A Caribbean Christmas

My 4th Christmas Day away from the family. In a row. 5th, actually, altogether. And every year it's the same. I get sad, miss my family a whole lot and remember what it was like to be together enjoying a day of sunshine, beer, presents and way too much food. Well, I could find most of those things here too, but without my family and close friends it's just not the same.

I'd called mum and dad the night before so all that was left was A, who I'd already called and woken up early morning (my night) because I was excited about speaking with him. He was much more awake when I caught him in his nighttime, having stolen away from saddling horses to go on Skype for a while. The day wasn't too busy so it was OK. Thankfully, my 9am ride didn't show either, so I was able to talk for longer.

I was pretty tired from lack of sleep the night before. Not because I was partying, everyone around me was! I had to work, after all. We knew the day would be slow, but since we never close someone had to be there. And the horses still had to be fed and watered, and all that. Animals don't stop eating just for Christmas!

J had bought a bottle of Ponche Kuba, a milky rum about the same % as wine that is quite easy to drink. We got started on that early, mixed with ice, and it had a nice mellowing effect on my already tired mind. The day was sunny, the wind had died down a bit but was enuf not to make me sweat constantly, so I was comfortable at least with the weather.

I ended up with two rides that tipped decently, I got double pay cos it was a public holiday so that made up for any shortfall. Actually, this week overtime and holiday pay has totally made up for the lack of tips. I seem to have been off on the busy days and the days I'm on, people haven't really been showing the love that much. Shame, since I need as much as possible for the crazy adventures of Erm and I.

In the end, I couldn't get the bar to cook the chicken nuggets I bought for the pot luck thing at La Bamba, so I just took the frozen packets with me and luckily found a grill to put them on. There was all sorts of food there, people had brought in salads, meat, biscuits, dessert... and we just stood around drinking and talking.

People started dancing, they were quite merry mostly having been drinking all day (lucky for some) and I had a short boogie before retiring tiredly to the bonfire by the beach. Found a banana lounge there to relax on my lonesome, but before I knew it some young people from the super yachts came to talk.

Turned out one of the couples were Australian, and they were pretty cool. Had a nice chat with them, while this Filipino guy slowly got his hopes crushed as I rabbited on about my boyfriend this, my boyfriend that... Then the guys from work came over and collected me, and I was home. Tired and home. More work tomorrow.