Ah! A Day to Relax and Regroup - and don't forget the bioluminescence!

 Thursday, August 1, 2024

The intrepid walkers are up and out jut before sunrise!  Worth it!

Then, eventually, the cooking crew prepares breakfast.  The clean-up crew will swing into action afterwards!

Time to relax and enjoy the environment and try to check into the airlines, with mixed success.  Our first flight is on Aero Mexicana and between it's problems and Delta's some of us are just going to go the counter and let the desk people take care of us!!  Maybe later in the day we'll have more luck.  Who knows?

Lunch will be leftovers from our yummy dinners and Ginger has taken dinner orders so we can eat out after the evening's excitement, but with little time lost.  We'll be leaving tomorrow morning early, so time becomes more of an issue then.  For now, it's so lovely to ignore the clock and just listen to the sounds of the surf and the birds.

It's like a brand new meal from our leftovers!

The clean-up crew, round two

After lunch Ginger gave everyone presents!!  The mushroom was particularly
meaningful for Barbara.  She ordered the mushroom dish that everyone else had 
the second day...

But everyone got one and matches so we can light the candle at Coven!



There is lots of time before we leave for dinner and the glowy experience so some of us take that time to begin organizing for trip home. Others sit on the comfy couches and relax or catch up on the news from home.  The women's gymnastics team is making us all proud and the release of Evan Gershkovich is a huge surprise!

It's time to board the van for the trip to Laguna Manialtepec, but first, dinner!  The driver suggests his favorite restaurant and it is right on the beach.  While we wait for our meals, and while we enjoy a last adult beverage, Juan tells us that this area was popular with the hippies in the '70s because of its close proximity to magic mushrooms.  Then in the '80s other people realized it's beauty and growth "mushroomed".  Eventually the local government had to put a limit on the height of new construction so that the view of the mountains wasn't blocked and the pollution from the new hotels didn't destroy the paradise they were trying to promote.

Interesting turtle sink

Things that make you go, "Hmmm"

Right after dinner we scurry to the van for the trip to the lagoon, only to find our passage impeded by a traffic snarl.  Still and all, we arrive in time for our boat ride and swim with fabled diatoms. The sad news is that cell-phone cameras just won't pick up their glow.  Oh well, it's the experience that counts.  Everyone climbs in and chooses a seat for the short ride out into the lagoon.  Soon outerwear is stripped off, everyone (almost) jumps into the dark, deep water, and frantic arm waving begins.  As it happens there has been a lot of rain up in the mountains and the brackish water in the lagoon has a much lower salinity than usual, and the diatoms don't like that much, so there isn't as much of a glow as Ginger has seen in the past.  Still all the swimmers are enjoying the warm water in the darkness and you can see some of the sparkling activity.

When everyone is tired, they climb back into the boat and we head home.  It seems like a much quicker tip this time and when we arrive there is a spectacular lightning show for our benefit!  What a lovely finale!!