Maps, malls, mongooses.

Well, no actual, literal mongooses.

Day 3 dawned late again. Kids stayed up watching “Nacho Libre”, and then Ma and Pa stayed up late doing all sorts of things. Which isn’t as dirty as it might sound. Unfortunately. We were preparing for the day today, writing to people, blogging, etc.; Janneke finished out the day with a couple of episodes of “Friday Night Lights”, with which I have lost patience. Funny story, there: We were counting on mailed Netflix movies last time, which showed up in the box here in the apartment building, and kept us entertained in the evenings, but THIS time, we figured we could make use of the instant view. But we arrived, and Marimer told us that due to some sort of bureaucratic or political snafu, instant view was not available in Puerto Rico. We snarled and shook our fists at the sky, but accepted our fate.

Then Janneke tried it night before last, and it worked.

And I saw on the front page of the paper yesterday morning: “Netlix por Internet Llega a la Isla”.

Our arrival coincided perfectly with the introduction of instant view in PR. Coincidence? I think not.

So, anyway, today. Janneke walked the dog while the rest of us had breakfast, and then around 10:00 AM (other things happened in there somewhere, but they are lost to the mists of time), she went grocery shopping, and the kids and I watched the end of the Australia vs Equatorial Guinea Women’s World Cup game. Upon its conclusion, we bundled ourselves into our suits, slathered each other with sun screen, and headed to the beach.

The kids entertain each other endlessly in the waves there, leaving the adults to participate as they like, or find other means of entertainment. Mine today was Clarabelle, encouraging her to swim out as far as I could, and then watching her as she timed her turnabouts in the face of large waves so perfectly that she wound up body-surfing back to shore. She kept coming back out for more, and has been a very tired pooch since.

I also occasionally broke into a sprint on the beach, encouraging her to follow me, and counted how many steps I could go before she would catch me. My best was 50 or so, but I think she was just toying with me. Pretty good exercise, and I always remained within good earshot of the wee ones.

Only an hour at the beach, though, and thunderheads chased us back. We walked into the lobby moments before the big chaparrón hit, and happily found Janneke back in the apartment to buzz us in. The kids were disappointed with the short beach day, but what can you do.

Lunch, and then the four of us bundled into the car to follow hand-printed Mapquest directions to where the two main candidates for Q’s soccer camp are located. Partly to scout out if one’s farther than the other (not the case at all), and to see if one has better facilities (one seems clearly superior). But also to get to see just how simple it is to get there and find each place. Not so bad, once you get the hang of it; we’ll go back Tuesday, when each camp will be in session, and see how they look with live players and such on hand. But the SPADI Soccer Academy is looking like a clear favorite, on the grounds of the Colegio San Ignacio. The kids were pretty patient with our zooming around town, armed with nothing but our wits (say nothing, please) and a map (which we bought from a zoned-out kid in a gas station for $3.20, who told me he was sure he didn’t have maps to sell, and almost refused to reach back and see if that pile of folded items behind him was maps, which it was. And who refused to accept a $2.00 bill, despite my assurances that it wasn’t counterfeit.). but most impressive was Janneke’s patience with me, and mine with her. No one got mad at anyone as we charged around for a couple of hours, and in the end we kept our sense of humor beautifully. Maybe we’re finally entering middle age. Or senility. Or both.

The reward for all that running around was a trip to the Plaza Las Americas, the biggest, baddest mall in San Juan, where T bought some new books. (She ran out already – the kid reads like John Wayne smokes. (Smoked.) We got some soft-serv ice cream there, too, which took the edge off the kids’ nerves. That place is vast, and it exhausted me all but completely – I can just feel the energy seeping out the bottoms of my feet in a place like that, painfully. But it was a very nice, fun, up-scale shopping experience. There was some Puerto Rican traditional music being played in one of the atriums, and we watched a few minutes of it before slouching off to Radio Shack. (They didn’t have much of a camera selection in the actual mall – I’ll have to go to Best Buy, across the road, one of these days.) Quinn noticed a lot of PR teenage boys with little tails at the back of their hairdos. And once he mentioned it, I realize he was very much right. Odd fashion tidbit on the island here.

Map navigation helped somewhat back to the apartment, but really it felt more like body memory, muscle memory of the drive. Janneke has such an amazing eye for little details from four years ago; she knew which exit to take, but then I saved the day by insisting we go straight across Avenida Ponce de León instead of going left like she wanted. We all arrived safely, and the kids installed themselves to indulge in their own brand of fun – Q with the DS, T with a book of math busywork problems (you got me – no clue why she loves that, but she does, and sings to herself as she does them (“two times six is siiiiiim-plyyyy tweeeeelve”). And Janneke went off to do some power-walking, which, she reports on her return, didn't seem like enough, so she RAN! For the first time since the kids, she can run again! Big, big news. We're just a couple of rejuvenated old forty-somethings, she and I. next thing you know, my hair will grow back. Think of it: New hair! And not on my shoulders!

The evening holds a meal, some guitar-playin’ for me, and then a lengthy period reading Betsy Burris’ manuscript. Got to get to that. I’ll mail it back to her the minute I finish it, which, judging by what I’ve read of hers previously, should not be long or feel like work. A fine day, a necessary day, an unspectacularly spectacular day.

And here’s some video of kids at the beach.