Pina Colladas for Eid - October 12th

Ramadan officially ended one day early today. The moon sighting committee pronounced the beginning of Eid. We slept through the pronouncement. Twelve hours of glorious sleep! I can't remember the last time I slept for twelve hours with barely an interruption. It felt so good. We woke up at 10 minutes to 11 just in time to order room service breakfast again. We took our time and relaxed. Today will be a beach day. The hotel has a private beach club with pools and fitness club and it's right across the street. We walked into a party like atmosphere at the club. No more tipped chairs at the restaurant and empty poolside bar. That’s when we finally realized that Ramadan must be over. If only we’d read the headlines on the front page of the paper that was left on our door this morning! When I arrived 24 hours ago I felt far removed from the Ramadan holiday. Now I feel swept up in the Christmas-like atmosphere joyous that I do not have to try to remind myself that even a sip of water in public is against the law in this hot desert country. We celebrated by lying at the pool under a big beach umbrella in the breezy shadow of big fat palm trees and sipping lovely drinks (as the song says give me two Pina Coladas I want one for each hand!) The hardest choice we had to make was whether to take a refreshing dip in the cool pool or to wade in the warm gulf water at the beach a few yards away. The water is so salty that floating is easy. Rob tried to go snorkeling but he said there wasn’t much to see. There’s no sea life, which makes it the perfect body of water for me. No little fishes nibbling on my toes and no slimy sea weed to step on. It was the perfect day. I could get used to celebrating Eid.