Lagos

The sun is strong today. I can feel it browning my face and chest. I’ll have to go down to the water soon. The cold will provide a much-needed break from the heat.



I can’t believe where I am right now. I lay on my towel with my eyes shut, listening to the sounds of the beach. My friend’s music plays at my feet (Red Hot Chili Peppers right now). A group of boys throws a football back and forth, right in front of where we’re planted (if that ball hits me, I’ll hurt someone). And behind us, a family sits, speaking loudly in Portuguese (I have no idea what they’re saying, but it sounds important).



I can’t believe where I am right now. I open my eyes, sit up, and what I see doesn’t look real. The rocks rising out of the clear, green-blue water, the cliffs surrounding all sides of the beach bearing their strata for all to see, all of it looks just like a postcard.



I can’t believe where I am right now. I reach to my side to pick my beer up out of the sand. I take a sip and notice that the sand has stuck to the bottom of the perspiring bottle. As much as I want to clean it off for my own compulsive reasons, I decide I don’t mind the sand when I’m at the beach. It, like everything else in this world, has its place in the universe, and right now, it’s meant to be on my towel, probably in my purse and definitely on the bottom of my beer bottle.



I can’t believe where I am right now. I turn on to my stomach, and my shoulders welcome the sun. I can’t help but think about how hard it will be to leave this and take that bus back to Córdoba in a few hours. While a part of me is anxious to finish finals, the other part of me just wants to stay on this beach forever, never allowing day to turn into night, defying the moon and willing the sun to remain exactly where it is at this very moment.



I can’t believe where I am right now. I can’t believe where I am right now. I can’t believe I’m about to leave where I am right now. But…I need to leave right now, now and in three weeks times. I need to leave because I have things to take care of. I need to leave because there are people I need to see, there are people I can’t let down. I need to leave because I have responsibilities in this world just like everyone else.



But for now, I can’t believe where I am right now, and I don’t want to think about anything else.