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Life (In London), Medicated

Fuertaventura: Day 4

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, Bday/Anniv/Holiday, Family, Liam, Life In London, Travel — Heidi at 11:59 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2008

We…

  • got up at 7.30.
  • were at breakfast by 7.50.
  • finished eating by 8.05.
  • were on the road by 8.15.
  • were off the road by 9.

On our way out, we passed this.

It gives new meaning to the term “trailer park.”

Made our way out to the light house at the edge of the island,

drove out along the coastline,

and came upon this little building.

We couldn’t figure out what it was from a distance, but as you can clearly see, it’s another light house - there’s a minuscule light on the top right. It’s solar powered, so someone only checks on it occasionally, but evidently it was worth “paving” the road.

Oh, and there were sheep instead of goats on this side of the island. (They didn’t respond in kind as the goats did when I “baa”ed at them. Maybe it sounded like “meh” to them. Or maybe I only speak Goat.)

Although the beaches were very different, it was quite beautiful.

(If you want to see a wave crashing against the rock where you see the little spray in this picture, go here and click through them quickly. It doesn’t do it justice to post the individual pics.)

as was the terrain.

It went abruptly from sand to rock.

And like that, we were off of the map…

and headed down roads that don’t exist.

There are places I should have taken pictures, but couldn’t because I was hanging on to the “oh shit” handle as though I’d coined the term. Aaron was amazing, though. He got us through some interesting spots (like when the car see-sawed as the weight shifted from the right rear wheel to the left front wheel…and we weren’t moving forward) and we only turned around once.

And I was SO glad we did. Had we gone on, I was fully prepared to stop A and secure our belongings (read: my camera) before we headed down the hill that would have made the insurance on the Jimmy worth it. I can guarantee we would have rolled that sucker had we attempted it.

We cruised on back to the other side of the island and drove down into one of the valleys to find another quiet beach.

It was here that I found the only proof of life I’d seen in the water the entire trip.

I guess it IS a little chilly.

And with that, I was done. Everything was starting to look the same.

So, we…

  • arrived back at the hotel by 11.10.
  • packed, checked out, and returned Jimmy at 12.10.
  • hit the road to Puerto del Rosario at 12.25.
  • got to the airport at 1.30.
  • were on our flight at 2.45.
  • spent 2.5 hours in the Madrid airport because they wouldn’t let us fly stand-by.
  • boarded our flight at 7.50.
  • arrived in London at 10.30
  • got home around 11.30.

As A was getting ready to take his parents back to their hotel, I heard something outside, so I went out and saw two guys beating each other up against the fence that surrounds the school across the street. I made A come back inside and he called the cops while Greg and I watched from behind the hedge. I came in, but Greg saw them eventually calm down and then walk into the house next to the school. Evidently they were pals - really drunk pals - and they live together…in our neighborhood.

Great. Now we’ve called the cops on our neighbors. Lovely.

By the time A got back from taking his parents, the cops were everywhere. At that point, we knew the fight was over and we didn’t really want to send them over to the neighbors’ house, so when they asked which way the fighters went, A simply pointed in the direction they had walked to get to their house and the cops took off.

Ah the power of answering ONLY the question you were asked.
Yeah, so this talent is one of many that make him an excellent lawyer. But, it certainly doesn’t make it any easier for me to get information from the man without playing 50 questions.

Really. Absolutely no elaboration. NONE.

Fuertaventura: Day 3

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, Blah Blah Blah, Liam, Travel — Heidi at 11:43 pm on Sunday, February 24, 2008

Slept past 10 this morning. Missed breakfast. Still tired, but we
decided we’d get some food, come back to the hotel and read a bit.

We learned our lesson after walking back up the mountain yesterday to
get to our hotel, so we drove.

I took a little snooze, ate some lunch, and we headed out to find a
place to rent a jeep.

Except I forgot about the siesta.

So, we walked on the beach a bit until 4, which was the earliest
anyone opened back up.

We scored a Suzuki Jimmy.

Aaron was skeptical of Jimmy’s ability as a
four-wheel drive vehicle, until we drove it here.

It was a gorgeous view of the beach.

And the mountains.

