Sylvie's Travels Home

February 8, 2024

Pogo went to pickleball. I forgot to mention that yesterday, I met Joe while taking a break from my pickleball lesson. He has been spending 7 months a year here for 20+ years. He told me that when they built Torres Kite, the condos where we are, they were nicknamed The Leaning Towers as they weren’t straight!! The owners were really mad obviously and major work was done to the structure to fix it.

Also when I was away at PT yesterday, Josée told me that the crocodile came very close to the beach. There was also a second crocodile sighting. On our return, the lifeguard kept blowing her whistle at people going in the water. I was wondering why so many hours after seeing the crocodile. It was because of the other sighting. This is so crazy!

We went to say goodbye to my little buddy Ryan and his parents Christelle and Rock who were flying back to Quebec. He was so sweet and I will miss him.

We went to Mama Nena for breakfast. I was craving chilaquiles and they were as delicious as usual. It is so pretty there and they always make us feel so welcome.

We went back to DHL to ship Derrick’s driver’s license. $43! Not cheap!

The tide was low again but it was very windy all afternoon. Pogo had an hour and a half meeting with the IPA, the Island Pickleball Association. We had salmon on the grill. Pogo made the mojo sauce that I love so much. We had a side of cucumber salad as I realized too late that my potatoes weren’t good anymore. We watched another episode of the traitor.

Friday morning was a lazy morning. We were about to leave for breakfast when Dee decided to stop by. Apparently she owed us some money for items we had picked up for them a few weeks ago. She told us that they decided to rent the same condo for next year at Luma. We chatted for a while then we left at 11am for breakfast. Both Andreas and Graciela were there. We facetimed with Shaun to wish him a great vacation as he was leaving the next day for Florida. Him and Sarah will first visit her parents in Punta Gorda, do a lot of fishing, then they will spend 3 days in Orlando but not at the parks. Shaun will introduce Sarah to Disney Springs and hopefully convince her to one day go to the parks. He was chatting with us from outside his house. It was 50F and sunny. A rare Vermont winter day.

We went to the Paradise Village Market to pick up a few groceries then picked up coffee at Starbucks. We were tempted by their Valentine donut. It was really good!

We took a walk on the beach around 3pm at low tide and it was actually flat enough to be enjoyable. I love seeing the reflection of the building in the water. We had Mario and Josée over for dinner: a few little appetizers, chicken enchiladas, salad, rice and dessert. It was nice catching up with them.

Maxime’s travels update:

She went on an excursion a few days ago. 7 of them hired a private boat that brought them to 8 different locations: Big Lagoon, Small Lagoon, Entalula Beach, Shimizu Island, Snake Island, Cudugnon Cave, Cathedral Cave and Papaya Beach. They did some snorkeling and she found Nemo! They left El Nido and are now in Port Barton for 2 nights. It is a remote fishing village, more traditional and rural with very basic facilities, popular with backpackers.