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Art Outing at Hacienda Iguana

What do these people have in common??:

_ Three seasoned expat women who have lived in Granada for years.
_ Two sisters who grew up in Brooklyn but now one is in Rome and the other North of Toronto.
_ A Southern warm-hearted woman who is like a sister to one of the expats
_ A part-Cherokee woman with a wonderful sense of humor_ An energetic free-spirited woman from California
_ The Jack-of-all-trades man who is quite brave

They ALL love to paint.

And every morning they did, for three days – out in the open air amidst tropical trees and plants at the Casa Rio, a lovely, large rental house with casita, at the Hacienda Iguana development. It was about a 10 minute walk to the beach which is perfect for swimming in the large waves, boogie-boarding, watching the surfers, and just walking. And returning to the house and cool-water pool with cocktails in hand was not painful either.Thanks to Amy Bushnell’s ideas and wonderful organizational skills, (she was a Girl Scout), this second art class at the beach was a lovely time.

This year, we rented a big bus with a patient and skilled driver who did not bat an eye at the huge pile which he and we loaded on the bus – mountains of food, drink, luggage, laptops, art supplies including easels and tables, boogie boards, and not the least, a stalk of green platanos from Leslie’s farm. And 4 of the 8 women were 6 feet or more in height. That’s a lot of leg room required, but we all had a seat to ourselves! I am no artist, and have no talent for painting. I like to do some writing, although nothing professional. However, Amy kindly approved my attendance.

I wasn’t about to let my Jack-of-all-trades husband hit the Playa alone for 3 days with 8 women! I do think he’s quite brave to attend classes at Centro de Arte with Amy and usually mostly women. But he grew up with only sisters, and his inlaws are mostly women, so is used to being with lots of women. (only in the social sense!) We made some fantastic meals – and the highlights were the grilled dorado filets and lobsters on the last evening. Also our first lunch on the way to Iguana – at the wonderful and reasonably-priced restaurant “El Mar” at Rancho Santana. Linda Long, who won First Place at the Chili Cook-off this year, is now a chef there. She arranged for us to each receive a free slice of flourless chocolate cake with rich sauces. What a nice surprise, and it was pure ambrosia.

Linda, as well as Jack and Patty See, residents of Hacienda Iguana, and friends of Amy and Darrell, joined us for the seafood BBQ evening. Jack is one of the seasoned surfers at Iguana. Thank you, Amy; and Helen Korengold, Jeanie Koons, Sandie G., Linda Mccrary, Leslie Warren, Mimi Murphy, Fran Murphy, and Jack Johns, for being truly talented artists, and wonderful travelers and story-tellers. I don’t like to play games very much, but playing Scattergories with this group was more than fun. Hilarious.

Carolyn Johns

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