Enjoying the vacation and the sun

Good morning! It was staring at me from the ceiling above my bed :)

Wednesday, 9th of October, started with another round of morning exercises. One of the few places you find grass around here is a golf course. Our housing is situated basically in the middle of a golf course. So we figured we could lay on the corner of their grass while doing our exercises. It is 8 in the morning, sun is already burning like no other, we are nicely laying our towels on the grass and are starting with exercises. This fun lasts about 30 minutes and then a very upset lady drives by and makes us leave the grass :( Finished the exercises on the porch, gotta find another piece of grass tomorrow I guess.

Another breed of gecko's - this one can change the color as well (the green ones can't)

Before heading to town we laid in the sun by the local pool area. It is just so conveniently located around the corner from our place... although 1 hours is about the maximum time one can do it :) To the town we went. With all the athletes arriving and also spectators arriving the town has transformed quite a bit. Eating places are full, there is live music in most of the pubs, beaches are not empty anymore and of course there is more traffic and parking is becoming quite impossible.

Alii drive is the main street in the town. Most of the restaurants and small shops as well as hotels and condominium areas are on this road. It runs right next to the shore, there are numerous little white sanded beaches after every few blocks. Every day there are new flags and tents of yet another sports store/equipment provider appearing by the road. The closer you get to the city center the more those colorful flags pop up. Expo is being set up in few parking lots by the local market. Another big tent with Ironman merchandise is located by the hotel that stands next to the swimming start area at the end of Alii drive.

We spent few hours looking around in the expo and walking through the tents on Alii drive, popping into the little stores on the way as well. New swimming suit that looks like a bikini (very much needed in order to get most sun while swimming outside) and new running shoes bought, we had nice Mexican lunch and then open water swim on the Ironman course.

Managing with the heat here gets easier every day. Drinking plenty of water and not doing any quick movements is the key :) During night time having the fans on helps a lot (there is no AC in the house), no covers are needed, just a sheet is quite enough. While exercising, especially during running, the skin is immediately pressing water out in streams. It is like being in the sauna :)

Sunset from our terrace