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I can still remember my childhood days, going to the Pacific Ocean every summer with my big sister and my grandparents. It was an annual pilgrimage from Missouri to California to visit our cousins and to go to Disneyland.
Awesome memories that are forever engrained in my heart and mind.
My sister and I loved the beach—rolling around in the sand and jumping the white-crested waves.
It was simple. We just parked Grandma and Grandpa’s big, blue station wagon next to the beach, got out of the car, walked onto the sand, plopped down our beach towels, and jumped into the water.
Simple. Easy. Relaxing. Peaceful.
Relaxing on the Beach
I can still remember living 100 meters from the water during our years in Morocco—in North Africa. We could hear the crashing waves at night with our windows open. It rocked us to sleep.
During the day, usually in the early morning or late-evening hours, we would load up the boys’ plastic buckets and sand toys, beach towels, ice cold water bottles, and flip flops. It only took us a few minutes to walk down to the end of our street, cross over the road, climb up the rocks, and there it was . . . a beautiful sandy beach. Wow!
Simple. Easy. Relaxing. Peaceful.
Even after all these years have passed, I’m guessing that those two beaches in southern California and in Morocco were still simple, easy, relaxing, and peaceful . . . until . . .
March 2020 hit . . . COVID-19 hit . . .
Everything changed . . . everywhere around the world.
I have no idea what the beach regulations are like in California and Morocco these days. However, here in Spain, it’s strict!
Just Dip My Toes!
We just returned from vacation on the Mediterranean Sea coastline in southern Spain, and our beach experiences were anything but simple, easy, relaxing, and peaceful.
Especially not the topless ones!
On the first day of our trip, we all walked down to the beach. Thankfully, it was only a short, 5-minute walk from our rental apartment.
Our seven-year-old, Pierre, had only one desire when he saw the beach. He wanted to take off his sandals and dip his little toes into the cool, refreshing water.
I had the same desire!
It’s Too Late!
It was 9:00 p.m. when we began our stroll along the beach boardwalk. Not wanting him to get dirty and sandy, I told Pierre that we would play in the water a bit before going back to the apartment—after our walk.
By the time we finished our walk, it was 9:27 p.m.
We had noticed that at each of the beach entrances, there was a young person wearing the same t-shirt, monitoring the entrances and exits of the beaches.
As we approached the wooden walkway down to the water, we were stopped.
“My son just wants to put his feet into the water for a few minutes,” I told him.
“Sorry, the beach closes in 3 minutes. Anyway, you have to make a reservation to come onto the beach,” he told us.
“What? We have to make a reservation? Can’t my child just run down to the water and dip his toes in?” I asked, pleading.
“No, it’s too late, and you have to have a reservation,” he went on to explain.
I looked down at Pierre with compassionate eyes. I translated into English what the guy had just told us in a mix of Spanish and broken English.
“I’m sorry, honey. It’s too late. The beach is closing. We will have to come back in the morning,” I told him sadly.
Stressful Reservations
We will have to come back in the morning—WITH A RESERVATION!
We asked the beach patrol how to make a reservation. He told us that we could come to the small, white kiosk on the beach at 9:00 a.m. and wait in a long line, under the sun, for a reservation. Another option was to go to the town’s website and make a reservation there.
We opted for the website reservation.
It sounded simple, easy, relaxing, and peaceful.
My friend checked out the website the next morning.
“It’s all full,” she told us over breakfast. “We can wait until 11 a.m. to see if spots open up. If people don’t claim their spot by 11 a.m., then it opens up for new reservations.”
She went on to explain that there were morning slots from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and afternoon slots from 3-9:30 p.m. If people didn’t claim their afternoon slots by 5 p.m., then those opened up too.
Thankfully, at 11 a.m., we were able to grab reservations for both of our families for the morning slots. However, only five people were allowed in each “beach rectangle.”
Taped Rectangles on the Sand
When I say “beach rectangle,” I’m not kidding. The rectangles are literally taped onto the sand, marking off boundaries between each group of five people.
Our problem was that we had six people in our family. Our friends had five people, perfect. Because there were only sporadic spots scattered across the beaches, we couldn’t get two spots together—let alone three.
We decided to risk it and sneak our 6th person in—our 7-year-old son. Hopefully, the beach patrol wouldn’t be counting heads.
We didn’t get to the beach until 2 p.m. All of us managed to get through the “border patrol”—even little Pierre. Each family had to show their reservation on their phone app before entering the gate.
I must add that this was no simple reservation process. You had to enter the names and email addresses of each person in your party. The person making the reservation had to enter their Spanish residence card number or some other form of official i.d.
It was complicated and didn’t just take a few minutes.
It was anything but simple, easy, relaxing, and peaceful!
Thankfully, once we all got into the cool, refreshing Mediterranean waters . . . we forgot all the stress and hassle that it took to get us there.
The next morning, we would have to start the entire process over again if our families wanted to reserve “beach rectangles” again the next day.
After swimming and playing in the water that first day, we all decided that the hassle and stress was well worth it!!!!
“Beach rectangles, here we come!”
—THE CULTURAL STORY-WEAVER
MY GIFT TO YOU—GET YOUR FREE EBOOK—”THE 5-DAY JOURNEY TO CULTURAL AWARENESS”!
LET’S WEAVE CULTURES!
Have any of you been to the beach during the COVID-19 pandemic? What was your experience like?
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures”! Write about them in the comment box below.
