Isla files 1.28 (Steve)

Steve and Sydney Stardate 1.29I have been retired almost a month. It really doesn’t feel like retirement because I am in Mexico, living the dream, as opposed to home, living the life. Irregardless, it’s damn nice! Let me recall for you my day yesterday:Got up about 7:30am, had coffee in bed while I read for about 30 minutes. Listened to life outside: road noise, discussions in Spanish down at the little store, birds chirping, geckos barking periodically. Sydney and I went for our run, counterclockwise today. We run on Monday, Wednesday, Friday…our first long run last Saturday morning, 1 hr 10 min. Today we do the usual: about 35 minutes. The big Iguana is sunning himself, out from under his home in the sewer drain in front of Garrafon. We stopped and did a little beachcombing on the North side of the island and watched the nice white foam of the waves. Just like a campfire: memorizing.We shower and I prepare our breakfast: yogurt over sliced banana with almonds on top, sliced apple, toast from the bread Sydney made, orange juice, coffee. No vitamins today. We eat on our patio, watching the turquoise of the Caribbean and the palm fronds in the breeze. It is now almost 11:00am. We have read, run, showered, eaten. We are ready to head into town with our laptops to check-in with the world. We also need to leave so Veronica can do some cleaning: she cleans on Monday and Friday, which also means doing our laundry which we leave in a plastic bag. We ride our bikes into town which takes about 20-25 minutes. A little longer today because we stop at one of the speed bumps where there is a political rally ongoing. Some volunteers are handing out hats, pamphlets and pens. Some are dressed in chicken(?) costumes. Sydney stops to get a pen. I decline a hat. We both have no idea who the candidates are or what platforms they represent. The election is this Sunday, Feb. 3, which is the only day of the week that most of these people won’t be at work. It is also Super Bowl Sunday.We arrive at Adrian’s Internet shop, it’s about noon. We log on and spend about an hour. I check our bank accounts: no deposit yet from my annual leave buyout. We have about $460 in checking-enough to get us through. We also have $300 in USD to exchange for Pesos. The rate today is $1 USD to $10.70 Pesos, so we opt not to exchange and instead withdraw cash via an ATM from a checking account. It is now after 1:00pm, we go next door to the big market, which is not quite as big as the Co-Op market. Sydney gets some vanilla, Hershey’s chocolate, some sponges, and a few other things. I get some more candles and a bag of peanuts which are coated in soy sauce. God, they’re good! I might add, this is my second purchase of candles, we love our evenings by candlelight. Our condo didn’t come with end tables and lamps. We unlock our bikes from the post which holds a trash basket and ride down to the Farmers Market, about 4 blocks away. I get us a plastic bottle of squeezed orange juice while Sydney buys some avocados, cilantro, bananas, peppers, celery. The celery she selects the two stalks she wants from the bunch, just buying those two! We would like a pineapple but none of them look very fresh. I take a picture of the butcher who is in today cutting meat. Fresh air meat market!We put our purchases in our backpacks, which also hold our laptops, and ride the outskirts of town to a little rise where there is a statue of a turtle and a fisherman. It is about 1:45pm and we stop to drink our orange juice and eat some of the soy sauce peanuts. A little charge-up before pedaling home. We arrive home about 2:30pm, Veronica has come and gone. Sydney comments on how nice and clean the tile floor always feels after she has cleaned. We put our purchases away and lay down for, as Sydney calls it: “a little rest time.” We each read for about 30 minutes until we fall asleep. It is now about 4:00pm. We opt to read some more instead of heading to the pool or beach. We sit out on our patio, catching the downhill western slide of the sun. We read probably an average 3-4 hours a day. It’s great, never have I had so much disposable time to read!The sun sets about 6:00pm here. It also rises at about 6:00am. 12 hours of light, 12 hours of dark. Gotta love a balanced day! I go in and make a batch of guacamole, a good one this time since we bought some cilantro earlier today. Cilantro makes guacamole, I’m convinced. In the waning sunset light we have a cribbage match, with a glass of white wine, guacamole with saltine crackers. Sydney gets to deal, her turn. She is ahead 4 games to 3. Damn! She is now ahead 5 games to 3. My deal next time…It’s about 7:00pm. Time for dinner. Tonight Chef Boy-R-Sydney has brewed up a nice batch of black bean soup. So many different spices and tastes! Terrific smells while it was cooking! We have some curried rice from last night along with it. And some of her bread, too! Water is our beverage tonight. Tonight we don’t have our candles or our music, we eat ala natural! We both have commented on what a perfect addition the portable speakers are that Morgan got me for Christmas! They work for our IPod or laptops. And they are still running on the original batteries! Since Sydney cooked, I do the dishes. All 5 of them! I also make the coffee, which has an automatic timer which makes it brew at 7:00am. It’s now about 7:45pm, time for bed. We take our turn with the Sonic toothbrush. Close the patio sliding doors. We each lay on our double bed, reading for probably an hour. Since we don’t wear wristwatches, we never really know what time it is. I usually check the clock on the coffee maker to see what time it is. I imagine we turn the light out about 9:00pm. And there it is…Monday, January 28, 2008, is history! Did we get a lot accomplished: probably not. Did we enjoy ourselves: definitely! Thanks for reading. Adios, amigos! Esteben