Lupe came up from California to help Ruben with the kids
Elias saying good bye to mom.
But there I was. I had my e-ticket confirmation (on Alaska Airlines)
in my hand, walking out the door. I had brought my mother-in-law up from
California to help my hubby with the kids, and we were off to the airport.
Ipes.
|
Lupe came up from California to help Ruben with the kids |
Elias saying good bye to mom. |
We flew into San Diego aiport at 10:30am, and went to the baggage claim area. There we found the greeters from Rancho La Puerta (RLP) - a man and a woman hanging out with a bunch of folders and clip boards. We got our bags and then went over to fill out our paper work - including an envelope with our name/addresses, in which we stuck our passports and $21 in cash for a border "tax." Well at least that day it was $21. Somedays it's $15, some it's as high as $25...
While we were waiting for the 12:15 bus to arrive, I went to Starbucks and got my "last" Mocha Frappuccino. While I was there I saw a chocolate bar. I asked Jacki if she thought I ought to buy it and bring it with us. She said I didn't need to - she had about a pound of chocolate coins stashed in her purse. I found this kind of funny, but I didn't realize how much the "contraband smuggling" really went on. I later found out that my mom brought in some Stoli (vodka), another couple of women brought in 8 bottles of wine, and Steve (another guy we eventually met) brought in (among other things) licorice (yummmm licorice. I had some on the trip back to San Diego).
We walked out side, "sneaking" my Frappuccino passed the RLP hosts and waited for the bus in the sunshine. We don't get much of that up in Seattle this time of year and the warmth felt very good. At 12:15 the bus arrived and we climbed aboard. We next drove to terminal 2 and picked up some more people (including my mom who hopped from the other bus to ours to be with us.)
The bus drove east bound along twisty windy route 94 to Tecate Road for about 1.5 hours. I'm glad I was still drugged up with dramamine. I would have lost my Frappuccino for sure. The drive was beautiful. The hills were green and covered in patches of Ice Plant (with beautiful purple flowers) and Celtcia (? it looks like mini wild lilacs). We took a right on Tecate Road, drove for a little bit longer and came to a very unauspicious border crossing. The guards opened up the luggage area, the dogs gave a cursory sniff, and we were shuttled through into Mexico.
Once in Mexico, we turned right and drove down the road about 2-3 miles. The town actually didn't look as poor as some of the other towns I've driven through in Mexico - it seems Tecate (a town of approximately 108,000 people, we later found out) is doing quite well with three beer factories, a few clothing factories (maquilardoras) and RLP infusing cash into the area. We turned right into a small driveway and "suddenly" we're in the ranch. It's like this little paradise set inside this town. Once inside the ranch you feel like you're in the country with nothing else around. The only thing that spoils it is that you can hear the trucks passing by on the road to Ensenada.
We left our bags where the porters had unloaded them and our mom led us to the dining room for lunch. Lunch was fresh fruit, veggie barley soup, salad, acidopholus milk, cottage cheese, salsa, etc. We could pick what we wanted from that, plus you could always ask for yogurt, bread, granola, and peanut butter. Salt wasn't out on the table, you had to ask for that. The food was quite good, but you could tell it wasn't heavily salted (that's the way I like it actually). The portions are real serving sizes - which would normally seem small but I've been doing Weight Watchers for a year, so it made sense to me. We ate a relaxed lunch outside with this view.
Mom convinced Jacki to go in and ask for some peanut butter with bread
because she said it was so good. Jacki eventually did and the guy said
to her (sarcastically) "On your first day?!?!?"
 |
After that we went back and checked in and got our all important water bottle, then had the porter take our bags to our villa (Luna 7). Here's a picture of what our place looked like from the outside (I slept under the window in the picture). We were lucky - the room had a phone in it. This is new to some rooms this year. Not all rooms have phones and so receiving calls gets to be tricky - you have to coordinate where you will be and when to have the call forwarded to the nearest phone. This is especially problematic now because they're asking that guests not talk on cell phones in public areas any more (aftersome complaints last year). |
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This is a picture of the inside of our villa studio. |
This was my view from the window. The mountain is Mt. Kuchumaa (called
Tecate Peak in the US, which is apparently just at the top of the mountain).