It was a pretty crazy little road.

After that, we headed out to the main road…which turns to a gravel/sand combo,

and took a few of the “yellow” roads on the map.

They don’t exactly all exist. Suzie Satellite was so confused. We finally had to turn her off.

We went down to a beautiful deserted black beach.

And then headed back to the hotel. We didn’t want to miss dinner (right).

After dinner, we got in bed and did what AJ begs for day in and day out: we watched a movie (Memoir of a Geisha) - and I actually watched it instead of doing umpteen other things.

It was good for what it was, but it left a few things unsaid such that A thought The Chairman was a pedophile.

No…not so, my friend.

We went and sat at the bar where I enjoyed my final drink of the trip -
whiskey cream.

“Is same as Baileys,” as the bartender said…every time I went to the bar. He was trying so hard to make everyone understand that their house liquor was comparable to the top-shelf stuff. And I’ll give it to him…it was good.

Then to bed. We are heading out early tomorrow to drive to the other side of the island. It looks gorgeous in pictures.

Fuertaventura: Day 2

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, Bday/Anniv/Holiday, Travel — Heidi at 11:24 pm on Saturday, February 23, 2008

Woke up to a gorgeous day.

Took a walk on the beach - which was nude and very disconcerting. Now I know where all of the cleavage women from last night spend their days. Poor Aaron has had his fill of old lady boobs - and I of super skinny or super fat old man parts. We decided that by the time you’re that age, you just must not give a shit.

For example:

“Look at me…I’m playing bocce. My lady friend is completely nude,
but I decided to put on a shirt so my chest and back won’t get burned…never mind
the flopping in my nether region as I toss the ball on my turn.

“Look at me…I’m bending over to pick up my drink. Yup, that’s my brown eye.”

“Look at me…I’m just bouncing along at the water line with my sweetheart.
I DO see you staring through those sunglasses.”

And finally, completely unrelated to nudity,

“Screw you, skin cancer. I got this far in life as a bronze
babe…I’m NOT going back now.”

Though nude beach did open up some interesting conversation.

Topics of discussion:

  • If you can be nude on the beach, can you have sex on the beach?
  • Are the people who are nude frustrated with the people who aren’t?
  • Is there an age limit? Because nekkid 14-year old girls are just all sorts of wrong…especially with all of the old dudes hanging out nude.
  • What do you wear to the nude beach? Clearly you don’t need a bathing suit.
  • Can you pop into the supermarket to get something while fully unclothed? And if not fully unclothed, what about topless?
  • Can you be nude at the hotel pool?

It really was fodder for hours.

The nudies got me to thinking though, because there were quite a few women who were topless only, and their accompanying males were dressed in proper beach wear. If beaches were bottomless only instead of topless or nude, I don’t think you’d see as many men hanging out there (tee hee) - unless you’re butt man, I guess.

I honestly think everyone’s in it for the boobs. (Some) Women want to show ‘em. (All straight) Men want to see ‘em. It works out well the way it is. I do like to imagine what might take place if they took away topless, though. Men everywhere would be out picketing with “Wheeeere’s the Boob?” And “Give me nipples, or give me death!” signs.

Regardless, I don’t think my National Geographic Post - Breastfeeding Baby Boobs will be making an appearance. And if I were a guy? There’s no way you’d get me out there without clothes on. One glimpse of well toned flesh (though one doesn’t have to worry about that here) and like Aaron said, “I’d have a nasty sunburn on my back.”

That said, I think it’s great that it’s an option. Perhaps there will
come a time that freedom from clothing outside in the gritty sand where other
people are allowed to wear clothes -or not - is important to me. At
least I know where to go.

The afternoon was really relaxing. I took a nap and AJ read. We went
down by the pool later this afternoon but it was a bit cloudy, so it
was chillier than we thought.

I was quite pleased with the pool area as one of the bartenders took a
liking to me. He was cute and young and I’m pretty sure there was
actually some flirting going on, but I can’t be certain since I only
know how Aaron flirts these days. He may have just been trying to be
helpful but he mixed me a very strong drink…he probably does it for
everyone. Of course the drink tasted awful, so I threw it away and we
headed in to the lobby bar to relax in the warmth.

