Back to La Chunga - With 3 buddy boats this time

October 19

We had a full day journey from La Palma back to La Chunga.  We have 3 boats following us. We left with a strong current going out of the river and were doing 8-10 knots.  After getting out to the ocean, we set the anchor to wait for the incoming tide.  It became very hot while we waited so we jumped in for a swim.  All the kids went too.  We had a pretty strong current, so we'd jump in off the bow and catch a rope off the back swim step.  Even Vitality was doing it in her life jacket.  She was catching the rope and pulling in nicely!  The tide was steadily increasing the current and by the end of the swim I was only able to break even with the front of the boat, not able to swim ahead at all.

It was a good refresh, and then we were off for quite a journey.  We planned to follow our prior track coming in and were going to be in great shape.  First we came across a fishing net.  We sent the dinghy ahead to depth sound with the boat hook and set a new track.  As we found our way around the first one, we headed back to the channel to continue on.  Shortly thereafter, we came across another fishing net right on our starboard side.  We turned, warned the other boats, and set the dinghy off again.  We made it almost to the black flag indicating its end, but were coming on a sandbar and had to turn around.  So we headed to find the other end of the net.  It turned in toward shore and we followed it getting more and more shallow.  We draw 4 feet; some of the other boats draw 2 meters (closer to 7 feet).  The depths were nearing 8-10 feet.  We proceeded slowly with the dinghy with Loyal and Cassidy in front.  Turns out the net was tied to a panga (fishing boat).  We all rounded the panga with a very close distance since we were steadily losing depth as we went.  I got a video as the boats behind us were all rounding this little panga.  Must have made them wonder just a little why we all came so close.  They obviously don't draw what we do.  They wave you around the nets if they see you, but there's not always enough water where they suggest.  We could finally make our way to the mouth of the river over the final mud flats.  Once in the river it's plenty deep.  We have our prior course over the mud flats and one set by Eyoni (another boat we met in Panama City), but obviously the nets prohibited using them.  Many other boats like having a prior course and go almost exactly off of them.  We now have a crazy course that someone can follow weaving and bobbing through all the fishing gear out there.

Once we all anchored off the dock to the village we got some nice rain and collected about 15 gallons of fresh clean stuff (the kids played in our prior fresh water collection).  A panga passed shortly after our arrival and some people were waving as they went.  Shortly after, 3 village kids arrived at the dock.  Courage picked them up and the kids went up to play on the trampolines.  
Not so long after that, the Peace Corp volunteer and 3 of his friends came out and we picked them up.  They hadn't eaten, so we made a little dinner and chatted.  It was nice.  They found Grandmother's iPad.  It was taken by an early teen who paddled out on a dug out and took it when no one was here.  We speculate whether he came out to steal or it was opportunistic, but think he came during the dance display when no one was here.  We are happy to have it back and glad they took it seriously and found it.  Feeling bad for the kid, but they will probably never do that again.  The Peace Corp guy used it as an example, telling them it will end their tourism immediately if word gets out that you cannot trust the community and things will be stolen.  The other boat that was here was missing their Internet stick.  We heard it showed up also, but they weren't sure where it was last time we were here.  Hopefully we can pick that up also.  I don't think theft is a big issue, but appears to be something they need to address.  They don't have electricity for the most part, the iPad was dead, no computers, so an Internet stick is useless.  Seems a bit odd, but Cassidy was showing off her iPad quite a bit to the kids and they were impressed.  She never lets go of it, so is unlikely to lose it!!

They plan to put on a nice welcome back for us tomorrow morning and thank us for bringing friends/tourists to their village so asked that we all come in together rather than stagger in.  In the afternoon we asked if we could have the "full show" that they do for their cruise ships (24 passengers).  They teach about dances, jagwa (painting/tattoos), canista (basket weaving), tagwa (carving of palm nuts), etc.  While I think that we experienced most of it, it'll be a great summary and I'm sure we'll learn more.

