January 10, 2009. Mexico. New Friends.

It was a charming scene, the little girl wearing a gaily colored hat, staring at a map trying to match the numbers with the pictures on the wall, with her Father just behind trying to be helpful. She was wearing a shirt over her bathing suit and wearing crocs. It was the hat that first caught my attention. She seemed to be about four or five and was certainly intent on matching every number on the map. Finally the shuttle bus came and I suggested to the Father and Mother that she might become a cartographer. They agreed that she was certainly very interested in maps. The sports club was our destination, they to take the little girl to the water play area and they then to play tennis, Ken and I to work out at the gym. That was our first but brief encounter. Two days later we were again waiting at the shuttle, but now the little girl is telling her Mother very confidently where all the numbers belong on the map. Again we chatted with the Mother, while the Father was working on the computer in their apartment.. They are again going to the play area. The Mother casually mentioned when getting on the shuttle bus that she had forgotten her sneakers to use while lifting weights. I suggested that perhaps the powers that be in the gym would allow her to lift wights wearing flip flops.

I was using the stationary bike which overlooks the large lap pool, and noted that the Mother was swimming laps. I was just at the end of my exercise program. Normally I use the bike as warm up, but the bikes I like best were full, so I finished up with the cardio stuff. I thought that perhaps the Mother could use my shoes. I always wear crocs in the locker room, so wear them out for lunch and then home. So after my work out but before my shower I stopped by the lap pool, to discover that the person I thought was the Mother was not the same one, so I figured that the girl and Mother were in the play area. I found them and offered my sneakers, which pleased the Mother, then arranged for the three to come to our apartment for a glass of wine at six o'clock and return my shoes. Now we had no pen or paper and I just told her our number 701. She repeated the number several times but I can tell you, unless the number was written down, that number would never stick in my brain. Up till then, we had never exchanged names. When the time came of six o'clock and they had not appeared, Ken suggested that I had just donated my shoes, as other than a description, how could they ever find us, if she forgot the number.

They did appear and we drank beer and wine for the next few hours, sitting in our living room, eating cheese and crackers and talking. By the time we realized the time, it was nine-thirty. Kinsey Joe, who has just turned five, was a perfect guest, enjoying one type of cheese, and playing with her cars and trucks. She loved exploring our apartment, which was like hers in furnishings and style but otherwise is just like her place. It was a marvel to her. Mike and Tracy like to travel so we had much to talk about and of course, they are young energetic and live in Seattle, so our conversation was lively and engaging. Ken and I enjoyed meeting them. Today they return to the real world of Seattle, so they suggested that we have dinner together their last night, and that we dine in a new restaurant to them, but somewhere we know and have enjoyed. We selected The Fajita Republic, a restaurant just a long walk along from our resort. The moon was full and the evening was warm and we had a wonderful time. Kinsey Joe discovered that the adjacent table had a small computer, showing a cartoon to the little boy, and she watched that cartoon the whole meal, until the adjacent table left, where she promptly asked her parents for one of her own. Now we have exchanged e mails, and I feel sure that these good folks will be part of our life. We enjoyed talking to them. He works for Microsoft, she looks after the little girl and plays a lot of golf and tennis. She broke 90 on the very difficult golf course here on Thursday, so she was thrilled. They discovered that we are much older than they realized, in fact, we are older than their parents, but they seemed to understand our adventuresome spirit, which we hope will never leave us.

I am delighted to have gotten to know these new friends. Now we await the arrival of Suzanne R., who is definitely not a new friend, but as the old adage says, 'no friends like old friends'. We will enjoy her visit.