Paradise at San Agustinillo

This is a picture of paradise. That's me standing on our breezy veranda, reading my Spanish grammar of course. Ange had waded out into the water to take the photo just to show how close we were to the thunderous sound of surf (not at that moment obviously). Our veranda catches the breeze being up a bit and so is cooler than most places here - it's VERY hot.



The trouble with extravagance and paradise is that you get used to it. It just raises the bar. You want to live like this for ever. We have moments, sitting on our veranda, sipping passable wine in the cool evening breeze, asking the question - could we afford to stay here for months?




We have amused ourselves sitting in the shade of palm leaf shelters, reading novels, doing crosswords and staring uselessly at our grammar cram cards, sipping corona or margaritas. Ange has done lots of body surfing, I bob in the surf. The water is the warmest outside a bath I have ever been in. We have also caught up on our blogs, emails etc because we have wifi in our room... How did we ever get it so good? Here is another picture of our room with me working.




Here are more photos of the room and the view from our balcony of the surf and the rocky outcrop between beaches. We are on the edge between two beaches opposite the rocks. The high tide makes them an island and then late in the afternoon you can walk out to them. Last night there was an huge tropical storm . We sat on our veranda watching a man sit in the pouring rain on top of the rocks. It has been so hot he was probably just enjoying the cool. Being the scientists we are we were a little worried about his capacity to be the most likely conductor if the lightening came too close.

Finally we watch the fishing boats come and go from our balcony. They often come in with big plastic tubs full of fish - tuna, sharks and lots more we can't identify. We eat fresh fish almost daily - in soup (a whole fish cut in half in a tomato broth) fried with garlic, or with spaghetti.

A couple of days ago we went out early in the morning with them. They wait between waves and then shoot straight out. Coming back it is reversed - they drive straight for the beach, up onto the sand and rollers logs.

Once out on the water, we went to see Roca Blanca - indeed a big white rock because so many birds roost there, then we went out further and saw lots of turtles on the surface of the water. They are mating at the moment and the male hooks on to the females back for 24 hours!! The poor females have their heads under the water a lot of the time but I was assured that they wouldn't drown. We also saw lots of dolphins playing in the waves.

Tonight we are going to see the turtles laying their eggs on the beach. It started last night and only goes on for two or three nights apparently. It is at a marine reserve about half an hours drive away.

Tomorrow we reluctantly move away from paradise. We go to another beach for a couple of days and then take a huge bus trip (12 hours) to San Cristabel higher in the central mountains and near jungle. After that it's across to the Caribbean coast. Excitement calls. It's not just extravagance to remember it is adventures too.