It was a pleasant, but quiet New Year’s Day. We had breakfast at the Santa Fe, and went back to our room to do some packing. For some reason — I am not sure if it was our choice or what was available — our reservation called for us to leave the Santa Cruz Bungalows and to spend our last two night here at the hotel. So we went back to the room. John watched the Rose Parade en español for a while and also napped a bit. I worked on photographs. Finally, as it grew closer to noon, we finally pushed everything into our suitcases and went over to the main desk. Our room would not be ready for a while, so they told us to put leave all our belongings in front of the desk and promised that when the room was ready that would be transferred to our new room.
John and I went down to the beach. We were surprised by how quiet it all was. We figured on a holiday like this lots of people would be down at the beach. But instead there were few cars on the road and only a few people on the sand. John looked in some of the stores that were open for a something more classy than a small trash bag to carry all the stuff we were bringing with us for the afternoon, and he finally found something that should probably also be useful for farmers’ market shopping later.
We walked all the way down the surf beach to Punta Playa Zicatela. John found a little palapa that had a chaise longue and a table. He pulled over a chair. It was not particularly comfortable, so I spread out my towel on the sand. After spending a little time in the water, I came back and fell asleep. I woke up a little later when some snacks and a Coke Lite arrived. I read for a bit. Even though somebody had a radio playing at a nearby table, it seemed enchantingly peaceful.
We took a cab back to the hotel. I was really irritated to see that our bags — which contained my phone and wallet and other important stuff — had been left sitting in front of the desk for six hours. The younger man showed us to our room. We are on the third floor. There is a small balcony, but no particular view. The room is fairly spacious however. I did some unpacking while John napped.
In the evening we went to Fresh again. The food was good, but not quite as wonderful as it had seemed a couple days earlier. As often happens in Mexican restaurants, it took forever at the end of the meal to get la cuenta. It took a while to find our room again, too!
Now, off to bed.
