An Afternoon Break – from Sun and Work

My friend Rosie loves to walk. I don’t. Not without a dog. Not in the beating sun and not when I have sooo much work to do. But, I do love my friend Rosie and I actually could use a break and –to be honest- it is not THAT hot quite yet, here in St. Martin, especially not compared to last year’s awful winter and summer. I also need some exercise to get those butt cheeks moving after hours of sitting on a cushion behind the computer, every day. The fat rolls on my belly could use some flattening out as well. I have a wedding coming up, in a dress! Plus, sunshine means tan improvement. So, enough reasons to go for a walk, together.

Where do you walk in St. Martin, near the vicinity of the lagoon and heavy traffic? It doesn’t really matter. After putting the dinghy at the closest dock, we followed the road and the parked cars westwards, arriving at the airport parking lot. The airport building provides welcome air conditioning for about five minutes, then, it’s back to the heat and the one road, with room for walking on the side. The first beach we passed is Maho Beach, which is famous for its landing and departing planes VERY close by. To have them land right above your head and take off displacing half of the sand on the beach is very exhilarating. Make sure you hold on to your belongings!

Our destination was Mullet Beach, a ten minute stroll past fancy shops, casinos and restaurants and through a run down golf course. By the time the magnificent blue water came in sight, our hot bodies craved for a refreshing swim. After a well needed chitter chatter and a rest in the shade, we walked the length of the beach sinking into the sand. Good exercise! At the quiet end of Mullet Beach, Rosie dished out her shampoo bottle and we took our salt water shower, only this time the bath tub consisted of turquoise sea water instead of green lagoon water. When we turned around to head back, our eyes were met by a massive, ominous looking rain cloud…

Now it became clear to us why everybody packed up and left the beach. Wanting to make it back to the dinghy before dark, we decided to start walking again, not bothered by the sun this time. Soon enough it started with a few drops, turned into a little shower. Being brave women, we agreed upon continuing on unless it was a real downpour. About two minutes later, dripping wet, Rosie stated: “I think this is called a downpour” after which we sheltered in a dilapidated hotel lounge. We stripped down to our bikinis again and took a generous fresh water shower, while the traffic splashed by.

Finally realizing that we couldn’t get any wetter, we finished our walk towards the lagoon, hoping that our other halves thought about closing the hatches and collecting the precious rain water. With little warning, the bright sunny sky had turned into a grey wall of water and we had gotten a free shower out of it. With all our talking and resting, not too many of my previously mentioned goals were accomplished, but we solved many world and wedding problems and since there are many more topics to discuss and opinions to share, we’ll just go for another walk again soon!

(Photos courtesy of Karmen Chow and Rosie Burr)