After seeing SV White Falcon (Veronica and Andre) off at the fuel docks downtown, some friends and I filled up the dinghy (RDS dos mas tres... or whatever Randy has named it) with fuel, beer, sodas, water, gatorade and some snacks to find fish and failing that, a beach. Even out in the big bay, Golfo Dulce, the sun was tough on us without even a whisper of breeze to cool us. My umbrella, which is a must have piece of equipment in this town, served well as a parasol. We trolled with my Ugly Stick and a huge lure along big bay up towards Abraham's estate, where we entered a smaller bay with two fishing lodges (also Abraham's). About two hours later we did not catch a thing "Ni un zapato" (not even a shoe!). We spotted a little beach which turned out to be gravel. It appeared that there were a few towels or clothes spread out on part of the beach. Several palms lined the shore and a few little streams offered nice landings. My skipper however chose to land in the middle of the beach and swamped the dinghy increasing its weight three-fold. We tugged and pushed and pulled trying to haul it up the beach and out of the beach break. Suddenly, as if out of no where, I smallish and slight man with no teeth, offered to help. The old guy was surprisingly strong for his size and the dinghy was safe from the breaking waves. We offered him a beer and he invited us to chat in the shade. His name is Miguel, and he lives alone in a one room hut with a corregated tin roof, a nice breeze surrounded by a colourful garden and then jungle. He uses the streams for drinking, bathing and laundry, which was what we saw drying on the beach. The only access is by water taxi since his outboard engine recently died. He loves his paradise and relishes the solitude which we sensed. So after he toured us through his property, showed us various plans included a giant if not monsterous bamboo thicket, we launched "RDS dos mas tres", tossed him another Imperial and left him in his little piece of heaven. Mentioning this encounter to Sr. Abraham, he said, "Oh, that's Miguel, my neighbour". I guess he would be a neighbour since he's the only human within 10 miles of Abraham.
And today I was almost frightened by the noise and duration of the "aguacero"; rain storm. I walked to the panaderia, well almost ran, as I was racing the storm. By the time I bought my french bread and some sort of empanada made with a light pastry, the onslaught had already begun. Winds clattering the corrugated roofs and bearing the undersides of the you teak tree leaves. The Ticans hide under bus shelters, overhangs, the gas station, trees and store entrances .... and they wait and wait.... and wait. I tried this tactic with no success the torrential rains kept pounding down. Eventually I found a little red taxi to take me and my french bread to Fishhook Marina. The floor in the back seat had about 3 inches of water. I guess he had some holes in the floorboards. It was 600 colones for a distance of about 2 blocks but it was worth it as the rain continued for another 45 minutes.
Everyone speculated that such an early downpour (1 pm) bode well for a nice afternoon and evening. There have been showers all day and in fact, it's almost downright chilly.
Annie just dropped by to borrow more videos, a common pass time during such bad weather which is why she comes to me to increase her selection.
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