We're Back

The flight, the 14-hour one, was not too terribly uncomfortable and we had our own little TVs to watch. I got to enjoy Bruno, though I had to keep leaning over checking to be sure the kids could not see my monitor, and am even more in love with Sacha Baron Cohen; Julie and Julia (didn’t have to worry about the kids getting a peek at this one, and I also love Meryl more than ever); The Boys are Back, a sweet little Australian movie which caused a big fat tear drop to fall out of my eye (I was tired, okay?); and about the first hour of Funny People, which I hope to finish on the return trip.

The holiday apartment Jorge rented is pretty comfortable and has a nice pool and cafe for snacks but terrible WiFi service. At different times during the day the signal appears in different rooms, the kitchen table in the morning, the coffee table after noon, and never yet at the supposedly strongest spot down by the pool. We chase around with the laptop and argue over whose turn it is to get on when the little bars finally appear (seems like Grice wins more often than most), or give up and go downtown to the local internet/smoothie shop. It wouldn’t be so annoying if we weren’t paying extra for the service.

Even though we’ve been traveling in an area of a roughly 20 mile circumference encompassing three distinct areas (rural, mill town and resort town), in the short time we’ve been here we’ve seen dozens of friends and acquaintances at planned get-togethers or bumping into them while sitting at cafes, filling up at the gas station, or buying groceries, and everyone has time for a little chat. It’s what I love and missed most about this small-town laid-back place.


I hope that posterity will judge me kindly, not only as to the things which I have explained, but also to those which I have intentionally omitted so as to leave to others the pleasure of discovery.

-- Rene Descartes