We ate a late dinner and went back to the bar to sit and watch people.
An older Danish couple asked to sit with us and we obliged. Aaron
struck up a conversation with them and we chatted a bit until their
customer service rep from the travel company came to see if they’d
received their luggage…after 5 days of waiting. We got talking to
him and he joined us. It is always interesting to hear how other
people view the U.S. Basically what it comes down to is that everyone
thinks we are the dumbest people for re-electing George Bush.
They all understand that the first time was a mistake. But we brought
it upon ourselves by re-electing him.

Obviously the conversation was in our favor since A and I seriously
considered moving to Canada to get away from him after he was
re-elected. Fortunately we got out another way. :)

Kristian had been to the Carnival last night and was planning to go
again. A and I were interested, so he brought his laptop down to
show us pictures of him in drag after being pulled on stage to be part
of the show. I have to say, he looked good…even with the goatee.

He waited for us and we went with him to check it out. I think he was
just thrilled to have someone under 60 to hang out with for a change.
Turns out I am a good 13 years older than he is, but he guessed I was
32. (Only because we have kids, of course…he would have guessed 28 if
we didn’t have kids. What a sweetheart.)

The carnival was fascinating. People were all dressed in costumes.
One guy was a Nintendo DS. Another group of people were dressed in
white, wearing large plastic garbage bags. They carried around VISA
cards and every so often they dumped flour on the floor and pushed it
into a few lines using their VISAs.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, they were cocaine.

We watched some fireworks, saw some folks riding mechanical bulls that
moved in time to the music on a carnie ride called TEXAS, and then we
caught a cab back around 2.

That’s two A to the M.

Oh well, no one is waking me up tomorrow. I don’t care if we miss
breakfast. I’m going to take it easy, stay off of my feet, and give my
flip flop foot (what you get when you wear flip flops for the first
time in a season and the skin between your big and next toe isn’t
calloused yet.) a break.

Maybe I’m too old for all of this.

Nah…just out of practice.

Fuertaventura: Day 1

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, Bday/Anniv/Holiday, Food, Travel — Heidi at 11:56 pm on Friday, February 22, 2008

It was an early morning. A went to get his mom and dad at 5.

We made it to the airport and through security in record time.

I got coffee and A got a tasty Twix.

We got to gate and saw our crew get on. One of our flight attendants
was rolling on a bag with “Nacho” written on the side. It made me
feel like I was submersed in the culture already.

Anyway, I was trying to keep my chin up because I wasn’t feeling the
greatest. I don’t know if it’s flying or not having enough water, or
a combo of both, but my head hurt all day.

Then I got in trouble on the plane for using my mobile. Evidently I
didn’t have my phone in airplane mode and the stewardess wigged out on
me. I was also using my little keyboard and she wanted me to put that
away too. AND, she started pointing at other things - including my
mp3 player - thinking that they were somehow related to my mobile.

Seriously?

No.

The second flight was longer than anticdipated since we switched time zones and then switched back again. I tried to sleep but the woman in front of me leaned her chair back and squished my head. It scared me and I jumped, which certainly didn’t make my headache any better.

When we arrived it was overcast, but warm - which is a nice change
from London, where, for the first time in weeks, the last few days
have been overcast - and cold.

We drove for about an hour on a road that took us through 28
roundabouts. However, the Spaniards drive on the right side of the
road, in their left-side steering cars so it didn’t seem like as big
of a deal (and the roundabouts were only two lanes at most).

Regardless, it was quite a drive. The random goats running around
were enough to keep it interesting.

We also saw abandoned houses (?) everywhere we went.

And we never actually got the car up to the speed limit because there wasn’t enough time between when they posted 110 (km/hr) to when they lowered it back to 90.

This was also funny.

Our hotel was full when we arrived, but they were able to send us up
to their sister hotel, where we had a lovely view of the ocean.

Aaron spent a long time deciding where we should stay, so he was a little
frustrated. The woman working with us kept saying that it was a very
nice hotel. It was only after I went to find out if they were booked
the entire time we are here that she was far enough away from her
colleagues to tell me that it’s a newer, better hotel. So basically we
got upgraded. Nice.

