Meet Alejandro

Have you ever met someone from Spain? Sure you have. But have you met someone from Menorca, yet? Menorca, or Minorca, is one of the Balearic islands located in the Mediterranean sea belonging to Spain. Menorca is famous for her marine beauty. And Alejandro lives in the island as a tour guide taking tourists from everywhere in the world into a marine tour by boat.

Alejandro came to Krui at the end of December, two or three days before the New Year, just at the time when fellow surfers from all around the world began to leave the town.

It was kind of the end of the surf season. The surfs worked irregularly. There were only few foreign surfers remained. And you can rarely see a surfer in the water. Tourists who stayed in Krui went swimming, fishing with spear gun, or just hanging out at their camps most of the time.

I met Alejandro at the hotel where he stayed. “I cannot afford to stay at the camps by the beach. They are too expensive,” he said.

“Have you ever surfed here yet?” I asked. “Yes, a few times,” he said. But he stayed in his hotel and took a walk around the town mostly. He even went to the jungle to take a look.

It was January 1, the very first day of the year 2012. It was raining heavily in the morning and bikers on the street and everyone were taking a shelter in front of the houses by the main street. My friend and I were standing in front of the hotel waiting for the rain to subside when we saw Alejandro came back from his walk bedraggled. He was holding a cup of soft drink.  

“Alejandro, is that you?” I asked.

“Yes. I was walking down the street when the rain came,” he said.

“You didn’t take a shelter?”

“No.” He grinned.

I checked his entire body. It was all wet. “I bet your wallet is wet too,” I said.

“Yes,” he replied.