Surfin' Sunday

Today's top story: In a shocking turn of events, the Johnstadts spent significant amounts of time at the beach today, where they frolicked and splashed and otherwise wasted time.

We met a nice local man named Tato and his daughter, Bianca, who's going to turn four on the 30th of this month, as she was very eager to let us know. It was easy to get to know her - I walked over to her with Tess and served as the go-between. After much negotiating and diplomacy, they agreed to play together. They got on fine, though they had the usual tugs of war over plastic toys. Tato was telling us that we really do have to rent a car, because from here we can take day trips to anywhere on the island. It would put the whole place at our fingertips. We'll rent one at some point, probably soon, but the question will be for how long, one week or two. He told us that Mayaguez has a good zoo, and of course there's the rain forest and the bioluminescent bay to go see. Though the bay is something you go see at night - that one would probably be an overnight trip.

We got rained on right at lunch time for about five minutes. That was the first time that rain has struck us while we were outside. I got stuck in a rainstorm once, but it lasted all of three minutes and the rest of the family was back at the homestead. Our weather has been spectacular.

I'm starting to itch a lot on my back, and Janneke was the first to start peeling, so I'm sure the rest of us will be shedding our skins like snakes any minute now. Too bad - we were all starting to turn a very nice, nutty brown. The hair on my arms has gone white again - must be summer.

We have now seen Puerto Rican police on or in bicycles, ATVs, horses, motorcycles, cars, pick ups, helicopters, jet skis, and planes. I understand they're trying to get funding to start a zeppelin division.

Aurora, the woman whose apartment we're renting, has turned into a vaguely unworldly presence that guides behavior, like Jesus or Santa Claus. When the kids are being messy, Janneke reminds them that when Aurora comes back and finds this big mess in her apartment, she's going to be very sad. This gets the kids immediately scrubbing or wiping, whichever is appropriate.

Our evening meal was a recipe Janneke found in one of Aurora's cookbooks, and it was a big hit. This place gets better all the time. For postre we walked to Burger King, where the kids had about nine percent of a shake and then charged off to the play land. That was pretty much the plan - we finished their desserts while they ran around like hamsters in the plastic tubes. Fine end to a fine day.

Tomorrow we head to the mall, and a park that's supposed to have lots of playground equipment. This is the tourist zone, so I can understand why there's none in the immediate vicinity, but I walked a good 10 blocks east the other day, and there was absolutely nothing. Several schools that looked abandoned, but not parks with playground equipment. I guess when there's a beach 200 feet away, it's tough to justify a bunch of fun-producing machinery. But it's ticking me off - I haven't done a decent chin-up since we arrived.



The adult male Johnstadt, like the walrus, to which
he is closely related, is at his most graceful in
the water, where his layers of blubber
provide him both insulation and buoyancy -
enough to support his own weight, and that of one
of the pups.



Tess and her new friend, Bianca



Strange fact: Running into the waves, while holding HANDS,
increases the fun exponentially.



The young male Johnstadt, unprotected - and
unhindered - by blubber, is equally at home in
water and on land.