Day Two – She’s Carib·BEING
I’m not sleeping. You would have thought I traveled across the ocean and had jet lag. I didn’t. Six hours after leaving my home I touched down in Saint Martin.
I guess we’ll call it an adrenaline rush. Maybe my body is still adjusting to the shock that we are here for a whole month! I was up 20 hours before leaving, took a nap yesterday around 6 pm, woke up at 11 pm and didn’t go back to sleep until around 5 this afternoon. I thought I’d be knocked out until the morning, but noooooo. I woke up around 7:30 pm and now I’m writing the blog for the day.
Needless to say that means I didn’t unpack, but I have been creating – writing, designing, and taking the time to learn new things. I imagine this is how creative geniuses feel when they get in their zone, like when artists seclude themselves, get laser focused, and then make magic happen!
I think it’s also just the peace and calm that comes to me while I’m here. I’m usually a rattled up person – always on the go, never being still. That way of existing almost got me today when I felt like I should be doing something, but I reminded myself of yesterday’s blog post – JUST BE.
I don’t have to rush and try to do all the things because I decided to stay awhile. I can go with the flow and take in what the island offers, which today was creative inspiration as I curated while sitting on the terrace, overlooking the beach and Caribbean Sea, with the wind lightly blowing and the sun shining down on me. Breathing in that moment was me practicing the art of BEING.
But I did get out here in these streets. Well I walked about 10 feet to the restaurant off the beach. LOL. I had a nice lunch. The food tastes so fresh here, and I ventured to the market so I can get a couple of things to snack on.
Let me pause here to say, I think they’re trying to get me. I somehow managed to find the Heinen’s of the island. (My people from Cleveland know what that means). EXPENSIVE!
It’s like they know the tourists are in this area so they inflate their prices. I bet if I went more in town away from the beach it would cost half of what they’re charging. But I let them take advantage of me because your girl needed a few snacks and had no interest in driving anywhere.
They say this is a friendly island, but that man in the store was acting like a crabby patty and had ZERO interest in talking to me about the difference between white and brown eggs. STOP RIGHT THERE! Do not judge me. I know we have them at home, but I kind of don’t because I never look at the options. I just get the white ones with EB stamped on the top. I’m not that girl. I build strategy for a living. I cook to survive. I order groceries online. That’s my truth. LOL!
Despite his attitude I bought the eggs but not the nuts that cost almost $9 and moseyed my little self back to the bnb while carrying my food in a box because they charged $.50 for a paper bag! (At home it’s only $.10).
As I wrap up day two, my store experience has me reflecting on how little living I’ve been doing. I’m ignorant to the world even though I’ve traveled a lot because I stay on the resort and eat and drink all I want. I take the shuttles/buses to the excursion I’m going on. Y’all know them – zip lining, tours, AVs. It’s all the same, but how many times have you explored local living to learn the culture, history, their way of being? I bet it’s not many, so that’s exactly what I intend on doing while I’m here.
But first, let me finish unpacking or not…