For dessert he made us Swedish pancakes with strawberry jam and ice cream. Very appreciated and so nice of him. I am still full and this was three hours ago.

After that Toby and Aiden stopped by and hung out for a while. We all played Trivia Crack against each other and it was just a very nice evening.

And now it is past midnight so I should go to bed. Not that I have anything to do before noon.

Bishops Peak plus moon Yesterday morning I had to go up really early to buy a parking permit for Måns, and on our way back to my apartment we saw Bishops Peak and the moon.Måns cooking

Last day in paradise

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This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

The weather today was the best it has been since I got to Jamaica. The sky clear blue, a few lonely clouds here and there, but it never got in the way of the sun. It was hot, very very hot! Don’t know how many degrees, but the sun was burning like I’ve never felt before. I even got a tiny bit of sun rash on my thighs if I stayed out of the water for too long during the midday hours. I was in the water a lot!

I was at the beach with the guy I talked to yesterday. It was nice with some company on my last day. I still read a lot. I finished Graceling yesterday and read a fourth of the second book, Fire. This one is so far better than the first and what’s awesome is that they aren’t connected. It is the same land, but two different stories. Maybe they will intertwine eventually, I don’t know.

I enjoyed every last second of the sun and watched the sunset and then went back to my new hotel. This morning I walked the 400m to my new hotel with my suitcase and checked in and actually got my room right away. Not the best room ever, and the AC is not working, nor is the toilet. But whatever. It is only for the night. But I should probably complain about the toilet, maybe I will get a little bit back?

For dinner I went to a place called Marguerites. It was a very nice seafood restaurant and the food was amazing! We saw a huge shooting star (I am not completely convinced it was a shooting star, but it is the most reasonable explanation). There will be a big meteor shower tonight according to I Fucking Love Science on Facebook. If I wasn’t this tired I would sit on the balcony (with an almost amazing view as Polkerris) and lookout for them. But I should probably go to bed not too late. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. My flight leaves at noon, and I will land at 9:45pm in SLO (the time difference makes it 13 hours). I can’t wait to be back home! I hope it will go as fast as the trip here did. Two layovers, first in Charlotte, NC, then Phoenix, AZ.

It’s been the best trip ever! I’ve seen so much and I’ve had so much fun (even if I most of the times were all by myself, but I enjoy my own company sometimes and I needed to be alone for a while). Now I am ready to go home and start my second quarter at Cal Poly.

This is the link to the video Michael did of his four days here. Everything we did (including my cliff jump) is on there with some good music: http://vimeo.com/115875177

Last breakfast at Polkerris  One cloud The sky looked like this all day!Coconut water Coconut waterBaptizing Baptizing on a beach in Jamaica, why not?!Last Caribbean sunset Last sunset TAN Yep, I’ve proven it, a Swedish girl can get tan after 23 days in sunny Caribbean! 😉

Getting tan and bored

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This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

My second to last day here in paradise and I have to admit that I am getting bored. It is beautiful and amazing and I can never get rid of the feeling of sand between my toes and this warm and crystal clear water. But I am getting ants in my pants. I wasn’t tired today so I was in the water a lot and I also read a lot, finished half the book and now I am almost done with it. I will hopefully finish it tonight.

The day was perfect again, not many clouds and warm and awesome. I think I have gotten a lot tanner the past two days. My face is covered in freckles and the underside of my feet look very white, and so does my butt and boobs. I love being tan, it’s a “fräsh” feeling.

And that was today, and I think tomorrow will be exactly the same, except that I will sleep at another hotel. Oh, and for the record, if anyone goes to Montego Bay, stay at Polkerris Bed and Breakfast. The couple owning this place are the sweetest, the breakfast is amazing, the view of every room is gorgeous, and it is just a nice place to stay!

Doc Cave sunset I love sunsets! ❤Cruise ship leaving the bayI didn’t see this tiny cruise ship arrive this morning, but I did see it leave. This is the view from my new room, not too bad!

