We slept in this morning, did some laundry, booked our train tickets for tomorrow, then headed out for a bit of exploring. First we checked out how to get to the train station, then stopped by the grocery store for some snacks (the wine section was closed off due to the Prophet's birthday), and then to the olive gardens, which were busy with families picnicking and relaxing together. Then we went back to the apartment for awhile, while it was the hottest. We did a short walk again later in the afternoon- Monica was cooking for herself, but I got some takeout paella. We ate together on the terrace. Once evening came, we went out for another walk. There are so many people out in the evening, it's great for people watching. We found a mall, ... read more

Another early start- we metnup for breakfast at 7:30, then headed out. Before continuing the drive to the desert, we stopped at a gorge, which has a beautiful trail running through a lush, fertile area, where there are some crops planted. After the walk through, we went to a cooperative, where locsl women make rugs. We were shown the steps of preparing the fleece and spinning it into wool, which is then woven into rugs. They were intricate ans lovely, but nobody in our group had the money or the space to carry around a rug with them. More driving, then a lunch stop, then more driving. We finally reached the edge of the desert around 4:30. We had a bit of time to relax, charge electronics, use the bathrooms etc, before heading out on camel. ... read more

After a very short visit to Canada to celebrate mom, Aunt Emmy and Heather's birthdays, I headed out for my trip. The bus from London to Toronto airport was uneventful, other than a very smelly (BO) bus driver that I had the misfortune of sitting behind. I tried putting some of my coconut lipbalm above my upper lip to mask the smell, but it didn't help. The bus got me to Terminal 1 almost 3 hours before my flight. Plenty of time to get to terminal 3, clear security and wait for my flight. The flight departed 10:30pm on Oct 3, so I knew I wouldn't be getting much sleep. I tried to nap on the plane, but didn't have much luck. My first flight was to Gatwick, in London. I needed to clear immigration (it ... read more

We got up and ready to head out. We're just taking overnight bags, and leaving the rest of the stuff at the beach house. Sylvia was a little delayed in getting ready, but we still had an hour and a half to do a drive that should just be an hour, so we figured that was plenty of padding. The drive out from the beach house wasn't nearly as bad as the drive in. It was much easier to see the bumps in the road in the light of day, and navigation wasn't nearly as difficult when we'd already been on the road once. In about 25 minutes, we were already getting off the dirt road that had held us captive for probably an hour and a half when we had initially arrived. Phew! The rest ... read more

A new day dawned, and I woke up feeling refreshed. From the house, you can hear the sound of the surf, so I decided to walk down and take a look at the beach. Sylvia was still in bed. I wandered down, and saw another couple coming out of a house just in front of ours, with their 2 dogs. They were also heading to the beach, and we talked a bit. They told me about the other beaches in close proximity, just a short walk away. I took a walk along the beach, and saw that we weren't as 'in the middle of nowhere' as we thought we were. There were several restaurants, and lots of little houses that looked like vacation homes. When I came back to our place, Sylvia was up. We decided ... read more