lauralh | puerto vallerta

• the heat. Oh, wait, it's the humidity, not the heat. I never believed it till now. I mean, I grew up outside the Atchafalaya basin, a feat which astonishes me to no end now. But, as I recall, the outdoors was never much of an attraction, especially in the summer. Which lasts from April to September. I was always the palest child in my elementary school.

I'm not sure if it would have been better or worse without A/C. In Boston a few summers ago, I got "used" to it to the point that by the end of the week I wasn't completely dying, but I could drink the water there as much as I wanted. But, anyway, I nearly fainted a couple times and that wasn't so great.

• the sunburns. These weren't too bad except my Eucerin face lotion has worn out. Meaning that the one time I slathered it on my arms, they turned pink within 30 minutes. And one day my tank top straps rubbed the stuff off my shoulders, so they got rather crispy. Reg's got worse, or at least more all-over, which was also bad, as it led to a distinct lack of romance. We could barely hug.

• the coffee. Not that I'm a freakin' coffee snob, but I know what I like, and I like caffeine. We had a Krupps in the room but it broke the second day, and while it was fixed a few days later, the local roast was shit.