The concrete for the basketball court had not arrived on schedule when we were here last.  Well, it finally arrived.  It is staged along the path to the village and everyone helps carry it as they can.  They have another push tomorrow morning also to get the concrete to a better storage area in the village.  They may do the pour on Monday.  If we are here, maybe we can help them??  Maybe we'd hinder them, you never know!  See how it all works out.

We may take Charles, the Peace Corp guy here, with us when we leave.  He needs to get to Panama City to visit his brother who's coming.  He can go by hiking, bus, etc. or by boat via the Perlas Islands.  We shall see how schedules mesh, but it could be a fun journey across.

Definitely back in mosquito territory.  Netting is up, but still killed about 5 mosquitoes on the boat.  I made a new net for Integrity's bed today since he lost his last one, so the kids all have netting over their beds as well as the netting over the doors and windows.  They are double protected and doing well.  Our bed isn't as easy to net over, so we are just hoping for the best and planning on a few bites.  Valiant is also getting some molars and not enjoying that process so much, but we had a cold watermelon today, which he loved!

Off to bed before another fun day tomorrow.

Shannon

Up a River without much water - Up Rio Sabana

Made it up another river, not as much water in this one!!!  Met up with 3 other boats and we all came up to check out another traditional village.  There are 7 indigenous tribes.  We were at an Embera village, La Chunga, (you can YouTube dances, etc.) and now are at a Wounaan village.  This is less rustic - power lines, streetlights, streets, garbage on the ground, cell phones, etc.  Again, they were nice people with rugged housing, traditional dress, but not as natural and authentic.
  
The Wounaan and Embera villages are parallel communities in housing, clothing, etc.  The difference is in language and their dance style.  Some anthropologists put them together due to their similarities.  We noticed that their baskets and plates were more geometric shapes rather than nature.  The Embera village has birds, flowers, turtles, butterflies, leaves, etc. as their subject matter.

Four of us went in for a traditional dinner, said it was great, rice and chicken.  I stayed on the boat with the kids.  In the meanwhile the other 3 boats had issues dragging their anchors and were getting low on water so went down the river past us.  We are almost at low tide and almost out of water under our rudders.  Hoping for swing tide soon.

We are thinking of leaving with the tides tomorrow afternoon and taking the other boats to La Chunga to visit.  That river is easier to settle in and the village is more native.  I was thinking of asking if we could buy the materials for a plate/basket and they could show us how to weave one.  It may be too complicated for us.  If we could get started, maybe we could finish it on the boat?  Innocence gave the girls shells as a gift last time we were there; I was thinking we should collect more.  Not so many seashells where they are and they seem to really like natural objects.

Cassidy had a big following of kids.  They loved the iPod.  She showed them pictures of themselves on it.  As we passed the school the kids were yelling out the window "Cass-i-dy” (sort of a chant, funny and cute).  Got a great video of her entertaining the kids on the boat with her iPod hooked up to the TV looking at distorted pictures of themselves and laughing.

Stopped at a small town called La Palma today and got a few food supplies.  Tried to resupply our popcorn, but no luck.  Only had microwave popcorn or animal feed dried corn.  Guess we have to wait for Panama City for that.  They have free Internet throughout La Palma, but by the time we re-anchored closer to town this morning and walked through town it was time to ride the tide up the river.  Tried to post a single picture to Facebook from our last week with no avail.  Made a 15 minute video and shared it with our buddy boats with a little cultural introduction and navigating the river knowledge for them with our night in La Palma. -- Unable to share that at this time also.  I narrowed down our 1300 pictures to the top 167 in a folder to upload.  Hard to cut it less, but maybe if you weren't there they may begin to look redundant.  Overall they were really a great people and we had a great visit.  I know Loyal gave you some details and soon I hope to write a blog with events and impressions.

Good night.  Will buzz La Palma tomorrow if we go to the other river.  Need to go out to sea, then across a mud flat to get back up.  If so, will try again to load some pictures.

