Mermaid in training

Last winter was the first time that I spend time in the water, learning to swim. I had a very patient teacher, I was not a good student. Then one day I connected, I felt the water, I smelt it, it was deep in my skin, I felt it in my hair and tasted it on my lips, then I became determined. I was ok, then one day I made a mistake and got nailed hard by a big wave, the sea swallowed me and spit me out. I was fine, but it slowed me down. Then I went back to Canada, no more swimming. Until this year. I was more determined, I had no coach or partner, I was on my own.

I went to Los Chivos, the most south point, there's a little bay with no waves, the water is crystal clear, you can see the bottom, the sand, the pebbles, the little fish and the occasional manta raya. I was there 2-4 times a week. Swimming is not the problem anymore, it's my breathing that is the problem. I am no longer afraid of the water, I love it, I jump right in, no tippy toeing, I want the water on me, sliding off my skin as I push myself through it. It's so soft and silky, like swimming in a tub when you have used one of those bath salt bombs. I leave it on me when I get home, I don't shower until the next day. I love it when my bed sheets smell like sea.

There is a pizza place, they have cold cocos and beautiful garlic pizza, and a trampoline by the sea, you can jump on it to dry yourself off before walking home. I swim, eat, lay on a lounger, swim again, and sit around until I am dry. I meet a new friend there this year, she has a restaurant too, good fish. A wonderful Christian women who love to talk about scripture. She cooked a lobster dinner for me and some other Canadian friends of hers before we left. It was very special, it was at sunset and we watched a cruise ship leave on our way home. When I am lounging I imagine opening a surf shop of sorts. I would have a juice/smoothie/milkshake bar, no food, I would rent out paddle boards and other beach toys, no one else on the beach has this. I would have my Mex sister's menu and she could deliver her food over.  I would have a paddle instructor on hand, he would be handsome and single, he would massage my neck in the daytime and serenade me in the evening while we salsa dance in the plankton....ops, different dream never mind.

I should continue swimming when I get home, I can't imagine swimming in a pool, indoors, that smells like chlorine, kids pee in there, old men spit in there and who knows what the staff do in there. I need to find a shallow lake, it won't taste and smell like the ocean but I just need to swim so I don't lose momentum.

The bay at Los Chivos, photo from the web

Drying my clothes