E Bishop: April 2006

It's been a good month for Erin Bishop.

Jeremiah flew me to Curacao in the Netherlands Antillies for a week of fun in the sun, but not before spending my birthday in old San Juan, Puerto Rico. We toured the old city, 500 year old fortress that surrounds it and had a great meal at a unique Indo-Carribean restaurant called Tantric. It was delicious.

Curacao has a lot of interesting dynamics playing out, all in a relatively small amount of space. The north-western part of the island is the industrial center, where there is a major oil refinery and the airport. The south-eastern corner of the island has the resort hotels and palm-dotted beaches. In between is the island's central city, Wilmsted. In Curacao, you either have lots or have nothing. Gucci and Prada have storefronts across the street from houses with dirt floors.

Fortunately for me, white sand is white sand no matter how you look at it. But, I was reminded that my name was North, and learned I'm not supposed to ride bikes that close to the equator. My blond hair and blue eyes even made the locals ask where I was from, 'must be somewhere very different,' they would say. So, after near heat-stroke, I parked it on a lounge chair, under a palm tree with a margarita in hand for the majority of the week. My routine: sit until I was almost hot, swim until I was almost cold. It was amazing.

Don't get me wrong, I lifted a finger. Just ask JB, Sue, Lea and Nick. When they needed a bottle there was always one ready... or 10, Nick, even though you only gave me 4 to feed you with. Jeremiah asked for "something salty." I offered him Gatorade. He didn't take it. I figured it wasn't salty enough. What to do? Monkey suggested that I make use of the nearby ocean. hmmm...I had a great time in 'the zone,' and, even though there was no shade I managed to avoid a sunburn. Even more amazing.

Unfortunately for me, Monterey's cold, wet wind made me feel like Curacao was only a dream one week later. Even though, we had a great time hanging out with the 'west coast Norths'. We were front row when world champions disappeared into mud holes. We cheered our team on in the rain that started falling at just the wrong time. We gave out shwag and gathered shwag. We ate, ate, ate and ate some more. We even looked around the galleries in Carmel. And, Carl, we met your uncle Bob. We cheered for "t-shirt" guy... in the pro race. We cheered for Jimmy in the junior race. We really cheered when we saw Jeremiah flying down the finish stretch ahead of Bart Brenjens!

Now I am busting booty to catch up and get ahead so I can spend next week in my favorite role as Director Shorte' for Byvik Finacial Services team at the 2006 Tour of Shenandoah. It's going to be busy.

Check out the new photos in the Gallery.

Until the weekend,
Erin

posted by Erin # 7:20 PM 0 comments

Rambling

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