The Last Day at the Hotel

So I feel like I am on a boat. I don't know if this is normal as a part of jet lag, but Madison feels like she's on one too. It is SO annoying. Every time I stand up I get kinda dizzy and just feel like I've been on a boat for days. It's a very strange feeling!

We woke up after a very good nights sleep and got ready for the day. We headed towards the outdoor mall area and attempted to get money from an atm. Neither of our cards were working for getting cash out. Luckily we had about a hundred dollars in cash from the airport that we were able to use at the restaurants that didn't take cards. My card was allowing me to use it as a credit card in a grocery store, but not allowing me to withdrawl cash. We were very worried about this because we knew some places didnt take cards (like the bus trip we had to make the next day to get to school- not good.) We probably tried five or six atm machines and none of them worked. So we went to the beach and tried not to worry about it too much. It was very nice out and we both got a little tan already! The sand is incredibly soft here. It feels like flour between your toes! We never made it down to feel the water, but we did get to watch real life surfers! It was awesome. I couldn't believe the way they moved with the waves- it definitely looks like you need a lot of practice, but I would love to learn! The beaches here all have designated swimming spots, where lifeguards are in charge of watching for sharks with binoculars from a high up tower. There are also helicopters flying over every once in a while to do the same thing. They seem to have it down to a science. Madison and I decided our goal this semester was to get as tan as the lifeguards!

We went over to the mall thing and ate lunch at a more normal lunch time than yesterday's lunch. I thought the food would be very similar to in the US, but I am surprised at how many foods I don't recognize. We look at the menu wondering what is in this or that. For example, burgers here all come with eggs and beets on them, or a ceaser salad comes with eggs and bacon on it. All very weird to me, but we are learning what the norms are. After lunch, we walked around in circles just exploring the city. I love that this huge city is literally right on the beach. We bought a cheap cell phone so we would have it when we started meeting new people. The cell phone looks like a crappy phone, but it works and it was only 20 dollars! Definitely nothing like having my iPhone! After we figured out our phone plans, we went back to our hotel room to read. That plan was unsuccessfull and we both fell asleep without even having dinner. Oh well. We had a good day at the beach.