I needed to get out. The introverted, tired side of me said to stay. The extroverted side was tired of one day cooped up in a room with A/C even if I wasn’t feeling great. But I was tired of dealing with men and the attention…just didn’t have it in me to face it alone today. (If you’re not a single woman living overseas you probably have no idea what it’s like to deal with the attention, comments, grabbing, etc, and how wearing down it is.)
Having finally come out of my room, I actually met others staying here and chatted. Amazingly, today they had plans to go to White Sands and invited me to tag along. We hoped in a bajaji and headed down the road, wind whipping at my hair and making the canga I had wrapped around my swim shorts fly about.
With a $3 entrance fee I walked into the resort. The pool, which was nice, was the first thing you spot under the tall palms. But it was the ocean that caught my view. No one was out out the beach but the Floridian in me yearned to walk barefoot in the sand.
I walked to the edge of the Indian Ocean and let the waves lap my feet. Interesting, it was as warm as the Gulf on a hot summer day. Walking along the white sand I scuffed my feet in the hard, water packed sand. While there were no coquinas or large shells, I did find a smile on my face. A different beauty faced me, one I was happy to enjoy in peace.
Walking back, I hopped in the pool and enjoyed a few laps. My shoulders apparently healed from the Ultimate Frisbee game and previous strain from swimming laps. (Ah, 30, what have you done to me?) I couldn’t resist sitting and staring at the ocean so I flipped the chair around. Why people want to sit and look at a man-made pool when they can sit and absorb God’s marvelous creating beats me.
Tomorrow I hop on a bus to meet my team in the Mt. Kilimanjaro area. I wonder what my mom thinks when she listens to her voice mails: “Hi mom! I was at the Indian Ocean today….tomorrow I’m heading towards Mt. Kilimanjaro.” Did she ever think here children would be globe trotters for a purpose?