Shannon

Up the Crooked River - Rio Sambu

We had a very interesting day up the river.  There is an Embera tribe up here, one of the 7 indigenous tribes here in Panama.  We walked through their village yesterday, got to go up into the chief's house, bought a couple of hand woven baskets, then walked back to our boat along a very long board walk over a swamp.  About 30 people from the village came out to visit the boat.  We served chips and salsa and lemonade, not such a big hit. We took them back at lunch/nap time and Courage and Loyal revisited the village.  They got a different tour and saw where they grow their bananas, papayas, and oranges.  Then they returned with another 30 (some repeats) from the village.  We served popcorn and water and they seemed to love it!!

Their houses are made of wood plank floors, raised up one story off the ground, thatch roofs, many don't have any walls, some do.  They worried about the kids; our kids would walk to the end of the floor and look over the edge.  It is a full story fall from there (5-7 feet).  They don't have beds; they just sleep on the floor.  The kitchen has pots/pans, but the stove is a 5x5 square of sand on the floor where they can make a fire to cook.  They were pounding the husks off the rice with a gavel type tool, and then had it lying out on mats to dry.  There is a long trail to the village, which is very well maintained grass with trees along each side.  There were banana plantations along the side of the trail and I did see an orange tree in town.  Chickens are running around and they are on the river to catch fish.  I didn't see any food in the houses, so not sure where they keep it or how that works.  Maybe the chief's house is a daytime only house and not set up for full living??  I really don't know.

There are mosquitoes and chiggers here.  We keep our netting on our door and windows and seem to be doing well so far.  Today we are going to the last house in the settlement for some traditional foods.  Tomorrow I think Courage and I will go to a long hike to a great overlook over the river, valleys and village. 

From what we hear, we will likely have many people out to the boat again today also.  Made some banana bread last night to bring with us as a gift for the people that host us.  Looking forward to another interesting day.  Of course getting some interesting pictures that we hope to post in the near future.

Shannon

Seca Islands - Second group in Panama

From the Parida Islands, we headed out to the Seca Islands.   On Isla Cavada we had a large anchorage, which was very calm.  One other boat was there, but they left the next day.  The snorkeling was beautiful; the water was so clear and shallow throughout the entire bay!  







Courage found a lure while snorkeling.  We were trolling with it from our dinghy and caught a Garr fish.  We now call it a 'Teggy fish', after Integrity.  We played with it for a little bit, and then let it go.  We got all of the children doing some swimming/snorkeling.  It was so great here.

       Then while I was making dinner, I was throwing some peels overboard and saw a bright green lizard in our orange kayak.  How did that happen?  We were anchored quite a ways out.  Turns out he swam.  Vitality scared him a little bit and he swam off, but stayed close to the boat.  We tried to throw him a rope so he could come up, but he didn’t take it.  Eventually he headed to shore.  Cassidy took the kayak out after him and caught him with the net.  We kept him in a box and gave him scraps for the night since he was likely cold, then next morning we took him to shore and released him (after photos, him getting away, kids catching him again, more photos, then we let him go).  .  .  . It was a fun experience, impressive swimming.

      As we were returning to the boat in our kayak from a snorkel, I looked up and saw a breaching whale.  We piled into the dinghy and were off!!  We saw another breach or two; it was amazing!  Then the finale!!  We were maybe 100 feet from them when the baby breached, then the momma did a full body breach!!!  Right in front of us!  We were closer than we had planned on being, but WOW, what an amazing sight!  So great, and we had all the kids with us.  Unfortunately my water camera had a 'chip read error'.  Classic!!  So it’s etched in our minds forever, but no footage.

          Next day we went out to see nearby whales and there was a large pod.  They were trying to get out of this bay, which was surrounded by reefs and islands.  They did a circle around us; we just drifted with our motor off.  They swam directly in front of our bow, and then one or two surfaced.  No breaching, but it was a great view.  This we got on video, but it’s on Courage’s video camera and my program can watch it, but not incorporate it into a movie collection for me.  Oh technology and compatibility.

           The island also had a fun beach, which was a peninsula.  At high tide it was just water across, but at low tide we could land on a kayak and walk across to a nice beach on the other side of the island with rocks to climb, huge tide pools, a bright green bay and a large rock wall that was weeping water.  The guys had a great time pretending that it was a shower and playing in the water.   We climbed the rocks, explored the tide pools and had our snack here before the tide was coming in and we had to go or we couldn’t get out without swimming.

