Vacation post #2

So I made it to Playa Samara without any problems. The reason is because Ronnie, our driver, convinced me to let him drive me the whole way there instead of just to the bus station. He needed the money, and I didn't feel like dealing with the confusion of changing busses in spanish. He gave me a deal and I got to enjoy the 3 hour drive in the comfort of his nice clean Toyota Corolla. :)

So this place is great. The beach is beautiful, there are lots of friendly people, english is pretty common, and the place that i'm staying is great! I chose a little bed and breakfast just a little ways off the beach. There are 7 rooms in a kind of jungle swiss chalet type of building. The building is surrounded by a beautiful garden, an open area with tables and chairs to eat the free delicious breakfasts, a relaxing area with hammocks and chairs, and a nice blue swimming pool! There's free internet, and the owners have 2 awesome giant dogs that lie around all day long. The price is good too. I have taken a bunch of photos and will make a slideshow for you soon.

Last night, I went exploring for a little while and tried to find a place to eat dinner. It is the off-season right now, so a lot of the places were closed. I ended up finding an empty restaurant right on the beach. The staff treated me really nice cause I was their only customer all night. I chose a table that was right on the edge of the sand. I could hear the surf crashing on the shore as i relaxed in the refreshing evening breeze. I had some really interesting sushi for dinner - a "samara special roll" which had tuna, green onions, and avocado - all deep fried so that the roll had a crispy shell. I also had a "special spicy tuna roll" which was a tuna roll wrapped in thin strips of cucumber and came with a special spicy sauce. I also had a couple of drinks to celebrate my vacation - i wanted a mojito but they didn't make them there...so i settled for gin and cranberry... my old favorite. here and here are 2 photos of my nice dinner.

I will write more about this place (howler monkeys) later today and I will get some pictures uploaded as well. Right now I am forcing myself to work on my literature review for a little while (yes, i know. homework on vacation SUCKS!). If I do well, then I will go to the beach.

wishing my sweetie was here,
Dayna