First day of 2015

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This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

Who pushed the forward button on today’s remote? The day was gone in an instant! I might have fallen asleep once or twice or more times, and I probably slept for longer than I expected. Eh, that happens. It was a great day nonetheless. I got up at 8:30, had breakfast while watching the new cruise ship coming in to the bay. Then I packed my stuff to change room when I got back from the beach and walked there. Since I got there early I was pretty much alone. And I am so glad I got there early, otherwise I would have missed the big and very visible rainbow. It was cloudy, but they went away and the day turned perfect. I read a lot in my new book, Graceling. I will try to finish it before I leave. Five books in three weeks is not too bad.

I had sweet potato fries and a mango daiquiri for lunch and I stayed and watched the sunset. It was as beautiful as always and on my way back to the hotel I bought a cute tank top. I also got a lot of questions if I wanted to buy drugs. These people are crazy.

My new room isn’t as nice as the one I had, but it works. The shower isn’t nearly as nice as the other one. But this is just for two more nights. I only have two more full days here in the Caribbean and then I will be going back home to California. I look forward to it. This trip has been the best ever, but I feel ready to go back home. I really look forward to have Matt pick me up at the airport on Sunday evening.

 

And here comes the mandatory review of the past year for every blogger. I had a great year, there were definitely some parts I could have been without, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?! I started 2014 with my last couple of weeks with my hostfamily in San Diego and then 3 weeks on Hawaii. And in paradise is where I ended the year too. In between I had the best summer job ever where I met a lot of fun people, and then I moved back to California. My first quarter was my best one in school so far. Living the American college life is so much fun and I kinda don’t want it to end. After the next two quarters my new real grownup life starts and I am not ready for that. This year will definitely be different from all my other so far, but I am sure it will be as great as the last two have been.

Happy New Year!

IMG_20150101_090008 These cruise ships bring so many people. Doc’s Cave isn’t that big. The beach was packed today again.IMG_20150101_100148 “The Hip Strip” in Montego Bay.IMG_20150101_100510 At 9am you are almost alone.IMG_20150101_101230 IMG_20150101_142451IMG_20150101_172627

Another day at Doc’s Cave

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This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

Today was very chill, mostly because we were completely worn out after yesterday (and me after the last almost three weeks). I couldn’t sleep in, got up at 8:30 but Michael didn’t wake up until the lady called us and told us our breakfast was done much later. I just can’t sleep in when I am on vacation, it feels wrong! But we made it to the beach after I bought a Jamaican flag and rebooked my hotel for the third time. I actually walked in there and talked to them. Apparently my change a week ago hadn’t gone through and now it was all fully booked, so I am lucky that I could stay here at Polkerris the first three nights and at Caribic House the last night before I go back home to California.

We got to the beach, just hung out for a few hours, then went to Margaritaville at two for lunch and jumping on the big floaties right below. I couldn’t really do anything with a bikini so I just chilled for a bit. Nothing wrong with that either.

Then back to the beach for another hour and back to the hotel. We left before sunset because he wanted to go back. And since we only have one key I had to go with him. But it turned out to be the right decision, the sun set behind a thick wall of clouds today anyway. I am hoping for a pretty sunset tomorrow night instead.

And yes, it is New Year’s Eve tomorrow and I am planning on skipping the whole thing. I don’t wanna be alone out there (Michael leaves tomorrow morning). So I will stay in the room and pretend it is a night like any other. It’s just New Years. Not a big deal.

Now I will take a nice shower and then head down to a restaurant for dinner. I think we will end up at Margaritaville tonight for a couple of drinks. I hope I won’t be too tired.

IMG_20141230_105507 IMG_20141230_142347 IMG_20141230_154623 IMG_20141230_170307

Waterfalls and cliff jumping

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This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

Today was an incredible day! Up before sunrise and back “home” way after sunset. We got breakfast at 6 am and were on the road at 6:30. We watched the sunrise from the car and it was really pretty. Michael’s GoPro was on the outside of the car.

