Living Story: La Playa: Puerto San Jose

Seeing 12 kids bobbing in the ocean waves at night is enough to make my stomach tighten with a tiny bit of fear. But boy, did they have a blast! Franz and Lito served as the buoys; kids clung to them as they waited for waves to come in, and the two men acted as the barrier between the shore and the great depths of the Pacific. Little Steven clung to my hand, and we "surfed" by jumping each wave that slapped the shore. At least until he decided sitting down was far better when the waves came in, forcing me each time to cling to his hand a little tighter as the current swept out, wanting to carry his little body along with it.

Jefy loved being tumbled by the waves. Several times he was the picture of being washed ashore: arms and legs akimbo, yellow swim trunks billowing out as he flipped several times until he stopped on the sand. Then he stood up with his wrinkle-nosed grin and ran back into the water for more.

Even Victor tested the waters. Usually, I understand, he prefers to stay dry on the beach. But this time the waves enticed him, and, after playing at the water's edge, he decided to join the rest of the crew in the wave-catching game.

On Wednesday, a holiday here, we swam in the pool at the house near the coast. Fearless Yeny tried any trick Franz or anyone else put her up to--being thrown in the water, learning how to dive and do handstands, swinging from a branch of the nearby tree and timing her jump into the water just right. She also improved her strokes. Carlos and Mimi did, too, both feeling confident by the end of the day to swim from one end of the pool to the other without any balls or clinging to the side. Progress! Rosita also perfected her handstand. Lito and Franz got the award for bad idea tricks, as they jumped into the water from the wall surrounding the house, over the concrete walkway.

Zucy cooked delicious food--meat, chermole, tamalitos, beans, salad, and many more yummy Guatemalan things.

The heat felt wonderful. It was nice to wear tank tops and shorts again, though I must say my pasty white legs are much better covered up. :) Sometimes I forget how white I am after looking at all of these beautiful brown-skinned people all day.

The only heart-stopping moment of the trip occurred on the way to the beach. Lito parked the car to run into the store and buy a few last-minute things. Suddenly, the car started rolling. No parking break employed. Franz and Zucy yelled from the back, "Brake! Brake!" So I slammed on the brake (after first mistaking the clutch for the brake and realizing it did nothing to help the situation, haha) and threw us all forward, but fortunately we did not roll down the hill after all. And it didn't turn out to be an omen of things to come, either.