Vacation time!!

7 years.

My first vacations in 7 years.

Yes, I know, 7 years is a long time, and a time-off is needed. But when you work freelance like I do, sometimes taking time off isn’t so easy. Absolutely necessary, but not so easy (damn, tell ME about it!)

Took me 7 years to finally UNLOCK the magic secrets that allowed me to go on vacations. I did feel a little… what’s the word?… skeptical… about taking some time off, specially since we released “Wish You Could Hear” only 3 weeks ago, but it was either now, or waiting for other 7 years. And I wasn’t willing to wait another three-quarters-of-a-decade.

We found a pretty good deal with MSC Cruises for a short 3 days cruise to Uruguay. We were supposed to hit Montevideo and Punta del Este from Buenos Aires, come back to Mar del Plata and then spend the rest of the weekend resting in Miramar.

I was really looking forward to it, not only because it was my first vacations in 7 years, but also our first family vacations in 13 years and also my first time in a cruiseship EVER!

So we arrived in Buenos Aires. They split us in groups so we didn’t rampage the whole cruise terminal (a very argentinian activity). We must’ve waited half an hour, but we had some coffee and the atmosphere was really cheery and relaxed.

The whole check-in process was really fast, smooth and efficient. They really know their craft! The whole process lasted less than 15 minutes. I was certainly impressed! Last time I traveled abroad (Italy 2007), going through Check-In, Customs and Migrations took more than 2 hours.

First sight of the ship blew my mind. I’ve never seen such a beast: 15 stores high and 300 mts (984 feet) long. Larger than the largest buildings in Mar del Plata. My room was in the 9th floor, four stores below the pool & buffet area.

The deck area was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. I don’t want to talk about the buffet, which had a seemingly endless supply of food 24/7. For a guy my size, that’s like a dream. The ship had two big pools, cocktail bars and 4 hot tubs, IIRC. Hot tubs don’t really tempt me, as I can’t really stand the heat (I’m a cold-weather kind of person) but I was really interested in the pool. And the gym. But mainly the pool.

Now, as you may imagine, this isn’t like any beach house, where you have to share a pool with, I don’t know, 4, 5 people. There were over 3,000 people on board. That means the hot tub was almost always in use, always full, and I thought the pool would be no different.

Now, here comes the decisive factor of my vacations: the weather.

Ahhh Mr. Weather. Almighty force of nature.

But first, look at this. Look at this picture. Isn’t she a beauty? Her name is MSC Poesia.

As you may notice in this picture (and the picture before this one), the sky wasn’t exactly what we call a “clear” sky. This sort of weather followed me wherever we went. We had severe rain and thunderstorms pretty much EVERY day of the week, disregarding what city we were in. In fact, we didn’t even made it to Punta del Este. “Adverse climatic conditions”, so we headed back to Montevideo.

Of course, bad weather has its pros and its cons.

Cons? The buffet was always full, and finding tables for 5 became quite hard sometimes. Not only the buffet, but the bars were always full (because everyone was indoors all the time). And of course, walking on deck was discouraged. No one likes to get wet for free!

Pros? Since no one likes to get wet for free, and no one likes being cold on purpose, the pool was always empty. And since I don’t mind swimming under the rain at all, no one bothered me! And it wasn’t that cold either! After all, it’s late November in South America, for Pete’s sake!

All in all, despite the weather, it was a fantastic experience. We did have 2 hours of sunlight in Montevideo though! Goddamn, what a BEAU-TI-FUL city. If you ever get the chance to come to South America, don’t miss Buenos Aires and Montevideo. If you wanna visit me in Mar del Plata too, I wouldn’t mind. Bring some beers!

The next day, we went to Miramar, a seaside-city 50 km south of Mar del Plata. We also got a really good deal at the Alto Miramar Resort & Spa, so we spent the weekend there. Absolutely recommended!

It was cloudy when he got there on Friday at 2 pm, but the sun came out at 3 pm, so I could enjoy some sunlight at the pool till 7.30 pm.

That’s when hell was set loose.

It started like a light rain that became some heavy rain that turned into a severe thunderstorm. And it never really stopped. It stopped raining for some minutes, but the stormy clouds never left.

They were still there, the whole time, menacing. Waiting. Basically, THIS:

I spent the whole weekend at the pool. Once again, since the weather was quite bad, no one dared to go outside. There was a climatized indoor pool, so all the guests were there while I was happily swimming alone.

Despite the bad weather, I had a great week. Spent no less than 20 hours swiming, hit the gym almost every day, and had one heck of a time!

I do want to apologize with everyone who was affected by the merciless weather. The storm followed me over 2,000 km from Mar del Plata to Buenos Aires, then to Punta del Este, then Montevideo, then back to Buenos Aires, back to Mar del Plata, then Miramar, and back to Mar del Plata at last. I’m pretty sure it was my fault and that I should never take another vacations again for another 7 years.

The storm made it perfectly clear that it will not allow me to rest, and it’s forcing me to keep working, composing and mixing.

Which is not so bad after all 🙂

Ever had a storm following you anywhere you go? No matter what city you were in?
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