Updates: Exorcism at 3:00

"Exorcism at 3:00!"?????
I just HAD to start the update with this! One morning during breakfast the GM casually announced that she had 'an exorcism at 3:00' followed by a budget meeting. My ears pricked and my fertile imagination stood to attention.... and went riot! Needless to say, what followed was a deluge of questions. Apparantly, a member of staff (hosts as they are called here) couldn't sleep all night due to ominous feelings of being followed by a bad spirit. Rumour goes that the island is haunted (there is an ancient graveyard on the island). Maldivians, despite being Muslim, are also deeply superstitious. I guess this is only natural in a country where man and nature exist codependantly. So the matter, obviously quite a serious one, was handled by calling a 'spirit child' to the island to cast away the evil spirit. FASCINATING!!

German friends of ours (Uli and Silvana) arrived from Dubai a few days ago. Uli was Amandio's headhunter who placed him in the Rotana Hotel in Dubai. Having recently got engaged, Amandio offered them a special low season rate at this resort as a 'pre honeymoon rehearsal'. We didn't know when they booked that we would be here at the same time, so we decided to surprise them. They were pleasantly surprised but we are very careful that they have plenty of romantic alone time :-) Great seeing them again.

Amandio has been on a strict diet since we arrived (no alcohol, carbohydrates, fats and sugars). I have been trying to join him for moral support but oooh.. the food here is just too tempting. Exercising is also becoming part of our routine - either at the gym or fast walks on the beach around the island (2kms). Don't forget travelling from one place to another is done by bicycle - it helps!
I am afraid though, that I spend most of my days in a horizontal position, basking in the sun's rays, reading a good book. I am glued to 'Sacred Ground' by Barbara Wood - It is about an archaelologist who finds a 2000 year old skeleton of a woman in a cave in California. The book traces the story of this Native Indian medicine woman and her descendants from the arrival of the first Missionaries to the Spanish settlers to the Gold rush and right up to the present day. The whole thing encapsulates the magic of Native Indian culture and rituals, weaving the lives of different women together with beauty and growth.

I have completely lost all concept of time: The day is divided into meals and sunrise, low tide at midday, welcome shade from the trees near the pool on the sunlounger in the late afternoon and sunset. The days of the week are marked by GMs Sunset Cocktail on Tuesdays, Cinema Paradiso on Wednesdays (outdoor cinema showing the golden oldies), Buffet BBQ dinners on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Heaven!

Oh.. we had a tour of the wine cellar (very impressive).