          We checked out another island that had no name on charts or maps.  There were a couple of fishing boats that came by to anchor for the day and rest, and then they probably go fishing during the night.  We did some nice swimming here; there was a rocky outcropping with some coral and tons of colorful fish!  We brought the paddleboard out and the entire family went snorkeling.  Courage found an octopus that some of us could see.  Everyone had a nice time.  The kids could come and go from the board at their will and rest whenever they wanted to.  On a nice swim back to the boat from snorkeling there was a large fishing net underwater.  There were buoys hanging up a rope so it looked like a very strange kelp growth or something.

Parida Islands - first group in Panama

Gamez Island, Parida Archipelago, Panama

We left Golfito, Costa Rica at the end of July.  I had very little time to prepare once Courage decided that we should leave that evening for Panama.  We thought we’d be out for maybe 2 weeks before getting back to mainland and another store.  We ran to the local fruit and vegetable stand (pretty nice large store, but only fruit and vegetables).  We bought $106 of food.  I went by a

Panaderia (bakery) on my way walking back to the boat, so bought some bread, rolls, and cookies as a bonus, and we were off.  No cans, boxes, or other supplements.  Fortunately we did have a reserve on the boat.

We left during a thunderstorm in the evening.  Beautiful evening, but couldn’t see a thing!  By morning we arrived at a gorgeous set of islands, the Parida Islands.  We were aiming for a little harbor that looked very protected, but as we rounded the corner and saw the little fishing village on a dark sand short beach and also saw the most gorgeous large white sandy beach lined with palm trees and green waters.  We aimed right on Gamez Island and didn’t regret it.

  

We were anchored so close that the kids could swim to the beach. The water was so clear, we had fresh coconuts, and we could walk across the island to the other side.  Cassidy kayaked around the island in about an hour.  

We bought some lobsters from a local guy that came by on his kayak; not so much that we wanted lobsters, but thought we’d support his efforts.  









During a couple of days, we had tourist boats coming by for a few hours each day.  It was fun to meet the people.  One group was studying tourism.  They loved watching the kids swim since some of them couldn’t swim even as adults.  We made a campfire and shared marshmallows with them to roast and brought our paddleboard out for them to try.   They were trying to take a picture with Vitality (it seems that everyone in Central America likes pictures with the blond kids), but she was too shy and scared, so we traded out Innocence who loves the attention.  It seems they just wanted a blond kid.  We spent a few days at this island, ideal pictures and a wonderful time!!

We headed out to a nearby island, Bolaros, which was also quite nice.  Courage found a large bamboo pole and was able to shake and twist free a fresh coconut from out of the tree.   We sat under the shade of our umbrella and I took some ideal pictures again.  

The kids had gathered 4 beautiful crabs with purple pinchers, orange legs and black bodies.  A tourist group came through.  One guy was from Santa Barbara and studied crabs, so showed us how to tell if they are male or female based on their abdomens.

In the afternoon we went for a cool-off swim.  I don’t know if I can explain this, but we had a good laugh at my expense.  We were body surfing waves and I jumped forward as the wave was breaking behind me in order to catch it with some momentum.  There was a large undertow and the wave basically stopped in its tracks as it approached me.  I on the other hand got the momentum I was looking for and plunged forward doing an immediate belly flop right onto the sand.  I was laughing so hard I couldn’t get up before the next wave broke over me.  Cassidy had a good view as my witness.

Shannon
 

About Kids Play

I love watching the kids play on the beaches.  They are so smart and creative in their play.  We never seem to bring out water/sand toys to the shore, there's no need.  Unfortunately there's tons of washed up plastic bottles, shoes, toys, Styrofoam, etc. for them to play with.

The other day the boys were playing rolling wheels down the beach and chasing them into the surf rescuing them while the girls had found a large Styrofoam block and made a table.  They found a bowl that they were filling with a mud cake with a ball on top as a whipped cream topping.  They had found 2 spoons to eat with, as well as a thermos and cups for drinks.  They had an actual tea party going on.  It was fun to watch.

