Canadian Men, More Turtles, The Storm and A Baby

I recently received an email from a young man in Calgary named Mike who arrived in PV last Saturday with two of his friends. He had somehow stumbled across my blog on the internet and wanted to meet me. On Monday night, I arrived at Andale's at the appointed hour of 9PM to meet Mike ("a cute brown 35 year old guy from Trinidad"), Todd ("a big white bald guy") and Trevor ("a skinny white guy"). All descriptions in quotes are Mike's, not mine. They were accurate too as I found them without a hitch. We sat and chatted over a few margs and then I took them to CCs for a few more margs. Nice guys, great evening.

They were intrigued by my turtle adventures so we made plans to meet last night for dinner at the house they had rented (chef included!). I found the place without a problem. Actually, it is right across the street from my boss's house in Gringo Gulch. The house sleeps ten but there were only the three of them. Talk about decadent! We enjoyed cocktails while sitting out on the terrace overlooking the Bay. They are situated directly behind the clock tower of the church and the vista was amazing! The sky was looking ominous on my way over and the rain finally started after I arrived. What a relief! Some fog rolled in over the mountains as the rain continued to fall ...

Finally Victor, the cook, and his wife Carmen arrived to prepare dinner. We were eating early so we could be at the Marriott at 7:30PM to meet Oscar and his baby turtles. The guys had asked me what I wanted for dinner and I said shrimp or fish. We had both, along with fresh sauteed veggies, fresh guacamole, garlic bread and homemade tartar sauce for the fish and homemade shrimp sauce. A meal fit for a Goddess, along with the wine that I brought with me.

We all piled into their rental VW and headed towards the Marina. Having never been there before, I wasn't sure exactly where the Marriott was but we stopped and I asked a taxi driver for directions in passable Spanish, impressing the hell out of my new friends! The hotel is HUGE and really beautiful with a fabulous, well stocked Koi Pond on the other side of the lobby. There is also a sushi restaurant there ... I wonder if one supplies the other? LOL It was easy to spot the nursery on the left hand side of the beach as per Oscar's instructions but he was nowhere in sight and the sun was dropping fast.

A few minutes later he arrived with his bin of baby turtles; less than 100 this time. Most of the anxious participants were English so he said his little speech quickly in only one language so that we could get to the beach and release the turtles. The guys brought their cameras and I was anxious to take some photos of them holding their baby turtles so I did not release one myself. If you can only imagine their faces, filled with delight and wonder, as they held their baby turtles. I took photos of them all as they released these little miracles onto the beach. Mike, if you're reading this, find a way to post those pics -- I want to see them! The release was over all too soon and every one of the turtles made it out to sea. The guys all admitted it was just about the coolest thing they had ever done ...

Releasing turtles is thirsty work so we booted it back into town and I took them to the Burros Bar for a well deserved margarita. Sitting on beach, sipping a margarita with three handsome Canadian men ... what more could a girl want? How about fireworks from the Marigalante? How about lightening? How about thunder? It was threatening to rain again and the guys had had a busy day so we called it an evening. As I walked home down Olas Altas, I saw my friend Heather Van Patter and her mother, who had just arrived from Canada. Heather runs the Lazy Lizard bar on the beach which is set to open this Friday. I also met her baby daughter, Jessica (5 months old) and Jessica's father, Tony. I stayed and played with Jessica for quite a while ... she is a spririted, happy baby! I enjoyed her so much I even offered to babysit! :)

But it was getting late and Jessica was getting tired so I left them and continued home admidst the rumblings of thunder and the occasional flash of lightening in the distance. Once safely tucked into bed with my book, the rains really started in earnest and I was lulled to sleep by the sound of it.