Kokomo
Listening to: The Beach Boys Greatest Hits
Location: Aruba
Each day in Aruba, we would get up early in the morning, lather our bodies in suntan lotion, and walk out of the hotel to the beach. We would mark our territory with lounging beach chairs and "set up camp." As the sun would move direction, we would drag our chairs and follow it so we could get the best color on our bodies. Most days, I would take a walk along the surf with my friend Judith.
One day as we were walking back to our friends, an island native man approached us and asked if we wanted to do any water sports. We said we would go back to our friends to discuss it and we'd be back. Most of the girls wanted to do some sort of water sports. As we walked to the shack, they decided they wanted to try parasailing. Parasailing is when you attach yourself to a balloon type of parachute and you literally fly off the end of a motorboat. The air fills the balloon and you ?sail? through the air. When we got to the shack, we noticed that they had jet skis. We asked the island guys if they would use those too. After negotiations we planned the afternoon. All six of us girls went out on the motorboat, as two of us went parasailing. Taking a boat ride in the Caribbean sea was delightful and fun.
After the boat ride, we convinced the guys to take us out on the jet skis. Though they wouldn't let us go ourselves, we each got to take a ride with them and hold on to them. The luck of it was that they took us out free of charge. Of course, they planned to stop short and tip us over in the water! It was well worth it. And clearly, the Beach Boys' 'Kokomo' was playing in my head the entire time because the opening word to the lyrics is none other than, 'Aruba.'
