lunes, marzo 27
We phoned my brother Bob at home in Canada bright and early. We wanted to let him know we had changed hotels, and that everything was great! Coming down sight unseen, had been a little un-nerving for us all. We didn't quite know what to expect of our hotel, and because the 5 of us had come down a week early, it was our job to get settled, scout it all out, and have plans in place for when my brother and his family, and my husband all arrive next week.
We had a quick bite to eat
(Huevos Rancheros!) and hopped the bus to Barra de Navidad. The bus itself
was quite an experience! A rotted out styrofoam chunk on a piece of plywood
for a back seat. Christy thought this one fat guy was going to go right
through the floor, it was so thin in one spot. And the streets we zig-
zagged through were a culture shock to my kids. Poverty-stricken, dusty,
"hurtin" in Jeff's words. Lots of the yards had old rusted out vehicles in
front, there were no windows in the buildings, and many yards were filled
with chickens and pigs and goats. As there was no asphalt or cobblestone,
the back streets were just dirt and dust.
As the days wore on, we became more and more used to these sights and often
found ourselves walking these streets looking for good bargains on fruit and
other items.
As we walked along we approached the lagoon. And then we met Luis! He reeled us in and gave us the 100 peso harbour tour, complete with Spanish lessons. Luis was great! He spoke very little English, and we spoke very little Spanish, but we really enjoyed his tour. One of the things we want to do when everybody gets here is to go snorkeling to Tenacatita. So, with our broken Spanish and lots of hand signals we booked him for our snorkel tour and jungle cruise to Tenacatita next Monday. We will travel up the coast (or is it down the coast) in his panga. He will take us through the mangroves, and then on to the snorkelling beach. There are restaurants there for lunch as well. We can hardly wait!
We had a great lunch at Seamasters and then it was time to go. Grandpa hopped on (literally - it had already started to leave) the bus, and the kids and I decided to walk back along the beach. What a wonderful thing to do.
The waves were smashing against the steep beach and we were
running and screaming wildly, just loving "getting rocked". (We had seen
one lady literally get dumped right upside down earlier in Barra - that was
pretty funny. I'm the Mom, I'm not supposed to laugh, but it was hilarious
to see).
There was not another soul on the beach for as far as you could see in either direction. We played with a coconut we found on the beach, and just generally goofed about. It took us almost an hour to walk back, and by the time we arrived I, for one, was mighty hot and tired. "Could it be any more perfect? I asked Jeff. "Only if you'd carry my sandals!" he grinned back.
Back to Cesar y Charleys for quesadillas and margaritas. Jeff ordered dos club sandwiches.