Birthday Beach Bash

So alllll the way back in April, I went to St Maarten..or Sint Martin...or whatever language you want to read or pronounce it.

It was a 'Friends Vacation' according to CTA.

His friends.

And their girlfriends.

This made me slightly nervous.

I really like all of them, I just don't know them that well.

Within hours of sharing two bathrooms among seven people, that 'don't' became a 'didn't' because they're all great and crazy in their own ways AND they even got a cake for my actual birthday.

A CAKE!

I love cake.

And I love them too..

Not because of the cake either....

The view from our balcony- literally a stone's throw

Downtown Philipsburg

Our also private boat for snorkeling.

It was sunny and lovely and my first time in the water, and after seeing a sea turtle the clouds rolled in. On our way back, we stopped at a lagoon. We were freezing from being pelted by so much water and wind that the ocean was warmer than the air and was practically steaming.

Anyone can snorkel on a beautiful day.

Only we can go and enjoy a lagoon during a rainstorm!

EconoFoods

CTA and I love Price Rite at home. Its ghetto and cheap and makes for the best people watching.

When we first arrived, we asked the taxi driver to take us to the closest market as we had a kitchenette to use. He attempted to take us (as we found out later) to their version of a Stop & Shop.

We wanted to go where the locals went.

We wanted to eat what the locals ate.

They didn't want that.

We were white and not 'unwelcome,' but definitely not 'welcome.'

We asked the driver to stop at this warehouse of a store that had a visible produce wall along the back.

Everyday, CTA and I, and anyone else not being lazy (side eye to Goomba), made the mile or so trek to stock up on sandwich meat, rice, mangoes, and most importantly Caribs.

The Caribs were the worst to carry back.

Mud Baths during our snorkeling trip before the rainstorm.

And yes, the limestone mud really does make your skin feel amazing.

*UPDATE: Writing this now is killing me. Its 91 outside and all I want to do is be at the beach. Or in Sint Maarten. The weather was phenomenal every day- not too hot, not too cold. This was also the first trip that I didn't drop loads of cash. We ate family dinners most of the time (there wasn't much around us), I didn't stock up on crappy souvenirs, I just took home a nice tan, tons of photos, and a $5 license plate...that was probably ripped off a car. The other possibility is that CTA paid for everything- which is a good possibility, but I'll just chalk it up to my 25th birthday.

Esshh.