Day 7: Sunday December 20th
6:30 am. and I am up. I step out of the door and there he is, one of the free ranging dogs…he looks at me and… he wags his tail, I guess he is not one of the crazy beach dogs (and later I learn he belongs to the neighbor) and I am happy to see a friendly wagging tail. I finally can pet a dog, I haven’t had a furry connection now for over 6 days and was on dog withdrawal, glad I got my fix; I hope he comes back tomorrow.
I am excited for the Seahawks game at 3:00 p.m. The routine has now settled in, early breakfast, some sunbathing and reading books, play time with Jose Mario and Marta’s kids in the pool, then lunch, followed by more sunbathing and deciding which afternoon cocktail to make – which btw. becomes a real activity…
Mike is antsy again and goes fishing with Douglas’s deck hand…this time he only lasts 2 hours on the rough sea in the rough panga and is looking forward to going fishing in Billy’s cushy boat tomorrow, this time to look for Rooster fish.
The Hawks game starts, Manuel has bought the NFL package for his beach house and all games get broadcasted but unfortunately the Seahawks game is one of the few not shown, thankfully though the “Red Zone” came through and we can watch the highlights and see that the Hawks beat the Browns 30 to 10. It’s time to grab a celebratory cocktail and to cool down in the pool.
The evening is concluded with Chicken Cacciatore and a couple games of Rummy.
Day 8: Monday December 21st
Mike is up early and exited to go fishing again with Billy (Manuel’s brother in law). I am getting up with Mike and enjoy a breakfast of homemade Pupusas which Billy had sent over for us to try. He also had sent over a note that his wife Irma will be holding a Piñata festival in the local community center on the Barra and that we should stop by and see the local kids and meet Irma. Around 11:00 am. Cara, Christy and I get on the ATV and make our way down the beach to the community center. Once we arrive we are greeted by Irma and at least 100-200 kids between the ages of 2 and 14. The kids are having a dance off (with a lot of twerking, much to Irma’s demise as well as mine, I mean really our (US) contribution to humanity is Miley Cyrus twerking?).
We met the “future (aspiring) major” and now leader of the Barra di Santiago organization – Juan and learn a ton about the Barra. There are 500 families who live on the Barra and they make up 3000 people, 1000 of them children. Some of these folks have never left the tiny Barra in their entire life and lots of them unfortunately have no jobs. This newly founded organization is teaching the parents and children life skills they will be able to leverage to generate income like drying the local fruits such as coconuts and mangos and selling those.
After the piñata party we cruise around in the little town of the Barra di Santiago and make our way back home on the ATV along the beach, looking forward to cooling down in the pool, it must be 100 degrees here today. By now we feel pretty safe on the Barra, riding with our ATV up and down the beach and through the little town and back alleys; there really is no crime and even the crazy dogs at the beach don’t seem so crazy anymore as long as you approach them slow on your ATV, all they really want is chase the ATV and not attack you. But of course you don’t know that the first day and hence Mike thought he was attacked when he drove down the beach. .
Mike is back from fishing with Billy but unfortunately today was not a lucky fishermen’s day. The sea was pretty rough which makes for very difficult fishing.
Dinner was Seafood pasta followed by a couple rounds of Gin Rummy.
……to be continued…….
A German in Seattle 