We arrived in Ocho Rios at 8am, 30 min too early. Se we sat and waited in the car until the park opened. We were surprised to see that it was a park, and not just a place to see cool waterfalls. The place was called Dunn’s River Falls and if you are on Jamaica, you have to check it out. It is so freaking cool! We were there early, before everyone else so we managed to get a lot of nice photos without people in it. We climbed the whole thing to the top, took photos on the way and on the top we went down on the road and decided to climb it again. But this time filming the whole climb. I had a GoPro on my head and Michael used the pole. Most of the pictures were blurry, but I think the videos turned out better.

We left the place at 10:30 am and went into Ocho Rios for lunch. We found a nice place called Reggae Ally and I had coconut shrimp and fried plantain. Really good. Then we went up in the mountain to drive for a while. It was amazing up there! But an hour was plenty enough and we went down to the main road to drive all the way to Negril, on the west side of the island (Ocho Rios is east of Montego bay which is halfway in between the two places. I fell asleep in the car, I was so exhausted!

Michael was driving the whole time, I just refused to drive a car on the wrong side of the road. I am adventurous, not ready to die. But going through downtown Mobay was scary! People were honking all the time, driving like crazy persons and we lost 40 minutes trying to find our way back to the main road. We got to Rick’s Café at 4:30. Rick’s Café has been voted one of top ten best bars in the world and I totally get why. It is a place right on the cliffs, the sun is setting right out in the water, there are cliff you can jump from and they had live reggae music. It was just perfect. The sunset was amazing, the food was good (but took forever to get), the music was great, and the cliffs were pretty cool too. Michael jumped a few times before we had dinner, I had told myself I was gonna skip it. But then, during dinner (after one of the most incredible sunsets I’ve ever seen), I decided that I was gonna do it anyway. So I changed into my bikini and went to the 25 feet platform, hesitated for 2.5 minutes and then just jumped. It felt so amazing!! Michael filmed the whole thing and I was so happy when I came up. I got courage from an eleven year old girl who did it earlier. If she could, then I could too, and I did! And most importantly, I survived it. 25 feet is only 7.6m, but it is higher than I have jumped before. During the jump I lost my grip on my nose and got so much salt water up my nose! I still feel weird and probably have lots of water up there. It is gross. And it hurts a little bit.

We drove back home and I got so tired. We had plans on going out, but we have to do that tomorrow instead, I was just too tired. I should be asleep, but the Internet is so slow and I still have 6 more photos to upload to my blog. I guess I could fall asleep for an hour and then post this, haha!

Michael is working on the movie of this trip. We both got a lot of good footage so far.

Tomorrow is all about relaxing at the beach. I look forward to it!

IMG_20141229_085016 IMG_20141229_085219 DCIM100GOPROGOPR1139. DCIM100GOPROGOPR1144. DCIM100GOPROGOPR1162. DCIM100GOPROGOPR1166. DCIM100GOPROGOPR1185. DCIM100GOPROGOPR1205. DCIM100GOPROGOPR1218.Mountain roads 2The mountains!DCIM100GOPROGOPR1481.Jamaican countryside.IMG_20141229_170205“Jamaicin me crazy” drink.IMG_20141229_172007IMG_20141229_173549Cliff jumpingBetter resolution will come, some day. The video of it too! Just be patient, when you least expect it.IMG_20141229_185923

Doctor’s Cave Bathing Club

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This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

I love Jamaica! The ocean is the right color and temperature, it is warm and beautiful! The people are extremely laid-back, which I like, but I would prefer if they stayed out of my way. Today a guy popped his head out from a wall and asked me if I wanted to smoke. I think I will get that question at least once every day this week.

We got up at 9 this morning, had an amazing breakfast on the patio. Here we order what we want to have the night before and this morning we had fruit and omelette. So good. This place is really nice!

