Friday 26 February 2016

Nearly done


Despite the doom & gloom weather forecast of heavy showers (how strange for a UK weather app to focus on the negative!) the sky remained blue, the sun shone, the humidity rose and we sweated like pigs even on a nice flat road and a tailwind to help us along.

We stopped off along the way to admire the Caribbean Sea and do a bit of impromptu mid ride yoga. 

There's kate busting her moves. She also tried busting that coconut on the ground near her in an attempt to get the fresh water out of it. She got the water.  It wasn't fresh. Oh well, back to the downward dog.....

By lunch time we were in the little town of Cahuita. We stopped off for more tuna & tomato wraps before hitting town and doing the rather tiresome accommodation hunt routine.

The town is a pretty low key place that seems to exist solely on tourism. It's chilled out, with a few restaurants to choose from and a national park next door. We'll probably hang here for a few days. We've been on the go for 9 days, moving from place to place. That probably doesn't sound too bad to some but I can assure you it gets tiring.

We'll be home in less than 2 weeks. Well, I say home but we haven't actually got one to go to as its rented out. That was all part of our plan so that's ok. When I say plan that may lead you to think we've got a plan. We haven't.  We have a back up plan. Can you have a back up plan when you haven't actually got a plan, doesn't it get upgraded to 'the plan'?

It rained the next morning, those miserable negative forecasters got it right for a change. We were planning (more planning, we're supposed to be relaxing...) to go for a walk in the national park but what with the drizzle, Facebook appealed more.

We saw a gap in the weather so headed out

We saw a few monkeys (zoom in for an in flight experience)

Some very shy blue crabs (not available for photos) and a spider

And a squirrel, don't forget the squirrel.....

Then, all natured out, we got all arty

Then (how much more of this action can you take?) there were some shrieks in the distance. An elderly American lady shouted that she'd spotted a rare and Lesser Spotted White Arse, well 2 actually and I'd say they were quite spotted what with all the sweaty time they'd spent on a saddle over the last few weeks. Yes, overcome with the romance & adventure of our Indiana Jonesesque morning we'd decided to go for a quick skinny dip in the warm and welcoming waters of the Caribbean Sea. Very nice it was too. It was only afterwards that we saw some dirty urchin hiding in the bushes watching us....

Sorry but it's afternoon now and it's raining again. Nowt else to do but one finger typing....

We're quite looking forward to coming home. I'm actually a bit excited. It's not that this lark isn't fun but we've had enough of it for now. In many ways I'd like to continue the odyssey but it's the reality of it that drags. The shitty beds, groggy bathrooms, uncomfy chairs, limiting menus, sticky tablecloths....  The place we're staying at now has a kitchen, great we can cook some nice dinners. Zoom into the photo

Look at the grime everywhere (this is quite a nice one, we chose this place cos the kitchen was good). The cooker only has one burner, the other one has rusted away and fallen out. The cups and plates are all chipped. I was trying to cut up an onion and couldn't work out which way up the 'sharp' knife should be, it was so blunt and the handle has long gone...
Some people will call me a whinger, some will think I'm one but not say it, others will say it just to wind me up regardless of whether they think I am but that's mostly an annoying bloke thing to do but that's another story..

It's weird, at home I'd never 'allow myself' to just sit about typing b@llocks, all afternoon. I'd always have to be doing something productive. On trips like this there's freedom and time a plenty to just sit about and that's great. What is rare on a trip like this (for me anyway) is for something or somewhere to 'hit the spot' and be exactly how I like it. Something or someone always seems to take the edge off it. Someone smoking, shit loud music, arse busting chairs, dirt, biting insects.... Oh blimey, I'm doing it again!

You see, I'm excited about coming home because of all the fun things to do there. I'm removed from the reality of doing them and only seeing the good bits. A weekend away camping in the Lake District sounds great. I can imagine gorgeous spring weather, a welcoming English pub, history and a sense of belonging there (no, not in the pub!). I'm glossing over the reality of the experience as a whole and only seeing the 'brochure bits'. The traffic jams on the M1, lunch at the motorway services, the not so gorgeous spring weather.... But for now, until good old England breaks me again, sending me running (or pedalling) for some far flung land, I'm revved up and ready to give it a go (well, except for the motorway services that don't have an M&S that is....)

2 comments:

  1. Its cold here, spring has not sprung yet. Stay where you are! You are sounding like a grumpy old man before you are old. On the plus side Kate is looking great and nicely tanned. Lucky things. No job to come back too? You can come up here and prune plum trees in the freezing cold and possible rain.

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    1. Not grumpy just saying how we BOTH feel at the mo. Need a break from it, that's all. Pruning trees in the rain, now that's something to main about! X

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