Reset day

This morning started with me quite literally kicking the bed.

Not in a dramatic, movie-scene kind of way. More like the slow realization that I had officially reached my limit. The bed smells like humidity and nightly sweating, and somehow always feels like there are crumbs in it no matter how many times we brush it off. We shower before bed, we shower after walking all day, and still — this heat wins. Every night.

This is one of those strange hotel/Airbnb hybrids where cleaning isn’t included unless you pay extra. Twenty dollars a night for housekeeping. It sounds small until you realize that after 6 days of heat, walking, humidity, sunscreen, and city dust, a clean sheet starts to feel less like a luxury and more like survival.

Anyway, I got up, grabbed a Coke Zero, and laid back down for a few minutes, trying to reset my attitude before the day even started. Chris reminded me that I was still his Valentine by handing me a card, and just like that, the mood shifted a little. I love him. Even on the sweaty, tired, slightly cranky mornings.

As we got ready for the day, we decided to finally do laundry — something we had planned to do yesterday but never quite made happen. The laundromat was literally a block from Ely’s Café.

Now, I had just said yesterday that I don’t like eating at the same place twice… but it happened. And honestly, I don’t even mind admitting it.

We went back to Ely’s Café because it was close to the laundromat, and I ordered the exact same thing I had the last time. I could blame it on the fact that I can’t have eggs for breakfast, or that the delicious Monte Cristo Chris ordered was filled with enough cheese to take me out completely, and I’m allergic to that too. The truth is, the bowl I had last time — even with things in it I probably shouldn’t eat — was that good.

And now I’m paying for it.

Let’s just say breakfast went horribly wrong today, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

We walked the two blocks to the laundromat, loaded everything up, and waited. Bathrooms and air conditioning were four doors down at Starbucks, so we sat for a while and enjoyed the familiarity of something that felt a little like home until it was time to go back.

Chris had planned to surprise me with a pedicure at noon once the laundry was done, but the appointment was canceled and moved to 4:00 instead. So we carried the laundry back to the room, folded everything, and started getting things ready to pack for tomorrow. At some point Chris asked how we planned on getting the brand new toy ship home without breaking it.

“I don’t know,” I told him. “I didn’t think that far ahead.”

Back at the room, Chris took his usual afternoon nap while I enjoyed a little quiet time. We left around 3:45, only to get a message on WhatsApp that they were running behind. With dinner reservations at 5:30, my patience was starting to wear thin. By the time we finally found the place, I’m pretty sure my face clearly showed how I felt about the situation. We didn’t get started until about 5:00.

Unfortunately for my attitude, the ladies were incredibly kind and did a wonderful job, even with the large language barrier between us. I’m getting much better with Google Translate. They painted my toenails and wouldn’t let me leave until they were completely dry, which meant sitting still for another twenty minutes. The scheduler told Chris he could go around the corner to a drugstore and buy me flip-flops since I couldn’t put my shoes back on, and he did exactly that. I made him hold my hand while we walked to dinner. I don’t know how to walk in flip-flops, and I was trying very hard to avoid an international face plant.

Dinner was at Buffalo Grill, which was much bigger than most places we had eaten during the week, and the menu was just as big. I wanted empanadas, and Chris ordered a shareable platter that included sausage, cheese, more empanadas, garlic teriyaki wings, and cheese rolls. The cheese wasn’t my favorite, the sausage was better with the honey on the side, but the empanadas were absolutely worth it. The cheese rolls were like mozzarella sticks wrapped in crescent dough, and the wings were good as well.

Overall, it was a good dinner. 

Back to the room for one final night on the slab mattress, packing up, and saying goodbye to Cartagena, Colombia. Sleep came quickly tonight.

Until the ship.