yesterday morning i woke up early and headed up to the indigenous market. its so amazing to watch i wish that i were invisible and that my eyes were cameras. it is mostly women there. women and girls selling chiles, papayas, intricately embroidered fabric, cabbage, star fruit, avocados, braisseres! and then the shoppers also dressed in full traditional garb with babies slung around their backs and aprons full of what they are purchasing, haggling with merchants, laughing and competing for the best prices. ahh the fruits and veggies are so good here too, probably because of the nutritious volcanic soil!
i buy oats, pineapple, and bananas for a sum price of less than 1.50 u.s. and headed home to make it at our guesthouse´s community kitchen. red and i eat and then head for san pedros yummiest coffee-internet place. ahh being in coffee country is amazing in the mornings and the mochas and hot chocolates are made from local mayan made deliciously real chocolate too.
when we come back to our room we get a minute to chat in broken spanish to our landlady´s 14 yr old daughter, donna. i get roped into helping her with english homework which is actually pretty fun.
for lunch we buy fresh baked carrot cake and donuts from the mayan lady who walks and sells it, carrying the basket on her head. we wrap it up and head to the dock to rent a kayak for $1 an hour.
the guy there assures us that there will be no wind on our trip and that we can get to the volcanic black sand beach in 35 minutes. he is wrong about both! its so windy that it takes us quite a bit longer and we also get dumped from the waves, but man was that secluded little beach ever pretty. i have only seen black sand like that in hawaii.
we are pretty chilly when we get back and are complaining about the lack of hot showers in central america when i remembered the solar hot tubs! a local guy has a solar water heater and has made several little cement tubs in his bamboo garden that he fills in with water so hot you cant even get in at first. and then for $3 a person you can stay for a couple hours or until its cool.
so we meet up with a new friend for some delish phad thai and regain our warmth and soak our kayaking muscles under the full moon glow for the rest of the evening.
this place is great!
