Today we're half way through our 'experiment'. Honestly, I am a bit surprised that I am not missing the comforts of the states. Really, you can get anything you need here, which is encouraging. I am not near ready to go home. I had a few anxiety dreams last night that I was home and our trip was over. I was upset that there were some things I wanted to see, that I hadn't gone to see yet...and it was over already. I woke up relieved to see I was still here. Stupid dreams! I'm trying to focus on how much time we have left rather than dreading the end of the trip. Still so much adventure to have!
I slept a little later today, about 9am. I should have been more motivated, but I wasn't. I puttered around for quite a while. The kids hit the pool. I really needed to get a nail fill today so that when I get home, I don't have to take my nails off and start over. I didn't realize it would be so hard to find a place to do it! I assumed the resorts would all do it. Turns out Jolly Harbor does...but they charge $50 for a freakin fill!! I pay $15 at home! I am not willing to pay that much for a fill, so I decided to brave a local place.
I'd seen two places...one on the way to St. Johns, and one in St. Johns. We tried the one on the way, in All Saints, but as I approached the house it was run out of, I could hear two men arguing loudly with each other. Ok, forget that! So we went to St. Johns. I couldn't remember where I'd seen the place, but we ended up driving past a few. We stopped at one of them and I decided to go for it. Wow. Not like home at all. She used only a nail file and a buffer for shaping. The products she was using must have been a lower quality because they made my fingers burn. It was a horrible experience. When she was finally done, she airbrushed the 'french' part on...with lines straight across...no nail curvature. The fill is too wide and doesn't taper at the cuticle. It looks like I did it myself! Not pretty. It's annoying the hell out of me, but I know Vivian will fix it all up for me when I get home. So - note to self...IF I come to live her and I still have my acrylic nails, then I will either need to cough up the $50 per fill or find a local place that does a good job. Today's was a FAIL.
The ladies who were doing the nails were a hoot though. Very friendly and very concerned with my discomfort. They were quite sure it was my sensitive skin and the chemicals they use. Nice. At any rate, we started talking and I was chatting with them about my favorite things about Antigua and about Carnival. I told them we were thinking of joining a troupe for Jourvet. They thought that was super cool and were really surprised I knew what it was. I explained that we'd been here for the 2007 Carnival and told them my impression of the first time we were here and how we didn't understand. They were getting a good laugh out of it. Then I told them that I listen to Red Hot Radio at home on the internet and love Soca. They were shocked I knew about their local music. Pretty funny. By the end of the conversation they said I was Antiguan in another life. ROFL!
So, after my FAIL, we all decided to head to the beach to cool off. There are cruise ships in everyday for the rest of the week, so we chose Valley Church Beach since its rather hidden. It's funny the number of taxi's on the road when a ship is in. Valley Church was nice and quiet, as usual. We spent several hours there today and also ate a picnic lunch while there. The downside of Valley Church is there is no shade. The upside is all of the shells to sort through and the super soft "flour" like sand which lends to gorgeous water. I know I've said all this before...I just love Valley Church! I did a risky thing today and wore no sunscreen. I've got a good base going, and we were after the 2pm "severe sun" time, so I went for it. Got a nice tan today...no sun poisoning!
We came home and took our rinse swim in the pool. Time to make dinner. We had homemade bean burritos tonight. We tried to end our evening with a trip to Sweet T's for ice cream, but they were closed. They said they were open until 9:30, but I guess you subtract an hour on island time, hehe. We came back home and had candy bars and ice cream bars from the freezer instead.
Tomorrow we're going to hit another beach. Not sure if we are going to explore a few more we found on the map that we haven't seen, or if we'll go to one of our faves. You really can't go wrong on this island. Even the crappy beaches are nicer than anything we have at home. But then, I'm just not a fan of freezing water that you can't see through and gravel or dark colored sand. I am a sucker for the white sand, clear turquoise water beaches. I think it stems from the stories my mom told me as a child, about the Caribbean. It kind of feels like living a fairy tale.
Final thoughts for the night are some funny signs we saw today. One was the "Ding Dong Paradise Chinese Restaurant" and the other was on a fence, it said "Beware of Bad Dog".