Later that same Styrofoam table came out into the surf as a raft for them to climb on, flip over, and float on.  They found a second floating Styrofoam piece, so could do it two at a time.

Then they found 3 figurines, a small plastic pig, cow, and dog.  They made Styrofoam rafts for them and launched them across a lake.  They have used shells as shovels, sticks as pens for all kinds of beach art and tic-tac-toe, coconuts as rafts, etc.  When we have fires, they light up the ends and use the charcoal to write on rocks or other things.  I can't even tell you how many wheels and balls we've come across.  We have 3 new balls onboard this week alone I think; a soccer ball that floated into the bay 2 days ago, a basketball that we found on the beach a week ago, and a beach ball that we found yesterday.  There have been other ones that weren't as nice, didn't hold air, and were too small or too hard, that we didn't keep.  These are the good ones.  Most evenings we end up on the trampolines after dinner tossing balls back and forth and around, so it's nice to double our ball population.  So far, we've rescued all of the overboard balls, but now we've got spares.

The other day I made a treasure hunt for Cassidy for her birthday.  I put a clue on a coconut, made a necklace of shells, coral, bones, small buoys and a plastic key we've found.  One was in a plastic bottle tied to a rock and thrown underwater (which sadly broke free and washed up on the beach by the time she'd arrived, so she didn't have to dive for it.)  As I placed one clue I slipped on the rocks and bloodied by elbow.  Next beach, just before I jumped out of the dinghy to drop off the clue on shore, Courage says "shark!!"  You could make out the shadow of a shark swimming just by the shore in front of us.  I told him I thought he was kidding when he said it because the last thing I wanted to do was jump into the water with blood and a shark.  He pointed out that it was probably not the last thing I wanted to do since I was going to do it anyway.  The shark was only 3-4 feet long and looked like a reef-shark, which would be harmless.

 

Cassidy had 10 clues and 3 pieces of map spread out along a 2-mile stretch of coast that she kayaked along to find a buried treasure birthday present.  I wrote "happy birthday" on the shore with sticks and shells.  It was fun, both a physical and mental challenge for her (and me).  These are the things you'll remember.

So much for all the recycling, upcycling, repurposing, etc.  Call it what you will, you can be creative and have as much fun and family bonding time without being a consumer.  You don't need to spend lots of money to impress people, or have all the matching tablecloths, napkins, plates and cups to have a great birthday party.  You don't need tons of toys; you can play with what you have around you.  You don't need tons of teaching materials, you can learn from the world around you.  You can make letters on the sand, you can count hermit crabs, you can sort them by the shape or color of their shells to learn patterns, you can sink/float all kinds of things, you can build dams and learn about water flow as well as strength of sand vs. rocks as building materials, etc. We have brought onboard new shoes (not matching), balls, shells, a carved wood turtle and a couple of other things from shore.  I also have a reed of bamboo that I hope to use to make sides to my new shelves since it's not too pretty, I'm out of wood, and I don't want things to fall off the sides.  It's in the cockpit, maybe my next project to get done . . .

There is so much that you can do with the things around you to have fun.   I love watching the kids, much to learn from them in that respect.  They destroy things quickly, but they can also make anything fun and interesting and fit into their dialogues and spend hours and hours contentedly creating, exploring, and learning about the world around you!

Shannon

Exploring El Salvador

Exploring El Salvador

The first day Courage, Loyal and their mother headed out to a store about 100 meters away to see what they had.  They just got to the store when a truck came driving along the main road sounding their loud speaker.  They had the bed of the truck full of fruits and vegetables.  The guys told them they wanted some, but asked if they could bring it closer tod  the hotel/marina.  They loaded the guys onto the truck’s tailgate and drove the back tmo the hotel.  Then they bought $27 worth of fruits and veggies that filled our cockpit table.  These appeared to be home garden quality, worms and everything, but they were great.  I washed them all in some bleach water and some worms came out.  We mostly store them in the cockpit to try to keep from having too many guests onboard.  That was one of our easiest provisioning missions ever!

