I got up at eight to attend a union meeting. JARED was still asleep. Not much more to report on that end. When he woke up a tad later he felt like he had slept off his illness. At around 11 we went to the café on the corner to have some coffee and early lunch. I have the avocado toast heaped with sprouts on top and a cappuccino and JARED had a Americano. After he tasted how good my sandwich was he decided he wanted a sandwich. We were the only customers in this bright cherry coffee shop and the worker behind the counter was happy to make JARED a sandwich of his choosing which was jamon, queso and aquacate.
We then walked around for about half an hour and ducked in a few cute little shops. I went into a pharmacy and was able to buy some OTC pills and I spied some jewelry I might want to purchase. I came back for my 1:30 PM union zoom meeting but found out that it has been postponed until two so I ducked out again and grabbed some jewelry people might be getting for Christmas. My union meeting was important but uneventful and it gave JARED some time to play his stupid stupid game on his phone which he seemed to enjoy.
in the afternoon we ventured out in the car knowing that we would lose our Primo parking space only half a block away. I typed in Public Beach but the navigator took us to a resort. I'm glad we didn't stay in the resorts as they felt empty and not as fun as staying in the historic downtown area that we have currently are staying. They were festoon however with Tommy Bahama stores. After redirecting ourselves to another public beach we were able to find the marina and a small Public Beach that seemed packed with locals or at the very least packed with Mexican tourists. Everyone there brought an umbrella as the sun was beating down quite hard but I slathered us with a decent amount of sunscreen. But we're almost out of sunscreen.
I jumped in the water right away – wearing my swim shirt so I didn't burn. The beach was more on the side of the sea of Cortez rather than the Pacific and the particular beach we went to was more of an inlet protected by two stone jetties. There were lots of kids playing in the beach and it was perfectly safe to swim. I swam out to several buoys and the water was warm – it could've even been a little colder for me given how hot it was outside. Jared got an ice cream – vanilla from one of the street vendors. I went back in the water and was able to swim away from the shore and out again to the buoys. I liked being able to swim away from the noise of the children into the sea but I think it made JARED a little nervous. Once you're further out you have to compete with boats and there were several fisherman throwing off nets. I swam to what I thought was a group of fisherman at the end of the jetty but the closer I got I realized it was about three dozen very large pelicans sunning themselves on the rocks. The pelicans seem much larger than the ones in Miami.
I was able to convince JARED to go in the water as they were hardly any waves while I watched our stuff. I took a picture of him out in the sea and then we both dried off and I think I drifted off.
As the sun was starting to recede we plugged in the next location for a more sunscreen – Walmart! I didn't know this was gonna be such an issue but when we arrived to the Walmart parking lot Jared did not seem happy. I also have to add that the Walmart parking lot was a weird scene – everyone seemed to be washing or working on their cars in this underground parking lot. The store was humongous and we had several things on our agenda: sunscreen, water, tape. I was excited to look around but JARED was not, "I do not want to spend my vacation in a foreign country in a Walmart!" Duly noted and I understand but it felt like a little bit of cosmic or karmic justice given that this was the person who forced me to go to a KFC the minute we arrived in Vietnam. The KFC had food without onion and air conditioning.
I enjoyed the Walmart although I understand not wanting to go to Walmarts around the world. I got to smell a bunch of different kinds of deodorant – the smells of deodorant and soap are always slightly different around the world. And we were able to buy several gallons of water for the same price 1 L of water was at the stop and shop down the street: OXOX. I think Jared's disgust at Walmart with slightly tempered by how cheap all the waters were and we were able to get some topo Chicos and some truly bizarre popcorn. The popcorn I might add on the receipt said palomitas even though everyone in Miami has no idea what Palomitas are! I don't think we're translating the popcorn packet accurately but it seems to say something about it having excessive calories and excessive flavor.
We returned home to the historic district and as it was the first Thursday of the month and art walk there was not parking on our block but we easily found parking a few blocks away. We carried the water and groceries back to the house and I immediately ran into the shower to wash off the sand.
Jared then researched somewhere to go eat while I went off. We walked down one of the main promenades and poked in some of the shops on the way to dinner. JARED did not seem to want to shop – big surprise – but once I explain to him that shopping only entailed him standing next to me and telling me whether he likes something or not he seemed more willing to do it. We then found the restaurant which was in the main plaza. The restaurant during the week is a bar and coffee shop but I guess on Thursdays and Thursdays only they have dinner? The place seemed a little too hip or young for us as they had a really good DJ playing and it was dark.
The menu had several vegetarian options and many fancy drinks. I got a Mezcal cocktail that tasted a little like an old fashion but made with mezcal and it was excellent. Very smoky. JARED got a hot latte and then we ordered dinner. I got grilled cheese which came with soup and salad. The grilled cheese was delicious – on sourdough with dunking in the tomato soup. The tomato soup we think had coriander in it? It was really good but there was something extra in it that made it extra good. JARED got sliders which he seemed to really enjoy after he picked off the pickles. My sandwich came with some very spicy pickled carrots and peppers. I thought the meal was fantastic – the place we went to last night was atmospheric and felt very festive but the food was not nearly as good as the food we had tonight. I think the restaurant's name is Pezcalla?
After dinner we walked around the Square and looked at all the artists who had their wares on display. Jared purchased a small painting on a rock which will fit nicely with his other small souvenirs on his desk. After looking at all the stalls we ducked in to get some ice cream. I think Jared wanted two scoops of ice cream but the girl behind the counter gave him two separate ice cream's: one banana and one Oreo. I was feeling like I couldn't have more dairy after the grilled cheese. Jared loved the banana but thought that Oreo ice cream was just OK. Tomorrow I will get a watermelon popsicle or sandia palleta.
we walked home – the streets were still pretty lively with people mulling around but the shops were starting to close as it was 10 PM. Then we came home and I started to text to speech this journal. I will go back tomorrow and try to fix the typos in text to speech.