And here are the hammocks just outside our villa.
We attended the afternoon stretch class, which felt good after the flight, and then the ranch briefing for first timers. Dinner was soup, salad, tamales, with chickpeas, veggies and salsa. It turns out soup and salad are served with all lunches and dinners. We sat at a big table and met Susie and Julie - a couple of women from St. Louis who own their own business. We had a blast joking at dinner, mostly about how often we each had to go to the bathroom, given that we were told we should drink 8-10 of our water bottles filled with water each day. It's amusing how you can suddenly talk to complete strangers about bodily functions at this place. Aside from the constant flow of water, many people have intestinal problems with the sudden switch to such a high fiber diet.
After dinner I went to the library and watched the movie "Return to Me" with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. My friend Kate (from Seattle) saw them filming part of this movie in Rome, so it was cool to finally see it.
Sunday, 4/15 - I tried to get up for the hike, but I couldn't. Dammit, it's my vacation and it's bad enough that breakfast is at the ungodly hour of 7:30 (I usually get up at 7am). I wanted to sleep in sometime this week. It was funny how by the end of the week 7am became "sleeping in." At least that part made coming back to the real world (with the Elias-alarm) easy.
We thought that breakfast started at 7, but it wasn't until 7:30, so mom and I found the internet room in the men's health center. Unfortunately it's only open Monday - Friday. Later we found out that it's $5/half an hour for a hiddeously slow connection on really slow machines. Can you tell I'm spoiled by my super fast machine and DSL connection at home?
Breakfast was scrumcious, but I had too much to eat. They had hot cereal, muffins, hard boiled eggs, fruit, cold cereal, non fat milk, soy milk, salsa. Jacki said she wasn't feeling too terribly well, but ate a bit anyway.
I did a Pilates introduction, which was very basic and just got us to
be really aware of the position of our bodies. Mostly it was stomach exercises.
I hoped it would get harder as the week progressed (it did, but not enough
to keep my interest). Then I did Introduction to Circuit Training.
I heart circuit training. And I *loved* looking at the guy who was demonstrating
all of the machines to us. Ohhhh baby. He was like a model. I didn't catch
his name, but he was one of the bits of eye candy for the week. Finally,
my 11am hour was taken up by an intermediate step aerobics class. I haven't
taken step in probably 5 years. I did *amazingly* well for being so out
of practice. I was surprised at how much I remembered.
 |
At noon I met up with my mom and sister at the Women's Health Center
and got my locker and my wonderful robe. I love the robes at the ranch
- they're soft cotton and absorbant. Jacki, mom and I hung at the hot tub
for a while. Jacki wasn't looking too well - she complained of a stomach
ache and nausea. We didn't stay too long - I was starving. We ate lunch,
and sat out on the other side of the dining hall, pictured here to the
left. We ate lunch out here all but the first and last days.
We rested for a bit after lunch to let our stomachs digest, then mom and I went to a sculpt and strenthen class (Jacki was getting pretty ill by this point and stayed in the room once she got back there). The instructor for the class was a guy named Barry who insists he looks like Ricky Martin, but I think its a joke. He is cute, but Ricky Martin? I don't think so. |
Mom and I wound up at the Villas Health Center after our class. The
top floor is for women only and is clothing optional (although we found
out later that men can go up there from 5-8pm), glad no men came up when
I was there! Here are some pictures from the roof. Again, you can
see Mt. Kuchumaa from sitting in the tub. I had to get these pictures
when noone else was around - I didn't want the women to think I was taking
pictures of them!
