Travels, Day 21, On The Way To Guatemala

Mom's travelogue continues:

Date: July 9, 1972 Sun.

"Slept late. [Dad] rode the motorcycle to some houses. We swam in the afternoon - felt good.

Alba went with us to see a house. Just what we want but rent is high.

Alba works at the motel and offered to be our interpretor for us after her working hours.

We stopped and got chicken to bring home to eat."

I used to like to swim. when I was little I grew up on a lake and once I learned how to swim it was hard to get me out of the water in the summer time. One of our resort customers described me as a fish.

We spent a lot of time in the Plaza Motel's pool. 8 of the 27 entires in Mom's travelogue mention swimming. After we settled into out Guatemala home, my parents bought a boat and tried to keep our love of the lake alive. We would go to nearby Lake Amatitlán on weekends to swim, boat, ski, and fish. We parked our trailer on a vacant lot next to a friend's lake house for a while. I learned to ski here - I was never very good. Over time it just lost its luster to me. The lake, and the life we once had, faded into the past.

As I've grown older, I've lost the joy of swimming that I once had. I still like swimming but I don't go out of my way. My in-laws have a lake house on Lake Cornelia. I have been there several times and, by personal choice, I have yet to get in the water. I think I've matured from a lake swimmer to a hot tub soaker.