We had an hour before dinner, and we sat in the lobby and had a few
drinks. I also got some water and aspirin in my belly and my headache
got much better.

While we sat and relaxed, A had an entire conversation with himself
about how he should probably wear brown gloves and carry a brown bag
when he wears his brown shoes to work. He paused for a milisecond and
before I could say anything told me that “[he] just isn’t going to
take it that far.”

Whew. I was afraid I’d have to stay home to sign for more packages.

Shortly thereafter, we headed up to the room so he could get changed
for dinner (No short pants allowed. And yes, there was a direct
response to the question of whether or not A could wear clam diggers.
He could not.), when he said, ” I have to do something with my hair.”

What man says this?

He’s SO the girl in our relationship when it comes to looking nice.
(I would probably show more interest if everything I wore was kid,
food, and drink proof. I haven’t seen my children today and I STILL
have stains on my hoodie.)

Anyhoo, dinner was…interesting. Since the resort is all-inclusive,
the meal was set up buffet style. We snagged a table and went to get
whatever we wanted, as often as we wanted. It reminded me of summer
camp and the college cafeteria - but with a bunch of
getting-up-there-in-age people who were clearly the reason for the
abundance of prunes near the salad bar. (Ok, I can’t really be ageist
because I’ve been known to eat a prune or two while on the vacaysh.)

What was most interesting (It wasn’t the food.) was the way they were
all dressed. Those ladies were decked out - dressed to the
nines…although actually some of them were only dressed to the nin__
because there wasn’t enough clothing to cover the cleavage that they
forgot to put away when they came off of the beach.

It was pretty funny. And I’m sure I’ll be the same way some day…but
I’ll express it with open-toed shoes or a sweet cut and color instead.

We were both so tired there wasn’t any reason to stay up late. Maybe tomorrow.

Frantic

Filed under: Aaron, BackBlogging, Blah Blah Blah, Elena, Family, Liam, Life In London, Medicated, Mommyhood, Travel — Heidi at 11:50 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2008

Got up, got ready, and tried to get L to get ready so that we could go
play with D. But, Y ended up having a meeting and we weren’t able to
get over there. Instead, I took the kids and Jeanne and Greg and we
went to show them where school is, how to get to the grocery store,
and where the park is.

I think I may have worn them out just a bit because Jeanne fell asleep
on the sofa while I was making lunch! Greg messed around on the
computer and then they headed back to the hotel. I put the kids in
bed and then did laundry. I had to get all of the kids’ stuff put
away, get my stuff put away, pack, and get everything ready to leave J
and G with the kids for four days.

This is no small feat. I think it’s more difficult to get ready to
leave them than it is to take them. Granted, if we take them then
it’s a pain the entire time we’re gone.

I wanted it to be as easy as possible for Greg and Jeanne so I put
together a meal plan, had all of the groceries delivered Tuesday, made
sure the kids had clean clothes and everyone has clean sheets, and
tried to pick up. Thankfully Greg and Jeanne kept the kids busy while
A and I started to pack.

Whenever we go anywhere, I make a detailed list beforehand so that I
don’t freak out right before we leave and forget something. This list
must be in writing. Even before Wellbutrin I didn’t have the greatest
short-term memory and now, without the list?, I’m afraid I got a
little out of control.

I HAD to get the laundry put away first so I could see what my options
were, and I didn’t want G&J to have to go digging through the plastic
bags the way I have been for the past week. Jeanne got the kids ready
for bed and Greg cleaned my kitchen squeaky. By the time we got the
kids down, it seemed like I was just throwing a bunch of random stuff
in a bag.

It’s not uncommon for me to get to the day before a vacation and wish
that I could cancel the whole thing. That’s how I felt today.

I finally asked Aaron to help me. He was SO tired, but he stayed up
to keep me company until I was done packing and went down to pick up a
bit more.

I was headed to bed, but A and I started talking about one of our pals
who had the worst day ever. And because it was 5 p.m. in the US, we
decided to call and chat.

I was up until midnight - by choice. (I played a litle sudoku after I
got off the phone.) Four a.m. is going to come bright and early.

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