Amazing breakfast at Polkerris Then we went down to the main street, asked how much flyboarding was. $90 for half an hour. Not worth it, so we just went straight for the beach, Doctor’s Cave. $6 to get in, and $6 for a sunbed, which was worth it. They are so comfortable. And there we stayed for the whole day. Went into the water so many times. Far out were a pretty nice reef for being downtown Montego Bay (downtown is probably the wrong word since this is not a big place). Took some pictures with the GoPro and read some, and got darker some. It was the perfect day! At 3:30 we took our stuff and went to the beach next to it and went out to sail for an hour. Michael’s biggest interest is sailing, so we went out on a small boat. It was really nice. The water splashing us were so warm, the water was amazingly blue and it was just awesome. We had our GoPro’s and took a lot of photos and videos. Michael is gonna make a video of this trip and I am really excited to see how it turns out.

Sunset at Doc Cave Montego Bay coral reef  Sailing Sailing Sailing SailingMichael and I

We had dinner on the beach shortly after and then back to the hotel to plan tomorrow. But first I took a shower in the amazing shower that exists here. I will let the picture explain for itself.

Amazing shower

While I was in the shower, Michael went and picked up a car, and I planned our roadtrip tomorrow. We will be leaving at 6am, first go to Dunn’s Waterfalls, then through the middle of the island to check that out and all the way out to the west side of the island and Negril. There is a beautiful beach but also Rick’s Café which is a famous restaurant. They have cliff jumping, and an amazing sunset. We are totally checking that place out. Then back to the airport to return the car and then probably some souvenir shopping for me and GoPro filming.

I am excited! That’s all I am right now, haha! But my life is great and I always have a lot of stuff to look forward to. I love it!

Hello Jamaica

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This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

I have arrived in Jamaica, been here for about 6 hours and so much have already happened. First I had to spend 6 hours going here, up to Orlando, FL and then back down again. Very unnecessary, but that’s what happened. The immigration at the airport took forever and then I tried to find a cab. While I was looking for a guy I saw someone with a paper and my name on it. Weird, I didn’t order a driver from the airport. But he had all my flight information and the place where I was staying so I tagged along. Just ten minutes later (after realizing that they drive on the left side here!) I was at the hotel. It is a beautiful place up on the hillside. Our room has an amazing view over the ocean and the sunset. The pool is very cute, and the room… yes, it is very very nice!

I was greeted by Michael when I got here, and straight when I had my things in the room we went to dinner at Margaritaville which was right next to the hotel. We watched the sunset from the upperfloor patio. It was a beautiful sunset. Right below, out in the water there are a lot of big floatie things you can play on, like a big trampoline. There are also free flyboarding over there. Where you stand on something and water spurts out at the bottom and you fly. We will probably try that tomorrow, as well as check out the Doc Cave’s beach right here.

Then back to the room and then out to hit a bar. On our way we ran into a guy, he seemed a little sketchy but at first turned out to be okay. That changed later during the evening though. We sat at a bar close by for like an hour, I had a cubalibre and the guys a couple of beer each. The beers Elvis drank we bought for him. Then on our way back he took us through a dark park (where there were a lot of people) and then he asked us for tips for his kids. We just bought him beer!? But we didn’t wanna do anything stupid so we gave him 1000 Jamaican Dollars (I exchanged 300 USD and got 28,000 Jamaican dollars, the bunt of money is huuge!). Damn hustler.

Everywhere we walked today we smelled weed. We saw people right in the middle of the street smoking. A guy asked us straight up if we wanted some hash too. It is definitely different here than any other place I have ever been. But so far I like it. It was around 84F when I got here, during the night it was really nice and warm, nothing else needed than shorts and a tank top (the jeans I packed where kinda unnecessary).

I look forward to our first day tomorrow when we will hang out at the beach, maybe do some souvenir shopping (there are a ton of shops on the “hip strip” right below us. Then we are renting a car in the evening so we can drive east of here the day after tomorrow.

An eventful short day and after today I realized that I will only stay at the “safe” beach of Doc’s Cave. Unless Michael decides to stay more than four days. I don’t really feel safe here if I were to be alone. But the Doc Beach is a safe beach where security guards are, and it is close, so I can go there.

