We wrapped up our stay in The Maldives. It was amazing and just perfect for this stage of our journey. The island we stayed on - Kuda Huraa - was beautiful. We were able to completely relax and, literally, did nothing but eat, drink, sleep, walk, sit in the pool and relax looking at the ocean. All of that could have earned it the paradise label - but what really made it special were the people. We arrived as guests but left as family - it was awesome.
First though here are a few more photos to share of the island - stunning.
We also have tried to keep up with working out on this trip - I have mentioned this one before - not always easy - but important. That said, if you have to exercise - this isn't a bad view :)
Each night we went to the Sunset Lounge for a cocktail before dinner. It was set right on the water and offered beautiful views.
We were regulars by the second night and made new friends with Rao, Danu and Adam. They made a great Old Fashioned for Craig and always suggested different island cocktails for me to try. My favorite was the Kuhli Kick - which was a Maldivian take on a margarita with chili agave making it spicy. Kuhli means 'spicy'. Danu always brought Craig a stool to rest his feet - I reminded him to not expect this type of service from me when we return home :). Here's a picture of Danu.
They had a nut snack coated with a special Maldivian spice - it was super yummy and Craig loved it. On our last night, Rao presented Craig with a gift of two bags of them to take with us - so sweet!
We shared pictures in an earlier post of all of the sea life - it was really so cool. One thing we didn't expect though we're bats! Yes - bats. Walking to the Sunset Lounge one night midweek we saw something really large swoop down from a tree - and I mean really large. All of a sudden we both realized it was a bat! After noticing the first one we then started noticing them more often. They are Maldivian Fruit Bats - and they are huge. I am not exaggerating - they are huge.
We also got to know the servers at the restaurants. Each morning, Nicole and Ali took care of us at breakfast. By the end Nicole was ready with whatever we needed before we even asked - they were wonderful. Here's a picture.
We had so many wonderful servers at lunch and dinner - but missed taking pictures. Two of our favorites though were Bakka and Branka and we were sure to get a picture with them. Bakka is local - and is very funny. He quickly got comfortable with us including making fun of us - which we loved.
Branka is from Croatia but has been in The Maldives for almost 3 years - she has traveled a lot with her career including a stint in New Jersey. When we heard about Croatia we mentioned learning about New Zealand wine and some of the winemakers who came form Croatia. She asked if we had ever heard of Babbich - this was actually the first winery we went to that we thought was so amazing with the history and the great wine. She was thrilled that we knew about it as it is her favorite - such a small world. We really loved her and had a lot of fun conversations. She reminded us of my sister Kris - tall, thin, great laugh, very warm. First picture she shrunk down to my size :) - and then we said no - we wanted to see her tall :). She brought us a small gift of a turtle as we were leaving - so thoughtful.
Speaking of our departure, a small group came out to send us off. There were lots of hugs and laughs. Like I said earlier, it felt like we were leaving after a wonderful visit with family.
We spent our last night in The Maldives at a hotel near the airport on a different island since we had an early morning flight. We were having a drink at the pool bar when a big storm moved through. Quick picture to show the wind.
As we were hunkering down under cover we met a great guy - Raj - from India - he was a hoot. His two kids are now living in the US - one in Atlanta and one in Dallas. His wife was in Atlanta visiting their daughter. He was a big flirt - and liked that we like to have fun.
In the morning we take off for Poland flying through Doha, Qatar. Definitely will be a change - but we are excited about the next part of our journey and I'll explain more about the Poland connection in a later post.
The Maldives is truly a special place - it's fair to say it was paradise for us. We loved the island, we loved our stay, but most of all we loved the people. Craig said it was almost spiritual - and that's because there was such a genuine connection and you felt such warmth from everyone - it really was amazing. We leave feeling reenergized and full of love and joy. Pretty wonderful - and definitely enjoying the ride.
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