Relaxing on Margarita Island

---

For our Carnival week, Erin, Allison, Dereek, and I headed to Margarita Island. Only a 3 hour ferry trip (if everything is working properly - needless to say, it was not) from the mainland, Margarita seemed almost like a different country. It was clean (the garbage was picked up), the taxi cabs were marked with actual signs and they all charged about the same rate, and there were a lot more imports - I actually saw Hersey's Kisses and a kind of cookie that I bought in Kosovo and was pretty sure was from Turkey. Needless to say, we loved it from the moment we got there. Add to that the fact that we were staying at an all-inclusive hotel on the beach and we were in heaven. Our plan was to do nothing but lounge around, and we fulfilled our mission. We did go see a Carnival parade on Tuesday afternoon/evening, but found that parade etiquette was not something that most of the people had and, tired of being pushed, went to get dinner instead. At our hotel, we met a great Norwegian couple, John and Monica, who have been coming to Margarita for vacation for over ten years. On Valentine's Day, we visited the small town of Juan Griego where we did some shopping (found body wash and the afore mentioned Turkish cookies), wandered along the beach, climbed up to the nearby fort, and had dinner at a beach restaurant. It was a great day away from the hotel. My highlight for the week - aside from the great food that I did not have to cook or clean up after - was a massage on the beach - I could do that everyday with no problem. We were also all fans of the macaw that lived at the hotel. He let us all hold him, except for Dereek. The macaw did not seem to like men in general, and we spent one entertaining hour watching the macaw chase one poor man away from his wife or girlfriend. It was a great, relaxing week - one I would gladly repeat!

---