Thursday, 3/21 ... The *** Women And The Sea?

We planned to walk up the beach again this morning, and were somewhat startled to find ourselves joined by another pair of ladies with a similar plan.  We all got to the market and headed past the calm little "infinity" pool ...

down to the shore, to be stopped in our tracks by TOWERING and THUNDERING surf.  Looks like we were closer to a high tide today, and whatever the winds were, they produced quite a show.

These waves were cresting higher than the palm-frond roofs of the vendor stalls in the distance (at least from our vantage point).  You can see a tube closing up to the right of the first palm.

As the water was so much higher, we had a much more pleasant walk overall, though there were actual pools from place to place.  We were often struck by the beautiful patterns left by the receding surf, no two alike at all:

And we smiled at a bird bath courtesy of Mother Nature, well up onto the beach:

 
 Big, booming rollers cresting out a ways:

creating a bluff of their own in the shoreline:

Another set of intriguing patterns:

and a river flowing back into the sea:

All in all, it took us a good hour to trek down the beach and also take it all in.  We collapsed in our now-favorite shady chairs and watched first one, then up to three intrepid surfers enjoying the best day they'd had in a good while.  Here's a bit of the sense of scale:

 

We were charmed by this foal learning how to work the beach:

As we had before, we showered the sand off our our feet and sat for a bit on a higher tier of shady chairs until everything dried off.  Have to say, we drew it all out a bit knowing it was our farewell tour.

Heading back to the room, we began moving into pack-and-go mode ... checking the current status of our bill (no surprises ultimately, though a couple things to figure out); making arrangements for printing out our boarding passes and being grateful our selected seats were still assigned; checking on our stash of pesos and how best to utilize the remainder.  Tucked into the remaining romaine, radish slices, and sweet peppers along with quesadillas for lunch, and took some afternoon time "off" (Linda mostly reading, Carolyn mostly stitching that teeny-tiny spyglass).

Linda got mostly packed and moved into dinner prep; Carolyn got mostly packed and helped to finish up.  Somehow we are going home with a LOT more luggage space ... we can only confess to bringing a few loaves of bread for breakfast ... where did all that airspace COME from??

Dinner was the end of the skirt steak in tomatillo sauce and a heap of angelhair with the end of the zucchini and crema.  We are down to the bitter end, with just a few items to pass along to our friendly driver in the morning, though some are amusing.  We purchased a box grater, 1-cup Pyrex measuring pitcher, and a cheapo nonstick skillet ... no point in leaving them here, so he can use them or donate them to a needier family.

We are amused to find very few purchases this trip; guess our resolutions to decrease our holdings may be taking root!  But always there are a few items perfecto for the gift shelf, and we have a wide variety of pleasant memories ... from completing tasks hard to do at home, to lovely tours, to those walks up the shoreline.  Buenes noches, amigos, we'll write again from the frozen north.