I am excited to start this third and last adventure tomorrow!

Leftside drivers Lots of money! View from our room View from our hotel room.

Hotel roomThe pool VIew from the patioView from the patio.Sunset Sunset in Jamaica. Gecko Gecko.

Luquillo Beach (Balnaerio La Monserrate)

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This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

I love it when the weather people are wrong in the right way. According to Google the weather is supposed to be bad this week, starting today with a lot of rain showers and only clouds. But this was not the case, today was glorious! There were clouds, but more inland and not by the coast. Since I thought it was gonna be pretty bad today, I didn’t leave bed until 9am. I skipped breakfast and unpacked in my new room upstairs. I talked for a bit with my two roommates and then decided that I would take the car to Luquillo Beach, a Blue Flag beach an hour west of here. It was hard to find, but eventually I got there. It was a pretty beach, I have to admit, but nothing like the beaches I saw on Dominican Republic. The beaches there were whiter, the water was clearer and turquoise. But I still enjoyed it. It was a very hot day and I could only manage to read a chapter before I needed to go in the water again. The water was calm and pretty warm. I think I could have stayed in there all day without being cold at all. But I really wanted to finish my book so I decided it was more worth it to run in and out of the water countless times. It really was a burning heat today, the sea breeze was pretty much zero.

I had leftovers for lunch and then finished the third Maze Runner book. I didn’t like the end. It was like it was just written because the author wanted to be done with the book. The story is good, and I was hoping the ending would match it. Now I started reading the prequel The Kill Order. And after that I don’t know what I should read. Maybe A Series of Unfortunate Events?

I stayed and watched the sunset and then drove back to San Juan where I had dinner plans at the Ben & Jerry’s place close by. I couldn’t find it so I decided to be very comfortable and just go to a Starbucks and have a wrap or ciabatta or something. But that was easier said than done. I chose the closest Starbucks, but because of all the stupid road constructions, freeways, ramps, and millions of cars I drove wrong countless times. After an hour of still not finding a Starbucks I was really hungry and upset. How hard can it be to build easily understood road systems?? Upsetting. I hope I don’t have to drive through the city too much tomorrow. I am going to Ocean Park Beach, which is very close to here, but I don’t wanna walk here. Except for this horrible driving experience I have to say that it is very similar to California. On my way to the beach was easy peasy. Haha, one cool thing happened, the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like it. I almost ran over a meter long (3 feet) iguana. I realized too late to take a picture..

Luquillo beach Luquillo Beach.Luquillo sunset I got to see my first real nice Caribic sunset.Luquillo sunset

Last day in DR

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This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

My last day in Dominican Republic is over and I am a little sad about it. I love this place, but I guess I am also ready to move on and try something else. Leave this comfort at an all inclusive hotel and switch to a hostel in a big city. Puerto Rico is gonna be so different than Dominican Republic. I am not gonna have the beach one minute from my room, I won’t have free drinks and food. I will have to start to take care of myself again. But I am also very excited, driving around, seeing different beaches, and lots of other things. It will be fun! And so different from this.

The morning today was cloudy so I stayed in bed until 10 am. Had breakfast and then stayed at the pool all day. It was nice actually. Cloudy most of the day, but at 1 or 2 pm the sun came out and it got really hot. The pool was cold and awesome. I had a couple of drinks, finished half The Death Cure (3rd Maze Runner), took a few naps, and texted with Matt. I miss him.

At 4pm, out of nowhere, it started raining A LOT. The sun was out and all, it was strange. After ten minutes of hiding in the bar, it was over and the sun was out again. I left the pool at 6 when the sun was just going behind the buildings.

I had my last long and warm shower, my last nice dinner, and then packed everything so I can spend as much time as possible at the beach tomorrow before checkout at noon. My flight leaves at 3:30 a and only takes 55 minutes. I think I will have to plan the week tonight. It will not just be waking up, putting on a bikini and going to the beach. This will need planning.

Pool sunsetThis pool is really great. The jacuzzi is part of the pool between the palm trees.