Saturday, May 23, 2009

Back to Normal

I had a bit of a breakthrough yesterday with my wip, but I'm going to save that post for Tuesday since I suspect most of you are off frolicking over the long weekend, and I hate when a post gets buried.

Instead I'm going to share a few more pictures with you. Yesterday Ibis and I went to Barra de Potosi, our favorite beach about half an hour's drive south of Zihua. I posted pictures from there when our friend Andy was in town and I'd never seen it busier.

Barra over Easter weekend


This is what it looked like yesterday. (That couple was really going at it for the first half hour we were there.) This is what it normally looks like, and why we like it so much. (Minus the couple, of course.)



If you recall, on Thursday I complained about how hot it is, and how a haze has descended on Zihua.


Well Friday it lifted for a bit just before sunset. This is what it normally looks like. The colors just amaze me, every time.


Finally, the reason Barra is my favorite beach is it's usually deserted, the water is very clear and there are tons of fish, which means the birds go crazy. I can spend the entire afternoon watching them glide over the waves, swoop high into the air, then dive straight into the water, wings tucked to their sides.

Yesterday there was a large school of fish moving across the bay because this flock of birds followed it for ten minutes. Very cool to see.

17 comments:

Amy Sue Nathan said...

It's gorgeous Melanie. Scenery makes me wish I had some. To me scenery is mountains and water! You have both.

Nadine said...

That's so beautiful!! Wow, you weren't kidding when you said it was really crowded when your friend came! What a difference from when you normally go!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Amy, I went to college in the Shenandoah Valley (VA) and loved the mountains but never fully appreciated it because I need water nearby too. This is a nice combination. :)

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Nadine, there were some people there yesterday, but maybe only two dozen. Nothing like over semana santa!

Abby said...

I want to go to the beach *cries*

Janna Leadbetter said...

Whatever, you know you totally wanted to share that couple with us. ;P

Those are crazy amounts of people from Easter!

Spy Scribbler said...

You did? I've been wanting to go to Shenandoah National Park for TEN YEARS now! Maybe I'll just pick up and go there this summer.

Zihua is lovely! So is that beach. I haven't been to the ocean in over fifteen years. I need to get to the ocean. :-)

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Abby, I swear it gets old when it's the only thing to do...

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Janna, I did, just a little bit. They looked fairly young (teenagers) so we guessed that their families were probably sitting nearby at one of the other restaurants and they'd snuck off for some "alone time." Very discrete.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Spy, I went to JMU in Harrisonburg, VA -- smack dab in the middle of Virginia. The mountains there are beautiful but I missed being near the water. Little creeks with glacial-cold water were not the same thing!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Or "discreet".

JLC said...

Great pics!
I haven't seen people necking in public in a looong time, so I was a bit surprised to see a couple in a bank parking lot TOTALLY making out against their car last week.

I miss the ocean too. People don't realize that we are a couple of hours from the beach, and the beaches up here, although beautiful, are cloudy, windy, and rainy for most of the year.

Thanks for sharing!

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Turkey, we see a lot of teenagers making out here, but never for that long. They even had waves lapping at their feet -- how romantic. :P

I'm one of those people -- I didn't know you were that far from the ocean. At least you have plenty of nature by you.

Amy Mullis said...

Gorgeous. Breathtaking. Spectacular. I could use up my whole store of adjectives and not do it justice.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Oh, come on Amy, give it a whirl!

Robin said...

That's a pretty big difference! The beach looks very different with people, huh?

I admit to love people watching at the beach. I get my jollies. A deserted beach is way more romantic, though.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Robin, I'm a big people watcher too. There were actually people there -- they were all to the left of us. We always sit at the very last spot so we can look down the beach and pretend no one else is there.