The Atlantic

We spent the morning at the beach today with Lanni and Jubi. The beaches here remind me in some ways of home. The water color is similar and so is the temperature of the water. There’s a lot of vegetation that grows up along the coast. There are some differences with the beaches also though - for one there are almost no shells. The waves are smaller. There’s a ton of large pieces of driftwood washed up everywhere. Huge logs big enough to sit on. Coconut trees grow wild by the dozen. As we were walking along the beach, I noticed a bushy vine growing all over all of the sand dunes here. It’s a gorgeous bright green leafy thing with these effervescent hot pink flowers scattered over it that smell divine. They smell something like jasmine- with a shot of something distinctly fresh and tropical running through it.

After some research, I discovered the plant is called (roughly translated to English) the Beach Morning Glory. There’s a picture of some of the ones I saw this morning posted below. I cannot wait to recreate this scent for you all in candle form! It smells just like paradise.

It was so surreal to look out over the waves today and realize that we’re on the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean here. The enormity of the distance- of how big the world is- kept hitting me today. It’s inspiring to be here. To see the sights and smell the smells and experience a culture that’s so different from what I am used to.

Tomorrow on to more adventures!