Kids watching fishermen on dock.

Fisherman's paddle and hollowed out log canoe.

Fisherman's hollow log canoe.

    

The dock here is questionable, but the people are so friendly that it makes up for anything lacking.  You join “the cruiser’s club” for $2./day/boat for use of the hotel which has 2 pools, showers, internet, 30% off restaurant, and fresh water usage.  The dock is $.60/day and we tied up the first night since we had not yet done our customs and immigration and since they were so generous to help guide us through the sandbar waves.  

The fishermen shared their bait fish with Integrity.

We spent much of our time in the pool for the next day or two and everyone’s heat rashes faded.  Sooooo refreshing to cool off in a pool!!!!!  The mosquitos weren’t nearly as many as in Chiapas either and we finalized our mosquito netting enclosure (other than some sewing of the Velcro to the screen which will be ongoing for another week or so).  We really haven’t sustained any bites here either, but we’ve seen a few outside of our netting.  Overall, it seems we are doing better with both mosquitos and heat. 

View from our restaurant.

We have had some great squalls and are improving on our preparations.  Our cockpit tarp has to be dropped due to high winds that come in front of the lightening storms, the laundry has to come in from the lifelines, the hatches have to be closed, the fruits/veggies should come in, etc.  There was more to do the first night, by the second night we had more preparations done.

The problem with the second night is that the 4 adults were at a restaurant on shore when we began to feel the pre-emptive winds.  So were all of the members of Grace, a boat we met in the marina.  Unfortunately they had left their hatches open and walked to dinner, so were quite a distance from home.  We rushed to get and pay our bill, took one of them with us, then scrambled through the ever-increasing winds and waves back to our boats.  We got dropped off and started our run to bring everything in and close the hatches.  Courage took Grace’s owner to his boat.  He just got it closed up when it began to rain.  We, on the other hand, had more work to do and didn’t quite get sealed up in time.  We got things indoors, but not all the hatches were closed and sealed.  

The rain starts strong and can drench you in a matter of minutes.  We got some water on our bed that night, but overall, it worked out pretty well.  Fun to watch the lightening and thunder passing by.  Interesting to see it on the radar.  Great to get a chance to help someone else out too.  Courage brought him back to the restaurant to join his family for dinner.  He was soaked when he got back to the boat!! 

We are enjoying the resort immensely, swimming much of every day and Innocence is officially a swimmer without her lifejacket!!  Not only that, she can dive down to get things from the bottom, etc.  She’s become a very competent swimmer.

There are 2 parrots which live in a 55 gallon drum mounted in a mango tree.  We try to feed them, but they bite.  Always fun to interact with.  

There are also some indigenous deer, they have a male and female as well as a one month old baby.  We gather up fallen leaves and feed the deer pretty much daily.  

                     I don’t know how they’d survive without us feeding them ;) 

Valiant has also been working hard while on land.  He’s been taking his first steps.  He can stand with ease and is now linking some steps together.  He loves his pool time and thinks it’s great to throw things in and watch the other kids dive for it. 

We took the whole family on a day trip to explore the local area.  We left our resort area and went to a nearby town, Heradura.  This required us to catch a bus to get out of our peninsula, then transfer to another bus that goes toward the town.  We could also take a 4 km dinghy ride up the mangrove estuary, but that doesn’t give us nearly the local experience.  The first bus was $0.50 each, the second $0.25.  They filled up pretty quickly to standing room only.  

The people were so generous to give up seats for parents with children.  Valiant made many friends and was passed up and down onto different people’s laps.

Cows in the road.

There was nothing marked at the intersection where we transferred busses.  There was a triangle of greenery with chickens, cows and dogs wandering.  Fortunately Loyal and Grandmother had been there the day before and let us know when to get off.    The transfer plan was to get on any bus pointing east toward the town.  We really didn’t know the routes or markings on them.  It worked. 

We got off at the beginning of town.  It was a Saturday so they had a flea market set up along the road.

Vitality at her candy concession stand.