I showered in the health center - it became my favorite thing to do - shower there rather than in our villa. I love all the lotions they have available to use (hair mousse, gel, lotions, etc). All I had to bring was a change of clothes. Then I went off to the Mercado to check for Jacki's sweatshirt before dinner. It wasn't there so I hung around in the lounge and read the newspaper. While I was sitting there a couple of the women from the Montreal crowd showed up and seemed to try to engage me in a conversation. At on point one of them mentioned how lucky we were to be there. I knew how lucky we were. I guess my feathers got a bit rustled at the way she said it - it seemed a bit condescending. She also mentioned how she said her daughter-in-law buys gifts for her kids and she just pays her back, so of course I had to put in a plug for Amazon.com's wish lists.
Dinner was really amusing. We ate with Susie and Julie again, and a new woman Nina (a psychiatrist from New York City) sat with us. Julie told them it was my birthday (no it really wasn't), and the staff brought out a cake. I think it was a carrot cake with tofu icing. Eh, it was ok. The amuins part about it was that even though they promised they wouldn't, they sang happy birthday to me. I was beet red. Poor Nina really thought it was my birthday, but I didn't want to tell her otherwise in front of the staff and cause problems! Still we laughed and laughed and laughed. I wound up giving some of my cake to people as they walked by - why not, it was just going to go to waste if we didn't finish it.
We brought some food back to Jacki who hadn't made it to dinner. When we got back we found she had called for a doctor and some of the staff were in our room trying to help her out. It turns out that there is a staff doctor there on the weekends until 6pm, but he had gone home already. We should have asked for the doctor sooner, but we didn't know any better. The staff said that they tried to reach the nurse at home, but she wasn't there (turns out she was on-line on her computer), but that she would come by 8am the next morning. Jacki was really pretty sick. I suspect it was food poisoning - probably something she ate from the Seattle airport because everything else we ate in common, mom and I didn't get sick, nor did we catch anything from her (and we were living in such tight quarters sharing a bathroom. If it was a bug, we would have caught it). She did eventually sleep until 8:30 am the next morning after taking some Immodium that Debbie was kind enough to give us. (I can't remember exactly when we met Debbie (a lawyer from Washington DC), but it was like we knew her all along).
Monday 4/16 - I woke at 4:15am after a very weird dream and found my leg twitching from the exercise the previous day. I finally fell back to sleep and woke back up at 6am, quietly got ready for the hike and snuck out. It was cold, but I warmed up quickly once I was walking. I took the River Trail - a series of switch backs where they just have you turn back after 1/2 an hour of climbing. This is the same route as the end of the Pilgrim trail - a 3.5 mile hike that you can't turn back on. I figured I'd go with the "easier" climb first. It turns out that I was at the front of the River hikers and that we met up with the front of the Pilgrim Trailers right at 1/2 an hour, so I figured I must have done 3.5 miles total. I also spoke with Lisa on the hike - a woman who lives in Seattle and looks incredibly familiar, although I *still* can't place where I know her.... We'll figure it out someday.
I went right to breakfast when I came back and met up with my mom. Afterwards we went back to the room and waited until the nurse came (missing Pilates). The nurse told Jacki to take it easy and drink plenty of liquids, then ordered her some cereal, apple juice and vegetable soup. (They got the cereal and apple juice right, but brought her some chopped veggies instead of broth. I had to laugh).
I wound up going
to African Dance at 10am (taught by Connie - she's a doll! too bad she
had to go to Las Vegas for the rest of the week), and Circuit training
at 11am. Mr. Yummy wasn't there, but I had a good time anyway. I
bumped into Jacki who was up and around and doing laundry (silly Jacki
:)). At noon I went off to lunch again.
The picture at the left was taken near the laundry room. The picture (and the computer) really don't do the colors any justice.
After lunch I hit the internet for a while, and at 2pm I did a funk class, also taught by Connie. All I can say about that is that I'm too damn white, I have no beat for it at all. Connie was superb, and if she could teach anyone to have rhythm it would be her. Too bad she didn't have a few years to work on me.
At 3pm I had my Sports Massage at the Villas Health Center. "Treatments" are extra at RLP, but they are pretty reasonable (approx $50 for massages, etc). I had planned the Sports Massage in particular for Monday afternoon knowing I would be pretty sore and this would be a good way to deal with it. Boy was I right. Now I really understand why athletes do this after a big workout. It really really helped and probably was the only reason why I could move around the next day. After the massage, I went back up to the hot tub on the roof, lounged, then showered.
At 5pm I poked my head in the Spanish class in the library. I was pretty disappointed. It was very remedial and I needed an intermediate class - or maybe just someone who was willing to put up with listening to my forgotten words and my "living in the present" (I can't ever remember how to conjugate into past or future tenses). Instead I hung around the lounge again, reading the paper and chatting with Nina. We went off to dinner and met up with my mom, and once again sat at a big table. I can't remember who we met that was new that night, but it was an enjoyable evening.
After dinner
I went to the art studio for some inspiration. I thought I'd just bring
my jewelery making kit (a small subset of what I have at home) and look
for some inspiriation. And boy did I get it. He had some terrific beads
and some neat ways of putting them together with wire. I love wire working.
Here's something I started in the studio and was up to midnight perfecting.
It looks much better hanging up.
Tuesday 4/17 - I slept in again (where 7am is defined as
sleeping in here), finally deciding that I would hike every other day.
Breakfast was at 7:30, followed by Pilates at 9am and Fitball at 10am.
I was pretty happy with the exercises I learned at Fitball. I started to
feel a little queasy at fitball because some of the exercises put me upside-down
and I have low-ish blood pressure. Instead of circuit training (which I
had wanted to do), I went to the pool for the hour before lunch with my
mom. By noon I was starving though, and we showered and headed off towards
the sound of that lunch bell.
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At 2pm I went to a Belly dancing class. That was a lot of fun, and
on top of it, we were filmed by the local (San Diego) ABC film crew.
I left a bit early because I had my Loofa Salt Glow treatment at the Villa
Health Center. Gloria was the woman who did the treatment on me,
a 33 year old Tecate resident who spoke English like I spoke Spanish. We
had a great time talking and helping each other out, giggling while she
first took a loofa to my skin, then rubbed it with a salt/almond concoction.
The lady from the next room over eventually had to come over and hush us
up (of course that made us giggle more). After the salt solution,
I showered off and she put some almond lotion on my skin. It's still soft
as I write this a week later. Over the rest of the week Gloria and
I would say hello to each other whenever we saw each other in the Health
center.
I took the picture at the left on my way home from the Health center. Again, the picture (and the computer) really don't do the colors any justice. The field was alive with these red/orange/yellow flowers. I don't know what the plant is though. |
I spent the hour or so before dinner doing some more bead/wire jewelery in my room. That's when I started to worry about Matthew and whether or not someone would be home at 3:45 to meet his bus. I tried to contact Ruben with Jacki's cell phone (turns out I had to wait for the phone to say "Extended Area" instead of "Roam"), but no luck.
Debbie came over and had a cocktail with my mom, Jacki and I. Well Jacki and I weren't drinking, but we sat outside and enjoyed the talk. I still tried to contact Ruben, but had no luck. I went to dinner feeling unsettled.
We had dinner that night with Anne, a woman originally from England who has worked for the owner of the Ranch (Deborah) for 20 years. She does the PR for the ranch now, and was the one that was setting up the camera crews and the photo shoot for the new brochure. The other woman we met was Edith, an Israeli woman who has a condo in Isreal, a house in LA and another place in New York City. She was talking to my mom about some of her investments in New York. I eventually bailed out of dinner and went back to the art studio for more play time. I had the cell phone with me, but still hadn't gotten a call from Ruben.
I wandered back to the villa around 9:30 and got ready for bed - still fretting. And on top of my anxiety about Matthew, Jacki was sick again, and I felt really bad for her. While I was waiting in bed, hoping that Ruben would call, I suddenly realized it was TUESDAY, not Wednesday (the day Matthew was to get back to our house, he's at his Dad's on Tuesday). I felt like such an dunce, but then everyone I talked to said I should just chalk it up to "spa brain." Ruben finally called around 10pm and told me this great story about Elias "cooking" in the play kitchen at school. I wish I could have seen that.
Wednesday 4/18 - I first woke up at 4am when I heard mom asking Jacki to please drink some apple juice. I had a bit of a hard time getting back to sleep, worrying whether or not I'd wake up in time for the Vegetable Garden Hike. Eventually I dozed and woke up at 6am and quietly got ready. Technically I was only supposed to go on this once, and was planning on going on Friday with my mom and sister (when they had a van that my mom could take back to the ranch), but I wanted to lend a hand in the gardens. I can't remember my guide's name, but he told me that the climate near Rancho La Puerta was much more temperate some years ago because the hills all had trees (Tecate Cypress and one other) on them. Now the trees are gone and the summers get hotter and the winters get cooler. The hills are now pretty bare, except for the low shrubs and rocks.
Rancho La Puerta gets a lot of their food (currently approximately 50%) from a ranch about 2 miles down the road called Tres Estrellas, which means Three Stars. It's owned by the same people. They grow their food organically on 6 acres and buy organically to fill in when needed.
The chef Bill
Wavrin lives on the Tres Estrellas grounds, and cooks in this kitchen.
I saw his wife and his absolutely beautiful daughter (dark skinned like
her mother, blonde hair like Bill). Tres Estrellas is run by a guy
named Lee, and another guy Enrique designs the landscape for the grounds
for both Tres Estrellas and Rancho La Puerta. Enrique holds an undergraduate
degree in Biology and a Masters in Ecology. He's quite a cutie, too.
I can't remember what Lee's major was in, but his minor was in Spanish.
He's actually from the US, but has taken up residence on Tres Estrellas
(they are building him a home on the property)
Breakfast included hot cereal, scrambled eggs (which are really egg
whites, egg beaters and tofu, mixed with veggies), tortillas, fruit, salsa
(again), and the ranch bread with carob chips and cranberries. The bread
was hot out of the oven, and the food was incredibly fresh. We ate our
breakfast outside the kitchen on these tables. They have a black and white
ranch cat that is incredibly tricky about trying to steal your food.
After breakfast Enrique gave us a bit of a lecture about the farm and
how it works. Then three of us stayed on to help around the
farm and we met Salvador. The rest of the group hiked back to RLP.
Salvador showed us around the farm, and told us what all the plants were.
The landscaping was all edible - herbs, fruit trees, etc. We saw them harvesting
the most beautiful carrots (which we eventually got to eat some plucked
right out of the ground and washed.). We picked herbs for dinner
for that night (thyme, rosemary, cilantro), and lavender that would eventually
be used in making the wreaths (a class on Thursday). I learned the
difference between English (longer) and French (shorter) Lavender. Salvador
picked some lavender and some lemon verbena and made an herbal tea infusion
for us while we took a break around 11am. The day was hot, but not really
sunny (high overcast clouds), so we weren't overheating too badly, but
they did treat us gently. I wanted to work harder, and eventually he put
us to work on some of the beds where they were about to plant sesame (Anijoli).
It turns out that Salvador is sort of in charge of herbs - each worker
sort of has a specialty. He knows about some of the other plants, but he's
the most knowledgeable about the herbs in the garden. He's in his
early thirties and has a wife (who stays at home) and a little girl. He's
been with the farm for something like 10 years. Actually most everyone
I talked to has been with the RLP staff for many many many years. It was
nice to see how loyal they were. I later found out that all of the
full time staff gets three months sabatical every year where their benefits
are still active, even though they are not getting paid.
In the kitchen, Luis was working with another woman making lunch for the farmers. He told me of a great recipe for a dressing: equal parts almonds, olive oil, soy sauce and lemon juice in a blender. After it's blended add another part of olive oil. I didn't get to taste it, but it did look very good.
We stayed until
noon and hoped on a van that took us back to RLP for lunch. Just before
I left I took this picture of Salvador in front of the fields.I was bummed
he was a little bit in the shadows.
I found Jacki and mom for lunch - it turns out that they had travelled into town to get some Lomotil upon Nina's advice. That finally worked and she was on the mend. I also made her drink the acidopholus milk as a way to get the flora in her gut to be back to normal. Nina agreed with me.
At 2pm I did the Latin dance class, which was ok, but the instructor tried to cram in too many steps. Ruben would have liked it though - 15 women gyrating their hips to the Latin music. At 3pm I went and watched Bill give a cooking demonstration. Here I got to eat a treat of quesadillas (they make them with mozarella, feta and blue cheese), "chips", guacamole that's cut with blanched broccoli and defrosted frozen peas, and some salsas. The food was really good, and now I'm glad to know how to make a lower fat guacamole.
At 4pm I got a free makeover consultation at the Golden Door shop. Apparently the people who own the ranch also owned Golden Door in Escondido, CA (it was recently sold). I did learn a few tricks though (including that blue eye liner and mascara would be good for me). After that I went back and took a bath so as not to screw up my new makeup job. I talked with Ruben and the kids on the phone then - Yes, Matthew made it home just fine. But I could hear the tumult that I have to deal with on a weekly basis on Wednesdays especially. I even started to get tense just being on the phone and hearing it. I felt a little bad for Ruben, but I did enjoy the ability to walk away from it. Still I missed the kids and I could hear in the background Elias saying "Good Day" and "I love you" - he was speaking more clearly than when I left 4 days prior.
Dinner was scrumptious as always and again we met some new people -
Steve and Bunny from San Francisco. We all went over to play bingo afterwards.
Mom said it gets pretty cut-throat and she was right. Still I managed to
win a Mexican glass pitcher, which I eventually had to lug home on the
plane. It made it though.
Thursday
4/19 - I slept hard, woke and had breakfast at the Villas pool. There
they will make you an omlet with veggies on the inside and salsa on the
outside. They also had the usual array of hot and cold cereals, juice
and fruit.
My morning consisted of Cardi-Boxing, NIA (a low impact aerobic dance class, which was ok), and street self defense with Chris. Chris is another instructor I just love. First of all, he has a Scottish accent. He could tell me I'm an asshole in that accent and I just wouldn't care. Jacki bought his self defense tape so we can listen to his accent any time :). He's an interesting mix - a guy that will readily tell you that he's got scars on his back from being knifed, and yet he's just a teddybear. He gave us some great pointers on what to do in different situations and how to defend ourselves.
Lunch was even better today. Bill gave us each a cookie. I have to tell you, that was about the best tasting cookie I ever had. It had a real Hershey's chocolate kiss on the top. I managed to convince him to give me a second one because I was a "first year." After lunch, I spent some time back on the internet and then headed over to the wreath making session that was above the dining room. This was the view from just outside the room:
I wasn't going to make a wreath at first, but it just looked like so much fun. Plus it was a way to bring back the smells of Tecate with me. So now I have a wreath in my kitchen, but I don't know where to hang it....
The rest of my afternoon was spent resting and showering. I had a Hot River Stone Massage at 6pm. In this massage you first lay down on some rocks that have been kept in warm (100-120 degree) water. Then the woman lays some rocks on top of your stomach, above your towel. She then oils your body, and uses the rocks to massage you, starting with the hips to release some of the heat, and then working on an arm or leg. She leaves the rocks under the appendage she was working on. My mom had had one earlier and said it was terrific on her arthritis. I found that it was terrific for the sciatic pain that I keep seeming to have when I overdo it (ever since I was pregnant with Elias I've had this trouble).
I caught up with my mom and sister at dinner, and then went back for
one more round at the Art Studio. The artist showed me a few tricks for
clasps too. I need more practice though.
Friday 4/20 - In some
ways the week went painfully slow, and in other ways it went too quickly.
By the time I realized it, it was Friday. Jacki (who was feeling
much better by now), mom and I woke up and went out for the Garden Breakfast
Hike again. I snagged this picture of mom, Steve and Jane along the way.
I was able to say hello again to Lee and Luis when I was back at Tres Estrellas,
but I didn't see Salvador and I don't think Enrique remembered me.
This time I hiked back instead of taking the van (mom took the van back).
I did the morning stretch (darn, this is what I should have done all week instead of Pilates), circuit training (with Chris), and Step Interval. The circuit training was great - Chris had this terrific music and the other people (women) all started to sing to the music while we were on the treadmill and the weight machines. I actually finally bonked (ran out of energy) in the Step Interval class an hour later though. Part of it was I thought it was a 50 minute class like everything else. It turns out it's a 1 hour class. Fifty minutes into it my feet were just not going where my head said they should go. I sat out the rest and drank water.
After lunch I did the Rhythm and drumming class. I think I was really getting it. I may have to buy an drum. I took it easy for the rest of the day -hitting the hot tub, reading on a lounge chair and sunning myself (even though the weather had turned and it was much colder than the days before) and showering in the women's health center. We had dinner with Bunny and Steve, Jane and Steve, Nina, Debbie and a new couple of people - Carolyn and Gerre. They served wine with dinner too, although it was so sweet it tasted like Passover wine. They also served Tecate beer, and although I'm not a beer drinker, it tasted pretty good, especially with a lime in it.
The evening was spent Dancing with Yuichi. Mom says he's 77 years old, but he looks INCREDIBLY young. I couldn't believe his energy. I had a great time.
Jacki and Steve
boogying.
(l to r) Bunny,
Jacki (half visible), Nina and Steve
Mom getting giggy
wid it.
Saturday 4/21 - Amazingly enough, our week was over. Mom had to catch the early bus, so I went to eat with her at 7am. Jacki and I then went back to the room, finished packing up, read a little bit, and then headed off to the stretch class at 9am (with Chris.... sigh). Jacki went on to use the hot tub and I stayed for the low impact aerobics. I should have gone with Jacki. At 11 I showered in the health center (because we were out of our room by then, and our luggage had been picked up), and went over to the administration building to check out. There I ate some of the fruit that was out, and eventually found out that lunch was being served early (at 11:30 instead of noon). I raced over there and got some yummy peanut butter and ranch bread, and a couple of pieces of the fritatta they were serving. I can't believe how I ate that fritatta on the bread on the bus. (And Steve (with Jane) gave me some licorice. Yummmm)
I took my dramamine as an after thought as I got on the bus. Good thing too. That twisty windy road was getting to everyone - including Jacki.
"Re-entry"
was a bitch. I had gotten to such a relaxed state over the week, even coming
back to civilization, driving through San Diego was a little overwhelming.
The airport was even worse so. Jacki and I stopped for something to eat
in the airport (fries of all things, and a frappuccino, which really tasted
too rich for me at first). We hung out with Mia, Lisa and Susan before
the flight. The flight back up was uneventful, but filled with kids. The
two girls behind us were fighting most of the time. I sacked out
with the dramamine for most of the flight though. Then the kids at
home were excited to see me, but they were needy and cranky, Ruben was
a bit moody, and the tumult was pretty overwhelming too. Elias (shown at
the left) sort of didn't recognize me at first when he saw me, but then
gave me this big long hug. He really is talking much better since I left.
As Chris said, I'm trying to take a bit of the ranch home with me. A couple of deep relaxing breaths during the day with my eyes closed helps. I'm trying to work excersizing into my daily routine more - something I had gotten out of touch with over the winter. I'm drinking more water, and eating more veggies. And I get to smell little bit of Tecate whenever I'm near my wreath whenever in the kitchen. Who knows how long this will last, but at least it's a start. And I certainly felt like I got my money's worth.
Oh, and dinner on Sunday night? Sushi at Toyoda
Sushi. Let me tell you, that was the best damn sushi I ever had :)