2 May 2004
Floppy and Spent
I woke up on the floor of Jim's hotel room, thinking, "Wow, I had a lot to drink last night." A total of six friends were crashing in that room, some on the queen bed and some on the floor. My head and neck ached. I dragged myself out of the tangled blanket, brushed my teeth, and headed out in search of breakfast. I was still sandy, wearing my bikini and a long skirt. At the fancy hotel buffet, they told me to go put on a shirt. Now, what kind of a place is that, that doesn't let shirtless women in?
At any rate, I found my shirt, then found my friends already breakfasting, all of them as hung-over as I was. We painstakingly reconstructed the events of the previous evening with our collective fragments of hazy memory. Pete wanted to know, "How did my pants get all wet?" Sonic didn't know, until Caleb reminded her that she had stolen them from Pete after he stumbled into the ocean, then swung them around her head screaming, "I got yer pants!" We recalled heckling the musicians in the hotel bar, then ordering room service delivered to the bar after last call. We speculated that it must have been 3am or later when we finally passed out in various hotel rooms.
Given the toll that our festivities had taken, we did absolutely nothing today. We all lounged by the pool, occasionally taking a dip, ordering fruity cocktails, reading, napping, and recovering. The climax consisted of a very fine dinner: stunning red wine, sashimi appetizers, filet mignon, a front-row view of the sunset, and finally a pot of Earl Grey tea. By this time, many of our friends had left the island, and the rest of us were leaving the next day. We said our goodbyes after dinner, then turned in early.
After ten spectacular days of beauty, leisure, and the company of delightful friends, I'm absolutely ready to go home. I miss my city. I miss my bicycle and my gym. I miss my local friends. I especially miss my cat-friend and the bed we share. Paradise is everything it's cracked up to be, but home is even better!