This morning we slept in, all the way to 730! Our hotel is nice but the curtains aren’t so good at blocking light. But hey, that’s two hours later than the last few days. After a nice breakfast we wandered into town to add more data to the phone plan. We are using a mix of the celullar phone plan data and wifi to update this blog and generally communicate to the outside world. It’s not expensive but it’s not cheap either. 400mb for $6 and we’ll use 12 of those increments on top of the hotel wifi. Last year in Italy we used 56GB for ~100 Euro. Some places are cheap and fast, others (like Ecuador) not so much.
Anyway after adding data we did grab a taxi and went back up to El Trapiche coffee plantation. It was well worth returning. I now have 4 pounds to enjoy when we get home 😀 The proprietor kind of recognized us from our previous visit. Because we bought a bunch of coffee, he threw in a pack of house-made cane sugar. Yum.
While we were at the pier we happened to wander over to one edge where some fishermen were. Apparently the sea lions know they keep the heads of the tuna for bait or something. And when the fisherman are chatting on the pier, they can sneak in and grab some. This guy had no problem whatsoever pulling himself out of the water and onto the boat. He was quite graceful about it, actually.
He then flopped back in the water and proceeded to shake the head to loosen the last of the flesh. This of course attracts birds and fish to snag some scraps. We counted 7 different species. Sea lions, pelicans, frigate birds, herons, blue footed boobies, fish, and two eagle rays all participated in the feeding frenzy!
Mayhem
This trip we have made time to do nothing, allowing us to have a relaxing swim in the pool. A nice way to slow down the busy vacation we’ve had so far. Later we wandered over the The Rock for lunch as they have a good menu, good coffee and more lemonade. There is a fish market near there that has some resident sea lions.
But since it’s mid day nothing was going on. So they nap in between meals. They snore too. We could have walked up and patted him, but the rules of the island state we must give him his space. So tempting though.
We headed back to the hotel for a rest and another swim. Nice relaxing afternoon all around. Dinner was back on Binford Street where the street food is. We at at KF Williams this time, although they are all basically the same menu. Shrimp, red snapper, and lobster in coconut sauce. Or for me, rice with beef or chicken. Cheap eats and a fun atmosphere. Lemonade was tasty as usual.
And since it is Saturday as well as Mother’s Day tomorrow there was a festival of sorts at the plaza by the wharf. We headed over to check it out. Lots of locals and families which is good to see. Good to see the community is well connected and having fun.
We wandered out onto the main pier and were rewarded with more sea lion sightings and this time, over 50 small black tip sharks circling in the light from the wharf. Just little guys, maybe 2-3 feet, but so cool to see them.
So much wildlife so close all the time. This place is amazing. Tomorrow is another quiet day and our 23rd anniversary. Tradition has come to be that we celebrate near or on water. This year is no different!
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