I really enjoyed this post. Moral in my case: you can lead a MARE to the water, but only she will decide 'if and 'when' she'll drink!

2007 Arrived on cruise ship. Took a taxi Island tour with last stop at OB. Wife didn’t get out of taxi at OB, but I took some wonderfully colorful pictures of the beach and umbrellas looking north from Pedro’s. We got back to the ship and she says,”that was great. We ought to come back and spend some more time here”. We’ve been doing the FL to Hawaii hop for twenty years. Stored that quote.

2008 I arranged a Mystery trip to SXM in late May for a week, stayed at L’hoste. She doesn’t walk distances too well, needed to be ‘on the beach’ with a pool. L’hoste is perfect. After first day on the ‘french’ beach she fell right in with the ‘french’ atmosphere. We met another FL couple who were staying at L’hoste and frequenting CO. I saw the early morning walkers and decided ‘I can do that’, joined the parade initially with trepidation. After the third day they invited us to join them at CO: I opt’d to go, and wife opt’d to stay at L’hoste. She’s ‘found heaven’ on L’hoste beach, didn’t need to go farther. I joined them one other time and wife didn’t. We did do diner with them a couple of times, Mark’s and Lee’s.

2009 Opt’d for ten days this time. Got wife to CO by giving her a beachside massage at the ‘local resort’ spa for her birthday. I had one also, so that gave her an hour on the south end of the beach to sit in the calm warm waters by herself watching the activities around Papagayo. At her request we went back to L’hoste for the rest of the day. Four days later she asks if I’m planning to go back to CO. A firm YES and she says she’ll come with me. I enjoyed the CO c/o experience and she enjoyed the ‘french’ beach experience under the ‘yellow’ umbrellas. She found a few friendly people to chat with while doing her water aerobics.

2010 Another ten days at L’hoste in May. Her first request on the first morning on the beach, ‘no massages’ they leave bruises since I’m taking meds, but if you want to go to CO I’ll go along’. RIGHT after breakfast we’re driving to the CO parking lot. I enjoy the c/o and she the ‘french’ experience. Day two is shopping. Day three she meets me on the beach after my walk and a few swims and ‘do you want to go to CO after breakfast’. By ten we are doing another day two. Day five, I’ve done the daily walk to both ends of the beach and had a few swims, people still enjoying the walking, and she comes out before about 8:30 and sits on a lounge beside me and says: ‘a penny for your thoughts’. My response ‘it’s time to lose the bottoms’. In a huff she goes for her swim leaving me worried about how the rest of the day will turn out. I hear my name being called from the water and she’s waving her bottoms at me. She comes out and says ‘you want to go for a short walk’? A quarter mile later we turn around and walk back and we’re both wearing our smiles. Later in the day we pick up and go to CO. I’m getting the front row chairs set and the umbrella in the right place and my stuff settled and I look around. No wife, but I see her in the water already, AND the bottoms are on the chair. We both enjoyed CO’s c/o experience for that day and one other before we had to leave. Second time she even spent over an hour sitting on a floating dock chatting with another Bostonian. The accents are a dead giveaway.

The moral: you can lead a Mare to water, but ONLY SHE will decide ‘if’ and ‘when’ she’ll drink.

2011 Opt’ing for two weeks in at May. Can’t wait to see how much water will be drunk this year.


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