Tuesday June 18
Sheila called to tell me that Antonio, the groundskeeper, was bringing over some new pages for the instruction book. This is a notebook that she put together for her visitor’s that has information on the house and it’s systems and quirks. It also has information about it’s critters (the various reptiles, insects, birds and humans one might expect to see while staying here), a few maps, and some eating and sightseeing suggestions. According to the book I can expect to see crabs crawling up the cliff to mate (they are in that season), bats that visit nightly and leave there guano on the walls to let you know they were here, mosquitos and ants of course, and the rare scorpion whose sting is said to like that of a bee. Also gecko’s; not the green one, I just saw my first one climbing up the tree and it’s skin perfectly matched the grey bark in color.
Antonio was also going to show me where to put the compost (I dropped it in the chicken coop and the hens began feasting on it immediately) and how to get my morning eggs out. We did those things, and then I proceeded to spend the day creating these web pages. I had hoped to get them started before I left but failed. So I am playing catch up. I will post this one, and one more for today, the 19th, and then I will be caught up. It seems like a good thing to do in the morning before the world wakes up (except for the fisherman of course). So at the end of a day of looking out at the ocean and writing and arranging pictures I knew I wanted to go swimming again.
It was 5pm. I have decided that is a good time for me to swim, though it is by no means any less hot then mid-day. I walked down to the beach and dropped my stuff at the restaurant at the bottom of the staircase, La Marrajas. The waiter very kindly told me he would watch my stuff while I swam. After a 1/2 or so I came back, sat down and ordered my first margarita of the trip. I asked if there was a special and the waiter said no, but would I like to try the red snapper. I said “perfect”. And it was. It took about 1/2 hour to arrive, during which time I was treated to some delicious freshly baked still warm “chips” with a salsa dip hot enough to bring tears. The kind my friend Neil used to be constantly in search of. When the fish arrived it was presented perfectly, mesquite grilled, with head and tail intact. Excellent with white rice (the white rice here is really good) and salad, and again freshly made warm tortilla’s. One more margarita and I was very happy.
During the meal I got to experience some local activity. There was a boat pulled up on the beach both yesterday and today, way up above tideline. I was thinking to myself as I drank my margarita about how one might get it into the water. Shortly after having that thought I looked over to see a gaggle of people, adults and children of ages, turn the boat around and push it down to the water’s edge. When they were done, they all returned to their previous activities, swimming, hanging out on the sand, or sitting on the beach chairs in the shade. The fisherman began loading the boat with ice and other supplies. It is now about 6:30 in the evening. The tide was low at 4:30 or so, and is now rising up to meet the prow of the boat. When it does, at a signal I failed to see, a group once again assembled around the boat, it gets launched, and the fisherman start the outboard and head out of the bay.
This is a fishing village. It takes a village we like to say these days in the US. Indeed.