and it's coming to me now like a childhood dream: here the waves lap at my feet (skin soft and tough at the same time from the sand) there the sun bigger and brighter than I had seen before; warmer on the eyelids and hotter on the hair. The waves were too turbulent for any safe swimming so we sat in the sand and filled ourselves with beer and tequila, gorging now and then on beans and rice, chicken and salsa.