Cayman Islands - Day 1

June 16, 2017

It's been two and a half months since my last journey but so much has happened in my life that it seems like so much longer. I started a new job and then resigned. I ended a relationship. I have been dating, never and easy process. I've gone through a period of career reflection to determine my next step. Now, I've started a new adventure with a small builder / contractor and will head operations, life changes galore.

My head has been spinning processing all of this, I was so happy to have a long weekend away to decompress from all of these life stresses. I hoped to calm my mind and reflect on all of my current life decisions in an effort to return with a mental structure and move forward, full steam ahead.

A 7:15am flight is quite a luxury for me as my usual departure from BOS is 5am. Online check in the night before and boarding passes in my iPhone passbook, I breezes through TSA Precheck and to my gate in record time. This is the way to deal with an airport 👍🏻

In ATL, I raced from A terminal to E terminal as I had 55 minutes before my connection would leave. I picked up some Pimkberry strawberry / raspberry frozen yogurt on the way. I arrived to find that we had a delay which I only found out about by looking on the internet. Thanks Delta. As many of you know I'm not a Delta fan as every time I fly Delta, it's a nightmare. NO JOKE! Please, Gods of air travel, make this a better Delta experience.

We left almost an hour late as the arriving flight was delayed due to weather. The flight was uneventful but storms surrounded Grand Cayman and as we approached. The air was rough and we delayed landing until the worst part had passed. The landing was so hard it caused everyone to jump and some to make a but of noise. I haven't had a hard landing like that in quite some time.

Having only a carry on has such advantages. I was through immigration and customs and out the front door in about 15 minutes - whoohoo!

It was hot, humid, and raining. Hoodie up…walked to the rental car kiosk.

No res

Didn't charge for GPS but ok ins

No addrwss recognition so set for cemetery beach -

Standing water everywhere and heavy traffic

So many round abouts

Took 34 min to go 5 mi.

Pass ce,every ok the beach side and essiku found beach lane

No one home connect to get messages. Key under mat on back porch

Don't walk down this alley...

or this might happen :-(

Go in and get settled. Connect snd post on FB and took a shower as a had already been sweating from the extreme humidity

Try to walk to the beach in the rain but get confused. I went to the grocery store instead and got an inexpensive dinner yogurt and Mountain Dew.

I went back to the condo and had a pasta dinner packed up and walked to the beach access the right side of the building. Standing water and I took my shoes off of my socks proceed to walk through it to get to the paved area I walk slowly to make sure that it would be safe. I made it to a road with houses on it that separated the beach from the road I was on. I could not find any beach access between the houses that were along that strip. I did find many roosters and hands playing about in the street but that was about it.

On the way returning to the townhouse, still no shoes on, I stepped on a small twig that evidently had a thorn on. It hurts so bad I thought it was something much worse but I pulled my foot up and pulled out the form which was very long and thick and it obviously gone deep into my foot. I hobbled to the back patio of the townhouse and sat down to assess my phone and realized I was bleeding, a lot. I had my way around to the front of the building and let myself in to clean it up. I washed it off and put neosporin on and a Band-Aid. It was uncomfortable to walk on but I've dealt with worse

I put my shoes back on and headed to cemetery beach. It's really quite unusual to find a cemetery right at the beach as it is literally beachfront property here.

Behind it I found a very relaxing expanse of coarse sand and warm blue/green water. There were a few trees providing some relief from the spitting rain and a funny little peekaboo graffiti on the back of one of the beach signs.

I took in the peace and beauty and calming effects that the sea offers me. It was nice to be standing there and feeling the lack of stress. It was just what I needed

The rain started to pick up so I returned to the townhouse and post a few pictures, chatted with a few friends, and started looking for a place to eat. I was very very hungry at this point-so much so that was fine it difficult to make a decision.

After about an hour of indecision I found a review for a restaurant called Papagallo. It was Italian but it had some vegan options for their menu which sounded forward thinking. It had stellar reviews and good food and a drink for my goals for the evening.

This turned out to be a wise decision in choosing Papagallo. Everyone was very friendly and the food was fantastic. I had a salad that had different tropical fruits mixed in it, A homemade tagliatelle with fresh pecorino, brown butter, and cracked pepper, perfection. As it was Italian I ask if they had Aperol. As it turned out they have their own special Aperol spritzer which had a splash of elderflower liqueur and was amazing also. The meal couldn't have been better.

I left feeling full but not stuffed and had a smile on my face.

I haven't mentioned, but some of you will know anyway, that the Cayman Islands is a right-hand drive country. I'm quite used to driving on this side but I always need an adjustment period. I usually scare myself once and then I am fine. Yesterday's intensive traffic on the way to the townhouse may have helped me avoid that initial scare. I don't shy away from driving at night but am very cautious and I know all to well the a momentary lapse into left hand drive can be catastrophic. All of that sad, my night drive to and from the restaurant was uneventful even in the driving rain.

I returned and met my host had a great conversation about how they came to be living in the Caymans(both accountants from Ireland), and the joy of travel. They were both very friendly, interesting, and helpful. This has been a consistent experience with Airbnb (expect for my Baku, Azerbaijan experience).

I wrote about my day and then chatted a bit with a few friends. Time for bed, I hope for a sunny day tomorrow.