november sunburn

i woke up this morning ten degrees above the equator...the furthest south i've ever been. i wonder if things would feel any different if you were to cross that magic line into the southern hemisphere. i'm no geographical wizard (of course, i wouldn't be a wizard, because i'm a female...i guess that would make me a witch. but if the bubble lady from the wizard of oz asked me what kind of witch i was, i'd have to say good witch...i don't melt when i get wet) but i'm sure not very many people could point to where exactly aruba is on a map...everyone knows that its basically in the carribbean. in case you were curious and haven't pulled out your world map yet, its just off the coast of venezuala. ya...this morning i was almost in south america. its mind boggling.

well, let me tell you that the sun definately shines more intensely at the equator. because the forecast predicted rain and strong winds, i decided to nix on bringing the hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen. good thing, because it might not have been sunny if i had. you know, the weather always does what you aren't prepared for. instead, i opted to bring my raincoat...and it fought off the rainstorms. oh joy! we strolled through the courtyard and visited the cocatoos, scarlet macaws, and even toucan sam! one parrot even said hello to me! that always amazed me. how do they figure out how to imitate us? anyway, we finally hit the white sand beaches of aruba! words can't describe the beauty of it...and, as always, pictures just don't do it justice. but i'm posting some pictures anyway. since we were without sunscreen, we started to get a little toasty after two hours and the breeze kept getting sand in my face.

therefore, we relocated to the pool. somehow a little crab found its way onto second step of the resort pool...some one hundred meters away from its natural, sandy habitat. he was creeping toward an old man relaxing by the poolside. becca and i decided to spare him and warn him of the intruder. it gathered quite a bit of excitement...everyone around the pool were curiously watching as my dad tried to get the little guy out without getting pinched. i'm sure the crab was pretty dizzy by the time dad got him out; we had to swirl the water underneath him so he would float up to the next step so we could get him out. that was entertaining.

an afternoon shower dampered our poolside sunbathing. since it was about time to head back to the airport anyway, we headed back up to the room and got ready to go. we were very fortunate...we got the same amount of sunshine as the people who were on the desert island for the whole week. it had rained an hour before we got there yesterday and didn't rain until an hour before we left. now thats the way to do it!

becca and i made lots of friends in the our hour long customs line wait. they ended up being on our flight and were all excited to have a connection with the captain. dad says that when people were getting off the plane, they kept asking him about his twin daughters. he thought we were causing trouble back there. but of course, we weren't.

so now, here i am. back in reality at my home in good 'ole ptc. just last night we were eating ice cream cones by the ocean. back at thirty degrees north. my only souvenirs are two sea shells, a sunburn, and some 50 odd pictures. i guess thats not too shabby for a 24 hour weekend getaway to aruba!