Waking up in a different bed with different light made me immediately focus on where I was.  I saw some grey clouds on the horizon and I knew that the sunrise would be impressive with the cloudy contrast. I wasn’t wrong.

Every Tuesday, I do a running podcast and I got myself ready for that while loving the milder temperatures than back home. Just after the podcast ended I saw dolphins skim the sea surface so I excitedly rushed out to the balcony to catch the beauties on my phone camera.  Fortunately they were playing for me and surfed some waves and did some impressive leaps and even more impressive is that I actually caught the shot mid-jump.

Wearing my running gear and a huge grin I made my way down to run along the 6km stretch beside the sea. There were a few fellow runners as well as dog and baby walkers.  I passed an incident where someone needed medical assistance on a boat moored on the sand. It pricked my interest as I saw the medics arrive and a few minutes later the medical chopper flew over but wasn’t needed. On my gently sloping return run, I saw locals loading their kayaks on their car roof, holiday makers sitting at pavement cafes, and a general relaxed feel on the street.  I ran past some of the original fishermen houses standing solidly in the midst of all the high rise holiday apartments and wondered about their history.

I took myself for a smoothie at the cafe and could feel my grin on the inside sending all sorts of good serotonin to all my cells. As I was taking pictures of coastal spider webs I saw more dolphins crack the sea surface.  Absolutely loving life in the moment I blurted out while pointing to them. The confirmation of awws from fellow cafe customers made me feel less crazy for my childlike wonder.

On my return to my apartment I decided to put my feet in the Indian Ocean.  But it meant taking my running shoes off. Yikes. I have incredibly ticklish feet and as my soles kissed the sand, my knee buckled.  I think it was from the shock, lol. The water didn’t feel too cold, but I didn’t give it a real chance because I was a chicken.  I then considered crossing the road on recently salted barefeet.  But as my sensitives touched the pavement I realized that I would have to go ‘commando’ in my shoes.  My running socks are like gloves and I certainly wasn’t going to be wiping off all the remarkably sticky sand to try squeeze the damn socks on.

Lunch was interesting to this ‘binnelander’ ( inland dweller). Inland we have hadedas and very few monkeys, here they are very, very brave and the maitre ‘d spent a lot of time chasing the unwelcome customers with a spray bottle of vinegar.  Although they are very cute, they’re still wild animals so I try respect their space and don’t want to share my plate of chips!

And to prove a point they’ve literally walked along my balcony, and I am five stories up!