Ojo Revisited

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Today we split up, Benjamin and I back to Ojo de Agua on rented bikes, Andrea and Melody hanging another day around the ol' hospedaje.

The bicycle trip ... nothin' to it. We arrived on this Sunday morning to find the pool largely drained and the floor being swept by two men and a small boy. I was informed that after this operation the pool would refill fairly quickly. We investigated and found that the water is held in by five or six board stacked to make a simple (and leaky) dam. When they were done cleaning I put some of the boards back on myself to hurry things along. Soon enough we could use the rope swing again.

The boy took turns jumping off the swing with Benjamin. He knew not a word of English, and Benjamin little Spanish, but they got on just fine. His name was Gabriel, age 9. He had a deformed hand, with an extra thumb. He must've had a family member employed nearby someplace, but all day we never ascertained who that might be.

The two of them, and sometimes the three of us, swam, played catch with the ball I had brought, and jumped off the rope. I had lunch then snuck in an after-lunch nap in a hammock while Benjamin ate his lunch. Benjamin bought some lava carvings of animals from the sculptor himself. I bought a 200,000 Cordoba bank note from the bad old days of the 1980s hyperinflation -- for $3.

Mid-afternoon we said adios to Gabriel and headed back toward El Encanto on our bikes. We stopped off in the town of Santo Domingo and checked out the nicest hotel. It's pretty fancy, for Ometepe I mean. This town is big enough not to have quotes around it. I bought Benjamin an banana shake and myself a coffee. (I'm not getting my daily quota of coffee on this trip.)

When we got back, Melody and Andrea professed to have enjoyed their downtime at El Encanto.

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