Steve, Cheryl, and Vicki said they were “crabby” about going home today! (They came up with the title, not me!) I think they’d like to move here with us!!! We really enjoyed the two weeks together! I cannot believe how fast the time went! We stayed so busy that I fell way behind on the blog! Sooo…..
Saturday, Phillip volunteered for a community action day hosted by AUC. He helped paint the outside of a local school building! Very cool project (and he got a neat T-shirt!) We went back to Little Bay to snorkel while he was working…sad huh?!? We found 42 sand dollars! Amazing! I took the underwater camera and got some neat pics. I love how you have to look really close because sometimes just a tiny little piece of the sand dollar is sticking out and the rest is buried in the sand! Cool! We also took peas to feed the fish! Vicki had done this before. We put them in a water bottle and then you can just squeeze a few out at a time. It was really neat! The fish went crazy over them!!! The electricity was out that afternoon, so we jumped in the pool to cool off! Vicki, Cheryl, and I went to church in Philipsburg that evening. They had a new girl singing and I really liked her! We ordered Pizza Dan’s after church…YUM! That night, I made sure to stick a “seasick patch” (as we call them) behind my ear before going to bed!
We got up bright and early Sunday morning and left at 7:30 to drive to Marigot. We caught the 8:15 ferry to Anguilla. I was very thankful for the seasick patch…pretty sure I would have been struggling big time without it. The boat was definitely bouncing and swaying back and forth! We rented a car in Anguilla. That was interesting…not only do they drive on the wrong side of the road, but the steering wheel is also on the wrong side of the car!!!! Crazy!!!! The rental guy told Phillip if he got pulled over, just to show the cop the yellow piece of paper, which was a temporary one day license. Then he said, “but the cops probably won’t bother you, they have better things to do today!” Funny!
It was neat to see another island for sure, but the roads weren’t marked well and we couldn’t find a couple of the beaches we wanted to see. We enjoyed seeing the salt pond…it was windy and this frothy stuff had formed on the side of the pond…weird looking! We spent the afternoon at Shoal Beach. Absolutely beautiful!!!! We snorkeled and really enjoyed seeing tons of cool fish, 13 squid, and a little jellyfish!!!! Neat! (We were disappointed that we didn’t see sea turtles or sting rays though…we had been told we might. Darn!) Most shops were closed since it was Sunday, but we drove around looking for an open one because Phillip wanted something! They make “Pyrat Rum” (pronounced pirate). Phillip loves pirates and really wanted a bottle of this rum! We finally found a little grocery store that had it! The bottles of Pyrat rum are “decorated with a Hoti (pronounced Ho-Tie). The Hoti represents the Zen patron saint and protector of fortunetellers and bartenders.” Too funny!!!
Anguilla has lots of speed bumps just like St. Maarten does! I was sitting in the backseat between Cheryl and Vicki. I saw that Phillip was about to go over a huge speed bump and realized he didn’t see it and hadn’t slowed down a bit! I yelled “Lookout, speed” (trying to say speedbump) but that’s all that came out before we hit it so hard that Cheryl and Vicki both bounced up and hit their heads! I ducked just in time to avoid hitting mine!) The windshield wipers and the turn signal are also on opposite sides of the steering wheel! So every time Phillip tried to signal, he turned on the wipers by accident! Hilarious!!
When we returned the rental car, we did as we were told and left the doors unlocked and the keys in the ignition. That seemed a little scary to us, but the guy assured us that “no one steals cars in Anguilla like they do in St. Maarten.” The ferry ride back was a little smoother! When we got back, Phillip went back to school to study. The rest of us made banana daiquiris and headed to the pool for a night swim. That was my first night swim here. It was amazing!!!! On the way back from the pool, Vicki did what we now refer to as the roach dance!!! A roach was following her on the sidewalk! It would run toward her feet! She would run away in a different direction and it would turn and follow her! It was hilarious!!! She finally ran up the stairs to escape the roach. Wish we had that on video!!!!
Monday, we spent the morning at the pool. I swam 50 laps! I need to get back into the habit of working out again! Then Steve, Cheryl, and I went to AUC so they could look in the “bookstore.” The bookstore is really just called “Note Services” and is where students pick up their notes for class. But they do have a sign on the window showing what they sell and then the worker will bring whatever you want to see. They bought AUC coffee mugs and some AUC shirts! They also bought me a bright green AUC zip up hoodie. I absolutely love it! Can’t wait to wear it when I’m home in September!!! After that, Vicki joined us and we headed to Philipsburg once more for some last minute shopping. Then we came back to pick Phillip up and headed to Sunset in Maho. Sunset is a little outdoor restaurant right by the beach. It was so nice eating while watching the ocean and listening to the waves! They had meals for $6 - $8 too! Good deals! I had fish fingers and fries. They were really good!!!!!
Today was super busy! I went over to their apartment at 7:50 this morning and started laundry! Then we went for a quick walk on the beach! I’m glad we made time for that, so they could spend a little more time enjoying the ocean! I walked behind Vicki in the sand, opposite of her footprints. Our footprints made it look like someone had hopped down the beach! Funny!!! Then we headed back for showers and so they could pack. I kept working on laundry too…I did 8 loads total today! I had to take advantage of the free laundry!!! That saved me a ton of money. I washed everything!!!! We met Phillip at the coffee shop for lunch. They have wraps and sandwiches on French bread. Vicki and I got super spicy chicken wraps. Our mouths were on fire!!!!! WOW it was hot! But it was good though! Phillip had class this afternoon, so had to say his goodbyes after lunch. Around 1:00, Steve and I loaded 5 suitcases in the car and I took him to the airport. We lugged the suitcases in and found him a good seat underneath a palm tree. Then I went back for Cheryl, Vicki, the other suitcase, and their 3 carry-on bags! (Steve said he got the best end of that deal because he just got to sit in the air-conditioned airport and wait. Ha!) I stayed with the carry-ons while they checked their luggage, then we said our goodbyes, and they headed up the escalator toward immigration. I was sad to see them go! I finished the last 3 loads of laundry before turning in their apartment keys! I spent most of the rest of the day putting away laundry, putting away things we had taken to their apartment (fans, dish liquid, coffee pot, ice trays, all kinds of random stuff), and doing dishes. I’m still heating up water on the stove to wash dishes since our water heater still isn’t fixed. It’s been out for 2 week and 2 days now. Gotta love island time!
Back to normal life tomorrow. I have to exercise and study! I gained 4 pounds over the past 2 weeks!!!! Ahhhh!!! No exercise and tons of fried food, which we never eat! (But it was fun!!) Hehe!
It sure was nice having visitors! I’m looking forward to more in the future! Please let us know if you’re interested!!!!
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