Old Folks' Boogie

This song is by my favorite band (if I had to pick just one). One of the members of this group wrote this song for his father, but I would imagine that band member is now older than his father was at the time. One of my favorite lines from the song is, "You know that you're over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body won't fill." That perfectly describes me today. Ideally, I would have been more active, but I could tell as early as yesterday afternoon that my body was going to be in serious pain today. A lack of stretching, long flights, and a too-heavy carry-on bag led to my back, neck, shoulder and leg pain. And last night I noticed that, despite wearing my stupid compression hose on the airplane, my feet were very swollen. They're better today, but I'm being really careful. The joint pain will get better -- probably just in time to fly back home -- but the foot-swelling scares me.

I considered ordering room service this morning, mostly for the coffee. Room service is virtually the only thing that isn't included in my hotel package. I can see the breakfast cafe from my room; it is not far at all. But the thought of standing up straight long enough to walk that short distance felt overwhelming. Fortunately, sanity returned. I got dressed and walked to the restaurant. My hope was that if I moved around a little, my joints would loosen up. I'm not sure if that worked, but right after breakfast I came to my room and put my swimsuit on and went out to the pool -- where I immediately ordered a mojito -- and another -- and another -- and so on all day until I dragged myself over to the cafe again around 3:00 for lunch. I'm not usually a big drinker, so this wasn't how I had intended to spend the day, but I actually enjoyed it. A group of folks from Las Vegas sat down near me, and we had a good old time. Whether it was the movement (including swimming) or just the liquor that loosened me up doesn't matter. The point is I didn't let pain ruin my day.

Now it's about an hour until the start of dinner and the Friday Mexican Fiesta on the patio. I'm having one hell of a good time here, but I feel like I've eaten and drunk too much. It's so easy when it's all free and someone is constantly offering! (One of my Vegas amigos said that feeling wears off by about the third day.) I'm not sure whether to go to the fiesta or not. Tomorrow is my Todos Santos tour, starting at eight in the morning, and I'm not sure I have it in me to party up tonight and do a six-hour tour tomorrow. I'm drinking water now, feeling fine, but I don't know if I want to go back out. Part of me says, "Do it! You're on vacation!" The other part says, "Rest! You'll have a better time tomorrow." I haven't decided yet which part I'm going to listen to.