12/24 Like last year, it is not until the morning that we see where we have come. No, not quite true: past midnight, I can already see Canopus low above the horizon, making it very clear just how far south we are. This, plus the moon very high, but its terminator strangely tilted towards the horizontal. This, and the razor edge where sea and sky meet, always at eye level. We sleep till noon, and then we only get up from loud banging at the door, when the house keeper, at the request of the owner, brings us styrofoam boxes with Carribbean food. We are glad because we don’t even need to go shopping today.

The strangeness of this first day. We really, really, really don’t need to do anything, a void that gets flooded immediately with all the good things we want to do, the reading, the writing, the music, and not even counting the pool and the sun. We decide to be really strict about not doing anything at all, just so we can find our bearings.