There were 12 boats here when we arrived, 2 more came that evening making a total of 15 in the relatively small harbor. We were surprised at the numbers here, but then again, there were 11 on the net with us . . . The kid boats were all here, except two still crossing and it was a warm welcome. We got anchored and settled in. While we were anchoring our new friend Harry, the single hander on the mono-hull who was near us much of the time and ran the net often came over in his dinghy to tell us about the harbor, what parts were sand/rock, good and not so good. It was nice. We settled in, tidied up a bit inside while Courage dove on the boat. He retrieved the fishing line from our rudder and cleaned the sides. We'd grown a fair amount of sea grass along the sides. If you wait for it to dry out and set up it's really hard to clean. It was naptime for the little guys, etc. The bigger guys went to shore for an hour or so to get some solid ground and play some energy off. There was a traditional dance and dinner the night of our arrival, so we drew straws to go. Cassidy babysat for us to go cave exploring the night before we left, so she earned a trip to dinner and show. Courage had been up all night watching out for a reef, so was tired and conceded to stay home; therefore I went.
The time was an hour and a half off of what we had on our clocks, so we went in at 5:00pm for the 6:30pm dinner on accident. Valiant came to drop us off and was so sad when we left; he came in with us for a walk before the dinner. We went up the main road for an excellent walk. I wonder what valiant's short-term memory is like, but he was soooo excited about EVERYTHING! He had a permanent grin, was soo wiggly, laughing, pointing, and yelling about everything that passed. He really liked anything that moved, people, animals, water, etc. People greeted us very friendly, "Bonjour", "Bonsoir" as we went. A lady gave Valiant an orange. He loved it. She offered us a couple, but we didn't take her things. It was a super pleasant walk to stretch our legs and see the town before dinner.
Dinner was interesting. There were probably 7 plastic tables lined up together in a horseshoe pattern with plates of food in the middle. There was fried chicken, shredded pulpo (? green papaya) with ginger sauce, fried breadfruit (like French fries), raw fish in lemon juice (ceviche in Spanish?), and boiled chicken chunks (with bones) and pulpo in coconut sauce. The drink was pitchers of bright pink something that tasted a lot like bubblegum. I was thirsty though. Then they started with some music, which they played by tapping on bamboo, guitars and bongo like drums. A kid, maybe 4 or 5 years old was drumming right in beat on the garbage can lid also. Then 7 women came out to dance. It was very nice. Similar to Hawaiian dancing it seemed to me with hip shaking and hand gestures. After some dances, they pulled the guys up there and had them do some dance moves, then the women up there to try them. They had us first doing the shake, then trying to make ground while shaking - left, right, front, back. Then came the roulette, where they lost most of us. This was a circular hip movement that was nearly impossible. The evening was fun. One of the cruisers is from Australia, but grew up in Paris. She translated many things for us making the cultural exchange easier.
What a beautiful welcome - - gorgeous landscape, pleasant locals, great families out cruising, some new friends and some old ones (that we've known for a month or so). Great to be at land, even better to be here!!
Shannon
No comments:
Post a Comment