Ixtapa Day 9

My father and sister left on Saturday with the snowstorm in the mid-Atlantic raging and dumping feet of snow in and area that normally gets a dusting. Of course one of their connecting flights was to take them to Dulles in Washington DC. It is now Monday evening and I am worried sick about them. My mother always used to say "No news is good news!" but my life experience has taught me that no news means that it is bad or maybe worse than expected and they don't want to bother me because I am on 'vacation.' That makes me even more depressed and nauseatingly nervous. My mom died three years ago when I was away and I could not make it to her funeral. Because there was not enough time to book a flight. Now when I am gone I get so darned nervous that I really don't care if I ever travel again. Not having communication is the worst punishment.

We had a really lovely SuperBowl party yesterday. A beer company called Sol sent two huge air balloon bottles and about four gorgeous girls to help with the SuperBowl spirit. The big screen was in three places. After sunset we were all able to go outside and see the last half of the game on a huge screen outdoors. The chef had bar-b-que stations in three places on the grounds. It was so much fun to sit with Americans who knew the sport sitting next to Canadians, French, Brazilian and other South American countries trying to understand the game. After the game we had the awarding of prizes (at the pool earlier in the day we had to fetch as many ping pong balls from the pool and then if we had that number we could put our name on four places on the board) and then when the score for both teams matched that person won a bottle of champagne. Other games we could win t-shirts sponsored by the Sol beer company. A live band played blues, Samba, and other energetic caribbean music so we could dance our hearts out. Perfect way to celebrate. Since Carnival in Brazil is next week this party had a decidedly Brazilian Carnival tone to it.

I stayed out so late last night I was unable to see the dawn this morning. i can't believe waking up well past sunrise really gave the day a rather sluggish start and so I have slept most of the day, at the beach or in my room. Guess I am not a party person. I enjoy the dawn, the quiet and watching the wildlife go from the night critters to the daytime critters.

Tonight we have dinner at one of the speciality restaurants. The atmosphere is more intimate and we will get to sit very near the ocean. The food is some better also.