This weekend we took one of our summerly trips down to RP and my friend 'J.D.' and I decided to take a short walk to Phase III of Las Palomas. Rumor had it that they had built a new pool area and the building next door had been completed since the last time we'd been down. The walk was to be brief enough that 'J.D.' did not put sun screen on... She would realize that this was a mistake.
We made it maybe a quarter of a mile, which in the heat felt like three, when this cute kid, swim goggles in hand, approached us from the opposite direction. He appeared to be 4th or 5th grade, but what do I know since I don't have kids. Anyway, we said hi to him and asked if he was okay. He said, "Yeah, I'm fine", and started to walk away when his face got suddenly long, "I can't find my family". Apparently, he had been swimming and drifted down the beach. When he got out of the water he did not recognize anything.
He didn't know where he was staying but 'J.D.' noticed that he had a bracelet on with the name of his hotel.
We were on a mission... we proceeded to walk him back in the opposite direction knowing that all of the other condos were at the far end of the development. On our trek he talked to us about where he was from, his two sisters, cousins, his mom (who apparently had some sort of eye problem and was unable to drive), his dad's job, his XBox...
When we finally made it near to where he was staying a frantic woman came running down the beach towards the three of us, with several security/police officers close behind. When she finally let the boy go, caught her breath and was able to talk she told us that she was his aunt. His mom soon followed. If the sun had not sucked all the fluid from my body, I probably would have been bawling. She was so relieved to see him and couldn't stop hugging and crying on him.
With "T" safe with his family, 'J.D.' and I had to find another way back because walking was NOT an option at that point. Then a nice Mexican man, we'll call him Banana Boat Guy, offered to give us a ride back in the boat... the banana boat. We handed our mucho expensive digital cameras to BB Guy, donned our floaty gear and hopped up onto the giant floating banana. This is when my bikini bottom and I decided to part ways and I ended up bare-ass to face with BB Guy. Nice. Gracefully, I flopped up and over the banana seat and into the middle area of the boat. I can honestly say I have not laughed so hard, in so long, as we did on the way back in the middle of that boat, bouncing along trying desperately to keep our cameras safe.
Lastly, we made a plan to get back to shore while keeping our cameras dry. I jumped off of the boat, directly onto the rocky reef below (ouch!), grabbed the cameras and rode the waves into the beach. Picture it, I am crouched like a crab, my life jacket like floaty-shell, crawling along the rocks, riding the waves. My left arm is full of flip-flops & sarongs, my right arm far above my head with the cameras. All I can hear from behind me is 'J.D.' yelling, "BIG WAVE COMING!"
If only I was a people watcher on shore....
