Cabo: Days 3-5

What a background. It's 9:18 pm. I'm sitting on a little ledge. Right behind me is the hotel. To my right is Pitahayas, the most romantic restaurant in Cabo. A jazz quartet is playing a cool flowing rhythm, Just makes you chill out. To my left and in front of me is the stream of pools that stretches out for what seems like miles. And beyond the pool, even in the near black night, I can just recognize the sand that leads to the Sea of Cortez. I can't see the waves, but I certainly hear them collapse on the sand. I heard one that kept coming down for a good 15 seconds. There's a definite undertoe out there. Stars fill the sky, palm trees sway, there's a hint of a warm breeze.

1) I'm happy because I got to swim, tan, and hear the new Eagles record.
2) I'm sad because I won't get to play pool volleyball and that circumstances are leaving me feeling alone right now.
3) I hate chopsticks! I'm more competent at playing them on the piano than eating with them. And have you ever tried to eat rice with them? It's not possible.
4) The Rangers win twice and the Knicks win once when I'm out of the US. Figures give me no access to live coverage and my teams do great. If the Mets are in contention next September I may move to Sweden for the next two months. Then again the Jets lost again, so maybe it doesn't always apply.
5) Sake tastes strong!
6) How could our room not have a DVD player?
7) I've seen oceans, mountains, and deserts in one day.
8) The shirts you can buy down here are amazing, if you don't mind spending 100 bucks on each.
9) Vacations like this are cool. They're fun. You can relax, get re-energized, replenished, re-focused, revitalized, revamped, etc. But I think it's a once in a while thing. It's amazing how service and doing something meaningful with people that matter to you can really impact you in the long run.
10) How does any parent allow their 8-9 year old kid to get a permanent tattoo?

8 hours later...I have sworn off sushi for the rest of my life as has mom...

Add that pain to the beds which are rock hard. I wake up each day with back and ankle pain. I think the floor would be softer on me. I don't want to complain, but with a hotel this nice, I shouldn't be waking up with soreness in three places. It's Tuesday now and I didn't get out of bed until 11 am. I just hung out by the pool for a few hours. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go snorkeling since we were both feeling so lousy. So I lost my 20 dollar deposit. But I made up for it. I played Mexican bingo, won 2 out of 3 games again 50- or 60 people and won three free drinks. That basically covered the 20 bucks right there!

Finally, I got what I wanted. I played volleyball on the beach. But I just couldn't play as aggressively as I wanted to. I think at that point my stomach was actually trapped somewhere around my knees. After the third and fourth games, I was ready to stop but the other players kept waving me back in. Finally, after 90 minutes in the sand, I grabbed a Gatorade and collapsed into a lounge chair by the pool for an hour. And I was listening to American tourists try to sing traditional Mexican songs accompanied by a live band. Not exactly what I would call smooth. And there was no last night out or anything like that. I was asleep at 7:15. Didn't even eat dinner.

Wednesday night. As of 9 pm, I'm home now. I certainly had a good time, but I was ready to come home. Then I felt that first cold blow of Chicago wind...