Traffic has been heavy and slow since the beginning of this month (it is all about the Christmas shopping madness), however today it reached levels that I have never seen (not even when driving in LA at rush hour).
And together with all the weirdeness I already had for today, made me "flip".
I had two meetings for tonight at the same time, but as usual, none of them really thrilled me. I was searching in my mind for relaxing ideas, maybe I could go ride my bike tonight at the Causeway, or go swim a few laps (pool is open up to 9pm). But even those things felt like a hassle.
Then I remembered, that last night as I came out of the office, I saw this humongous full moon. And in that second, I pictured myself on a beach walking barefoot on sand, next to the crashing waves.
A friend was on the chat, and she could not understand how I preferred to drive alone to the beach at 8pm rather than hang out with my friends. But then again, I do not expect to be understood.
I closed the laptop, took a quick shower, packed the swimsuit, and extra sweeter, two granola packs, three half litters bottles of water, $20.00 in my wallet, turned off the mobile phone, wrote a quick note on my blog (I know my family and friends read it), and left.
=============================================
Full moon walk.
Weird day.
Hay luna llena esta noche y mañana libre.
Voy saliendo (a las 7:30pm) pa la playa a darme una caminata por la arena.
No se que playa, ni donde voy a dormir.
Regreso mañana.
Ciao.
-Román.
=============================================
The deal with spontaneous decisions, is that they depend a lot on available resources. In this case, I made my first stop at KFC Calle 50, I had my dinner, and I also had two additional big rice and chicken bowl to go. They will serve well for breakfast tomorrow, and probably another second dinner tonight (yes, I eat a lot, and yet I have only 12% body fat).
I took off from the KFC with no hurry, there was no itinerary, I do not even know which beach I am going to (I will decide that on the road), or where I would sleep (probably in the car). My only tinny concern, is that I just had a biggy combo meal, and all that liquid (64oz of cafeinated cola) will want to get out probably sooner that I would be ready for. But then again, I am sure I would be able to handle that.
By 8:48, I make it to the *Autopista* fee gate. I am not bursting yet, but I decide to stop on the side, and ask for the bathroom anyways. Better safe than sorry.
I continue my driving. As long as I am not sleepy, in a traffic jam, or in a hurry, I enjoy long range driving. For me is like watching fire, or the ocean. It is such a simple thing, and yet it is always different.YES, I enjoy watching the yellow segmented lines coming forward to me, and the cat-eyes reflections on them.
This provides me with an excellent opportunity to relax, to let go, to re-live the daily situations in a sort of third person view, and get a different perspective of them.
I also do a lot of problem solving when I am swimming my laps, but that story belongs to another post.
Anyways, is is around 9:50pm when I make it to "El Refugio". I have still not decided if it is here where I will spend the night, so when I park my car, I get out straight to the beach for my moon night walk, without stopping first to do the "socialities".
The bright full moon, reflecting it's splendor on the dark ocean, the wet sand massaging the bottom of my feet, the cold water brushing up to my ankles, the sound of the ocean waves crashing, I was instantly relief. [as I write this, and remember/re-live the experience in my mind, I feel like going back there]. I spent about 40 minutes playing on the shore, taking creepy pictures (altought point and shoot digital cameras are rarely good for long exposure shots).
Then I decided. I needed not to drive any more. This is the place.
Back at El Refugio, I noticed all the lights on, the doors open, but nobody around.
Cautiously as a ninja, I went into the property, ready to jump back and set myself into the combat position, yet that was not necessary. Russell came out and greeted me, Roman!, welcome. I asked if they had a BunkBed they could rent me for the night. He said, "you are part of the family, you stay for free". "Hey everybody, Roman is here, I am giving him a free bed".
Did I mention I am an extremely lucky guy?
I am in gratitude of a lot of people, and the guys at El Refugio, in El Palmar have just joined the list.
If you need a place to stay, on a beach close to the city, El Refugio is the place you need.
Give them a call at '64978651 Russell Slough' or '64978632 Phil Van Houten' and if you decide to show up, send them greetings from me.
No comments:
Post a Comment