New Yoga school

On my way home from yoga last Friday morning, I stopped for “breakfast” of coffee and pain au chocolat at a French café at the beach end of 4^th street. An older north american couple were sitting outside and when they came in to pay their bill they noticed my yoga mat and said that they had just also finished their yoga class at Yoga By The Sea. They asked about my school Ananda and when I sung the praises of my favourite teacher Melanie they told me that she also teaches at their school on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. I’ve not been to Yoga By The Sea, but I know they have a studio in the Alhambra Hotel overlooking the ocean. I checked their website and couldn’t find anything about who their teachers are, apart from the director Arielle, so I asked Melanie next time I saw her and she said yes, although Ananda is her own school, she also teaches at other studios. “I have to pay the rent” she told me, “but it‘s a different style of class there“.

It’s not that I’m not happy with Ananda, quite the opposite I feel very comfortable there and people already recognise and greet me. But their studio in Palapa Suuk is on 46^th and 5^th, about a 25 minute trip between bus and walking, where the Alhambra on 8^th is about a 10min walk and much more convenient. Their website is totally in English, so I suspect their classes will be as well.

I finally tried one of Melanie’s classes at the Alhambra studio almost a week later. It’s a gorgeous space, looking out over the sea and the sound of waves crashing on the beach below is a lovely soundtrack to the class. It’s not a large room, but the walls are whitewashed, there are blue billowy curtains and Moorish details just like the real Alhambra. Although it seemed almost weird to do a class in English, I really enjoyed it, and the school would be perfect for my guests who want to practise yoga but don’t speak Spanish. The cost for a month is 550 pesos and they offer 11 classes a week including Saturday morning which Ananda don’t, so I’m considering going there as well as to Ananda. If I did 4 classes a week there and 4 at Ananda it would still only cost me $24 a week altogether, which is less than the cost of 2 classes in Australia.

On the way home a nice Canadian man I had seen previously starting chatting to me, and he has invited me out for dinner next week, so it will be nice to share a meal and have someone to do things with while he’s here. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I also found out that my new fav café has wifi so I can bring my laptop & check my emails while having coffee or a meal. And then I walked home past a bathroom fitting store and found a really nice set of 5 fittings including towel rail, toilet roll holder, hand towel ring, soap and toothbrush holders, all for only 289 pesos. Since my condo doesn’t have towel rails and I’ve been searching unsuccessfully until today, it was a great find. They didn’t have any in stock, but the young man told me they will arrive tomorrow so I’ll pop up to collect them after lunch. I’m still hoping the blinds and/or the Cablemas man will come tomorrow too ….