Breakfast at the Cabina
Homemade breakfast with bacon and lush fruits, washed down by 1820 java. To paint a picture: There are bananas hanging right outside our door, ready for consumption at any given moment. Sweet like candy, devourable bananas, far tastier than any banana I’ve ever, and I do mean ever, eaten. Wandering the grounds we find avacados, starfruit and grapefruits growing wildly all around our cabina. Fan palms, spray palms, tropical flowers of purple, white, hot pink and coral. Trees are alives and branches chattering with resident geckos, inside and out. They click for you when you can’t see them. Geck-Geck-Geck. So lucky we are. We got cruiser bikes and set out in the drizzle to see where our quiet road leads. The potholed-filled, puddled trek winds along Playa Negra where there is not much more than isolated heaves of tropical green, only a few cabinas spurratically placed and deep off the gravel road. I feel as tho we’ve meshed with our travel karma and I am overcome to be situated in this secluded sanctuary for a week.
Cruisin' in Cahuita
After the groceries are got, we fix fresh pico de gallo and guacamole with tostaditos, plus tequila starfruit cocktails. We just our rusty cruisers into town and catch the nightly movie at this Italian joint, taking a front row seat with our pinas. A jaunty ride back in the dark, and pulling the mosquito mesh net around our bed, the oh-so-dark wood of the cabina covers us in sleep. The darkest, and the quietest, it’s been for a long time.
Hammock ponderings
When the sun hits the Caribe waters, you see crazy cross sections of sallow aqua waters. Beaches are more rugged here, harsher waves crash, strong rips. More intimidating and wilder than the Pacific side. Colder too, at least now while we’re just coming off the low season. In full swing in the high season, this will look much different. A portion of the afternoon was spent swaying in the hammock out front of our cabina, revelling in the soundscape. I wanted 22 to take a recording that we could loop and repeat and play all night long because it was far better than any store bought naturalist sound CD I’ve heard. The sound of frogs was all over the distance. You couldn’t see them but boy could you hear them. At least 6-10 different birds talking. Squirrels gossiping, monkeys howling, geckos clicking. I don’t know if there would be a way to wholly identify everything. Looking at the dangling bunch of bananas twirling before me, I wondered just when our illusive monkey came by. Like clockwork, every morning there were 3 freshly eaten banana peels left on our cabinas doorstep. That little thief!