Monday, January 17, 2011

A Tale from the Hammock

Or should I say -- one more thing a man can do to exasperate his wife! Let me just start by saying we are loving our stay at Villa La Joya on Isla Mujeres. The view from the room is beautiful and peaceful looking over the turquoise blue water of the bay back toward the night lights of Cancun. And the lapping of the waves on the shore is a wonderful sound to lull you into an afternoon nap in the hammock. And that's just what I did this afternoon.

We'd returned from a lengthy trip to town where we'd hunted seaglass, stopped for an oatmeal cookie at the Island Bakery, rented a golfcart, and then lunched at the Mango Cafe on the way home. Since I'm still a little punk, I decided to take a nap in the hammock while Craig took one of the kayaks out for a spin. I was just about asleep when

this a-hole (pardon my French) came speeding past fairly close to shore. I realized I'd just seen Craig in that location in the kayak, so I grabbed the camera to get a snapshot in case the boat had hit him. After taking the photo, I jumped up and grabbed the binoculars from the table to locate Craig. There he was in the water hanging onto the side of the kayak waving his arms and paddle frantically at me. OMG! What do I do? It's not like I have a number for the Mexican Navy! I took off on a dead run, out the front door of the room and down the series of steep stairs that lead to the pool and the beach below. I tripped on the lower set of stairs, ripping all the polish from two of my carefully pedicured toes. Ouch ouch ouch, but I regained my balance and was on down the last set of stairs to the beach. Craig, still hanging onto the side of the kayak, waved again.

Wading out into the water over the rocks up to my knees, I wondered how the hell I was going to get him in. I'm a fairly good swimmer, but the water's not all that warm and he's a big guy. I yelled, "Are you hurt? Do you need help?" And he, of course, replied, "I'm fine. I was just waving at you!" He'd been using the kayak as a buoy while he snorkeled out in the water, and the speeding boat had not knocked him out of the kayak.

I won't tell you what I yelled back at him, but what the heck?!!! I would think wildly waving your hands while hanging onto the side of a kayak would strike most people as a universal distress call?

After spitting out a few more kind words, I limped back up the flights of stairs, trying to ignore the questioning stares of the two couples on their balconies who had witnessed the strange woman barreling down the stairs to the beach. By the time Craig got back to the room, I was trying to glob some polish onto my broken toenails.

It's all water under the bridge, but this incident is being added to my list of stupid men tricks! Meanwhile, here are a few snapshots inside the walls of Villa La Joya.





I've been sitting on the balcony wondering if my yacht has arrived. The other thought that comes to mind is whether there's someone with a large telescope watching me from that large boat! Craig thinks the windows don't look quite right for a yacht, but it's dropped anchor out there and hasn't moved since we arrived.

A tiny beach and the kayaks (known to some people as snorkeling buoys) are accessible by stairs leading down from the hotel.



The hotel has lots of Mexican pottery decorating the nooks and crannies.

And beautiful bouganvillea decorating the grounds.


More gorgeous tropical vegetation.


A tile mural down by the pool.


My favorite mix of Mexican colors -- yellow and blue.


Craig launching his kayak yesterday. If he pulls that silly trick on me again, I might launch that paddle upside his head. Just kidding!


View of the neighboring docks.


Sunset view from the deck.


6 comments:

Gailmarie7 said...

OH, Becky, this was just GREAT! Love the pix, sorry about your toes...you know, this male behavior is caused by that missing leg of the Y chromosome...what we have in XX they are missing in XY!!! I will be down 2/1...will you still be there, I would love to meet you!

Drgeo said...

Zowie! You ran so fast to the side of your enamorado that you left your nail polish behind! Your new name is "The Flash"! Perhaps a red tee shirt with yellow lightening bolt would cheer you? Now if you could only outrun your virus! Many thanks for photos.

Moongrl722 said...

I would have killed Craig!!! LOL, your stories are great, Becky. Love the stairs with the bouginvilla (sp?). I tried to grow that here once and it didn't work out. May try again, just to be a pain in the ass.

Jane said...

Anyone able to run down La Joya's stairs is in pretty darn good shape, smashed toenails or not. (Beautiful place. Fun story.)

Life's a Beach! said...

Gail, we're going to be like two ships that pass in the night. I leave January 31 and you arrive on February 1! So sorry we won't get to meet! And it must be the missing leg (or the third leg, but I didn't say that)!

Drgeo, I think I've finally outrun the virus! Jana, our bouganvillea all got torched this year in the hard winter frosts, but it will eventually come back. And Jane, I was being very careful running down those stairs because all it takes is one wrong step and I'm back for another arthroscopic knee surgery.

Anonymous said...

Let's see if I can log in to comment - wish I could change my username - will have to check into it!

Ouchie! I bet that hurt! Kudos for you going to the rescue of your husband though - he should feel very good about that.

Love your photos of the place - any chance of some inside photos?

Nope - didn't work - oh well. Jeanne