The Periphery of the Mind

The Grand Cayman's were an interesting place. We didn't go deep into the land, and stayed close to the shore. So naturally we were surrounded by people and shops, everywhere we went. We did however take a couple of excursions. One was to a nice private beach, and the other was to kayak along the coastline and snorkel around a bit of coral reef. The beach was fun, and we went out swimming. The kayaking could have been fun, but Maryanne was either tired or pissed or something, and so I just remember thinking that I was ready to get the heck out of there. She had a lot of fun swimming around the coral reef and taking pictures, so I'm thinking it was the kayaking that got her angry. We'd gone canoeing before, and worked pretty well as a team, but on the kayak it felt like everyman for himself. And since she was in the lead, she set the pace. And her pace seemed to be narrow, high, and fast, and smacking my slower, lower, broader strokes. Which was the way we were told to do it, but I wasn't going to try to tell a woman wearing herself down into a coniption fit that her way was wrong.

Like I said, I was ready to get the heck out of there.

Maryanne would like me to point out that in her opinion I was the one screwing up the kayaking. And she'd like me to point out that I was the one in a bad mood. Now, as anyone who's ever dealt with me for more than 10 minutes knows, the chances of me screwing up something or being in a pissy mood are about 51.3 percent, so who knows.

After the kayaking, she slept on the way back to the port town, and seemed to be in a better mood afterwards.

The area of the Grand Cayman's we were in had been hit hard by Hurrican Ivan in 2004, and lots of damage was still prevalant. It was a strange contrast between the haves and the have nots. High dollar stores were everywhere in the port, and immediately behind them were hovels. Flooded mansions sat just down the road from well-kept little houses. And real estate cost more than you could imagine. But it was good to know that even in a foreign country you could get Burger King and Papa Johns.

And when we got back we crashed and rested, and tomorrow was Jamaica.