After obsessing about rain for months, I can't believe I didn't mention it when we finally got some. We a good rain last week and then both Saturday and Sunday we had thunderstorms. Not bad, but with a couple of hours of good steady rain. I thought, "Ah! Finally, the rainy season is started." Nope. Since Sunday it's been dry, hot and humid with very little breeze, all under a Sahara dust haze. (I've written about Sahara dust before.)
I tried to snorkel at Playa Pastillo yesterday.
I've always loved Pastillo but we didn't go there a lot. It was half-an-hour drive away and Shacks Beach was a five-minute walk. Since we moved from Shacks last summer, Pastillo is now the closest beach to us. Coda and I walk there a lot.
Several years ago my dive buddy Darryl and I dove there just to see what is there. Honestly, we didn't find much. But we never got to the far east end of the beach. We suspected it was better than where we'd been but somehow we just never got back to it.
Walking there with Coda so frequently, I've learned a lot more about the beach and the water. I know there is reef out there and not too far off shore. On good days I can see the darker areas in the water that indicate reef or rocks, something other than sand, which shows as lighter green or blue.
This beach faces almost due north. It gets the brunt of whatever the Atlantic is throwing our way. It too rough to snorkel most days. I watched the waves for the past few days getting flatter and flatter, more and more inviting.
A bigger problem than waves out in the water is getting in and out. There is nice sandy bottom along most of the shoreline, which is a much better entrance than climbing over rocks especially if there are any waves at at all. But because of the shape and slope of the beach, there is a wicked undertow. The undertow undermines your footing in the sand, making it hard to stand and walk in and out.
As I thought about it later, I realized this is a perfect example of "he who hesitates is lost." If I had just plunged in, moved out beyond the surf zone to where I could float, put on my fins, and swam out, I would have been fine. Instead, I stood there analyzing the whole scene, in the exact wrong spot - and got knocked down by the one big(ger) wave of the day. Since I was there alone, no buddy, not another soul on the beach, it kinda freaked me out. I abandoned the idea of snorkeling there, at least for that day.
This morning Pastillo was back to its beautiful more-wave-than-I-want-to-deal-with self. Snorkeling will wait for another day.
This week Elaine (and Chocolate) did an extended radio/video interview about Horses of Hope. It included a demonstration therapy session with Sebastian, one of her clients and first-time-ever rides for Madeline Rivera, the reporter, and Iraida Hernández, a psychologist. Both got their first close up view of equine therapy and it's benefits. To say they were impressed is an understatement. I said to Paola, one of our volunteers, "I hope you're ready to be busy!"
Iraida, the psychologist, had never ridden a horse, had never been around horses, was afraid of horses. Now she's hooked1
We can't wait to see the finished edit. It will be posted on Facebook. We'll let you know when.
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