Vitality immediately found a table just her height with bags of candies on it.  It was hard to keep her moving with all these options.  

We bought some bananas for a snack, then turned in to the regular indoor flea market style market.  This market was more focused on food.  It was great and the people loved seeing the blonde kids come through.  The floors were uneven, minimal lighting, flies everywhere, but everything you would be looking for was there.  Seems like a very happy, close group of people in there working together to make a living.  

The flea market.

Fish for sale.

The fish were laid out whole on the counter, some filleted in half and sun dried, with flies just walking all over them.  I suppose if you’re going to cook them, it’s OK, but you’d have to sell and eat that stuff in a day or else you’d get maggots it seems to me.  Not sure what their turnover is, but unless it’s pretty fresh, it’s going to be a problem.  Didn’t look that appealing to me, but it works. 

The kids looking out the door at the ice cream parlor.

Then we came out the other side of this market and walked a bit to an ice cream shop.  That was nice!  We got some cones ($0.90) and bars of ice cream ($0.40) and had a refreshing snack.  Then we walked to a bakery, got some cookies, then continued to the edge of town which was on the estuary.  

Restaurant on the mangrove estuary.

There was a cul-de-sac of restaurants and we stopped for lunch.  Really nice view, open walls on all sides and estuary on 3 sides.  We ordered one of each type of meat – fish, beef, shrimp, and gallino? (chicken-like, some sort of fowl, but not chicken).  

The two boys played with some local boys in the estuary waters “fishing” while we waited.  We went and watched them cook our meals, which was impressive to say the least.  

Cooking our meal over fire.

They had 2 BBQ type pits that they would put wood in, then cooked everything, the rice, the meat, on these fires.  They also hand washed all of the dishes also.  Makes you appreciate stoves and dishwashers!!    

Cassidy's fish bites back!!

They had refrigerators for the drinks and ice chests for the meat.  They even went down the street and came back with a flat screen TV for the couple at the table next to us, transforming the restaurant into a sports bar.  I’m not sure what exactly occurred, did they borrow it or buy it as a new addition, but they turned on a soccer game.  After cooking our meals, the ladies came out of the kitchen (there weren’t many guests here), and took Valiant for a tour of the restaurant.  They really seem to like holding blond babies.  The food was good, the atmosphere impressive, the staff attentive!

Bag-o-bags-o water.

We were thirsty on our walk back and stopped at the same bakery for some water.      They sell you a big bag full (maybe 20?) of 500ml bags of water for $1.  I’ve seen people drinking stuff from bags, I guess the packaging is much cheaper this way.   So we ripped off the corners and all had a bag of water.  We had what we needed and it was heavy to carry, so we gave a bunch to some construction workers along the way and some ladies selling fried bananas on the side of the road. 

Innocence drinking her bag-o-water with a straw.

Sugar cane going to market.

On the bus rides home, again it was full and again people went out of their way to make a seat for parents with kids.  Somehow on the transfer bus Loyal and the baby got on through the back door and I got on through the front door.  Not ideal!!  Baby was crying and the walkway was full.  

Local housing, note volcano in background.

Loyal began handing the baby up and he got passed up to me.  He laid down and I was hoping to stand with him and rock him, but multiple people insisted that I take their seat and they didn’t seem to be happy until I did.  Innocence ended up on a local grandmother’s lap, the grandmother seemed pretty pleased to have her as a lap child.  Innocence promptly fell asleep after our long day.  On departure, Uncle Loyal had to pick her up from the lady’s lap and carry her out. 

Worn out boys on bus.

This was such a great and fun way to meet the people, see the customs and local atmosphere!!!  I loved it.  We wore the kids out completely, but I think it was great for everyone involved.

We are soaking up the pool all day today and preparing for a likely departure through the surf tomorrow.  We are going to load up on water (not sure how, the dock water is more than questionable with sediment and taste of salt, etc.), fruits, veggies, bread, etc. 

We will head to a Nicaraguan island if all goes well where you can anchor at the base of a volcano!  Loving it here and looking forward to the next adventure!!  Win-win!!

 

Loving every day!