Sunday 17th February 2013……Day 1!!!!!!

I picked Sara up at 7.50am and loaded her 15 suitcases into the car…well it seemed like 15 and off we went to get Paola who was waiting for us and we left SMA by 8.10am….I had made sandwiches and had lots of drinks and snacks and games and books so the journey went well and we stopped three times for the usual pit stops….most of the road was toll highways

Carolyn had given me good written directions one of which was to look out for the table mountain!!!

Sara was a good navigator and the drive only had one problem I reckon we came upon this accident about 10 minutes after it happened and a good job too because the semi trailer tipped his load of cucumbers right across our lane!!

Here you see one of about a dozen people that had stopped and were carrying away handfuls of  cucumbers!!!

We stooped close to the town of

Paola was no trouble at all in the car and we gave her the job of counting and giving me the money for the toll roads!

Exactly 8 hours after picking up Paola we were at the casita in

The casita is very nice and about 3 blocks from the beach..

This is taken from the roof top must try and catch the driver tomorrow!!!!

So now we are on our way to the beach…this is the biggie for me..the first time Paola has seen the beach and the ocean!!!!!

She was just full of joy and Sara took good care of her in the water until she was confident!!!

The beach here is beautiful!!

It was so much fun to watch her frolicking in the waves just unbridled happiness!!!!

Love this photo!!

I really enjoyed my first dip of the year!!!

 

It was a great time we had….came home and we all showered and then went to meet Sara’s friends and the couple that are getting married on Wednesday…there was about 30 people there and they provided us with chicken for dinner and we all had a good meal…Paola was so popular and everyone came to say hello to her.

We came home around 9pm and Sara and I had tea and I wanted Paola to write a journal each day and she sat for about 15 minutes and wrote what she had seen and done..I also wanted us to read so Carolyn had given me a book which was in English and Spanish and we took turns reading

me in Spanish and Paola in English…then she helped roll the dice

as I retained my backgammon crown over Sara and by 11pm someone was ready to call it a night!!!

So what an eventful day and one I had been looking forward to for years…again wish my other little kid could have been with us……….it was a day I am sure Paola will remember ….thanks Sara for so good with the kid!!!

There is no Internet at the casita  here but the owner told us that there is a chance they may connect tomorrow so I hope so…..I will post this when I get to a Cyber café so until then Yashi Koshi and sweet dreams to a certain lady on Cinco d Mayo!!!!