Back in Antigua

I’ve been home several days now and getting all settled in again. I was pretty rattled the first few days back, and every time a motorcycle would drive by, I would jump. Those feelings have since past, but I still feel insecure here. I use to love walking around at night. I have to think I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It’s been nice this week to not have Spanish Classes. I think I will wait until have Samana Santa, Holy Week, before starting again. First time since I have been here, but I actually had one day where I had nothing going on. I slept late, wrote in my blog, and spent a lot of time at the puppy shelter. As usual I have a pretty social and busy life. I went to yoga twice this week and started working out again. My cute little legs are going to be sore.

I also had to see a dermatologist due to my skin irritation form the trip. I had a slight case of dermatitis and he also discovered a couple of pre-cancer spots that needed to be cut out. I’m glad I got it taken care of. I didn’t expect this to happen, but in the long run, I am sure it is cheaper to have it done here rather than back in the USA. Being in the sun has always been such a big part of my life. I am a true beach bum at heart. Now I need to visit and stay in more moderate climates and stay out of the mid-day sun. I’m still blessed with good skin, but I will have to be more careful now.

Ocelot had their 1-Year Anniversary Party this week and were giving away free drinks. I went with a lady friend of mine, Barb, who I met through yoga. We had a good time and it was nice to see such a mixture of people from 21-80! My........there are a lot of “old fart” ex-pats here in Antigua! I spent a good deal of the day with Barb, and we had dinner at Hector’s. This turned out to be a huge and expensive disappointment for me. I ordered grilled shrimp. It was the whole damn shrimp, head and all and in an awful Creole sauce. No rice or salad, and they charged $20 USD! Today I splurged and had a burger at Epicure with Chris my neighbor and Scott, a Spanish student.

My friend returned form the states today and brought me back new clothes. Some fit and some did not. I had ordered on-line and had them shipped to his address. He had 3-suitcases full of stuff he brought back to make life here a tad more comfortable.