Cousins

We are on our way to Columbia. We had a wonderful week with Mark and Lucy. It is amazing how family traits appear in cousins who were not raised together. Lucy has a healthy appetite that I have observed in most Langes. They love games and are good at them, Lucy is a fierce Scrabble player and the Ipad got a workout while she was here. Mark joined in the games in the evening, they taught us "chicken feet" a game with Dominoes which Barry enjoyed.  We also played some hotly contested games of dice, I wonder how many countries we have played that game in. 

One day we dinghied over to the island that we had seen the boat loads of people going back and forth to. We walked about 500 meters through the mangroves and discovered a resort beach.  On the leeward side of Aruba they had made some protected beaches, there were large sea water areas which had big boulders enclosing a swimming area. None of us had brought our cameras but the next day we sailed past it and took a shot. There was a couple of bars and a workout area as well as a beach tennis court. We felt like real tourists as we lounged on the chaises after a cocktail and a swim.  There were some gorgeous blue lizards as well as large green iguanas. We saw some flamingos that you could feed but by the time we came back and bought some food they had been put to bed for the night. 

The next day we motored about five miles south on the inside of the resort island, past the airport and the smelly , burning garbage dump to a great snorkelling spot.  Lucy, Mark and I jumped off the boat and saw some lovely coral and some great fish, meanwhile Barry was tending to the boat as we were unable to anchor in the coral. We tried to get in the southern entrance but it looked a little dicey so we sailed back to the airport anchorage for lunch. That evening Lucy and I made pizzas proving to Barry that our galley really is a two person galley. 

Here we are mid assembly, the finished pictures are on Mark's camera. It was wonderful to have some company aboard. We enjoyed the conversations, the sharing of family stories and our guests enthusiasm. Barry has never been very keen to have people on board, he feels the boat is too small and he values his privacy. The four of us get along well together and there was space to have a bit of quiet time if needed. We also managed to get through the week without opening the door to the head on anyone. 

The day Lucy and Mark checked into their timeshare we all took a taxi there. They got a lovely suite on the quiet, sunny side of the building, I had a jacuzzi tub and a shower using more water than all of us had used all week, what a luxury. We did our laundry, then Mark and Lucy treated us to a delicious dinner in the complex. We visited the casino later and managed to come out $2.25 ahead using our tried and true method of quitting while we were ahead.  It was a great spot and it would have been fun to visit and play bocce ball or ping pong but Columbia and Panama are calling so we left this morning.