We get up early again to take a breakfast at the hostel. Some fruit salad, bread and eggs with coco juice and coffee. Then we go out early to the travel agency to get our tickets for Isla de la Plata arranged. We wait a while at the agency, and then there are two Dutch girls doing the same tour, right before they leave back home again. I hadn’t spoken Dutch in ages, but I still know how to do it.
Finally the guide shows up and takes us to the beach from where the boats leave. We are the most unlucky group, because our boat leaves way late, later then the others’. Sarah gets a bit worked up over this, because we spend good money and want the full tour and not an hour less.
Then finally we are at sea. A boring ride of one and a half hour, with nothing to see but waves. We were hoping to see some whales as well, but nothing. At sea, with the island already in sight, we get a cupcake (reminding me of better ones I haven’t tasted for a long time) and a banana. And when we get to port, we wait ten minutes (for toilet visits etc.) and head out for one of the two routes around the island. We take the route with the best chances and we get to see all three kinds of boobies (not what you think, they are birds! Blue-footed, red-footed and masked boobies), paradise birds, frigate birds and some lizards. The only thing we missed were sea-lions - but it wasn’t sure whether they would be there at all - and waved albatrosses.
The island itself is a dry place, with trees that appear to be dead (but turn green as soon as it rains again) and all kinds of other plants, which the guide tells about as well. He shows us some medicinal plants, of which one smells a lot like eucalyptus, good for the cough, he says.
The walk around the island is a rough hike and takes about 2 and a half hour. When we get back to port, there awaits us some fruits and coca-cola, and later in the boat some bread with cheese. We sail a small bit along the coast to a place to go snorkelling. We immediately see some fish along the surface and take pictures from the boat. When we get to the water, however, we see nothing. Not even the little bastard jelly fish that are pricking us. We get out of the water, disappointed and laughed at by the crew. Though the latter I didn’t see myself, we should’ve pushed them in the water. See how they feel.
After another long way back with only waves, we see Anne-Silvie and Luc. Luc is red all over from the sun, so one of the guys from the hostel takes a leaf of Aloe Vera and gives it to him to smear it on his body. It is supposed to alleviate the pain a little and the moist and vitamins help the skin to recover. As I notice myself when I apply it to my neck (burnt again, because my hair is shorter, dôh) and inside of the knees. We freshen up a little, while the other guy staying at the hostel shows us his catch: a small tarantula. He caught it in the garden to make some pictures (and to scare the girls).
Then we all go, with the 2 guys of the hostel, to get a drink. We take juices and cocktails at a small hut at the beach. And when we get hungry again we go eat at a cheap place, where I only get some rice, lentils and salad, but what do you expect for only $2,-?
On the way back we buy some beers at the store and drink them at the swing in front of a fire near the hostel. A nice night to close off the long weekend.
When I SMS Mariela that I’d like to visit her hometown sometime (which is in the jungle), she texts me back, that the rules of the people there are so that they’d probably force me to marry her and since I don’t want that… Yes, that would indeed be too soon. Though as someone jokes: It would be a very special experience, a wedding in the jungle.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten