A start of something beautiful

 Flying on airplanes is not exactly what I want to do with my day. To combat this unruly fear of flying, I have learned that alcohol is a good way to do so. I won't mention the names (....MOM, DAD) of the people who taught me this little trick. :-) Let me just say, 8 am is apparently not too early to enjoy a nice glass of cabernet sauvignon! We arrived in Freeport on the Grand Bahama Island. Freeport was founded in order to be a free trading zone...or a free-port. Our gracious host Mary was explaining to us that this is great in theory since the Bahamas are located right in the path of major trading routes. However, this is the reason behind the high drug trafficking problem on the islands as well. Mary also told us that if you go to the schools here on the island, you are guaranteed to find children who will tell you that they want to be a drug dealer when they grow up so they too can have all the cars, money and women. We traveled in Mary's car driving on the LEFT side of the road to her house which was about 30 miles from the airport. We started driving on the Bahamian highway, but came to a place where we had to turn right down a smaller road. If you look ahead, there's a canal and on the other side of the canal is the rest of the highway. The islanders didn't feel like building a bridge over the canal, so at this point, we go around.  Mary's house is built with the ocean as the backyard. While I sit on my bed typing this, I literally am staring at the ocean less than 100 meters away. She has three dogs, 1 African parrot named Baxter and a husband named Basil. Baxter talks....a lot....and also can mimic the phone ringer. He also dumpster dives into the trash can for left over orange peels. So, I'm here, safe and sound and excited to see what each day brings!

                                                        View from my bed...

The backyard.