May 31st

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We got to sleep in until later this morning, but the HOWLER MONKEYS right outside the house woke up many of us. We left the house at 7:30 in order to get the kids to their surfing lesson, but then we couldn’t find the location, and the company did not answer their mobile, so we just spent the morning enjoying the beach in the national park called “Parque nacionale Bellena” – the whales tail. One of the photos will show you the whales tail from our house before it is visible at low tide. Then the center and the tail show up. The center is completely fine brown sand, and the tail flukes are rocks.

David and Jean brought their goggles and snorkels (no fins) and tried to snorkel, which was supposed to be on the left side, near the rocks, but the fine sand filled the sea and we saw nothing. Interestingly, the sand where the surf was rolling went out “forever,” without a shelf. Matt was rolled and lost his hat, then David was rolled and lost his prescription snorkeling mask, but 2-3 minutes later Daniel found them when they rubbed against his leg. Phew!!!

Jean chatted with a very interesting retired man from Dallas who fell in love with the area and moved here about 7 years ago. He was collecting seeds to make crafts, and coconuts, which he cuts in half and uses as little planters.

Some of us got a bit singed before having lunch (within a walk): rice and beans and plantains for some, lovely strawberry salad for Jean.

We were then desperate for showers and some went into the lovely pool before coming in and doing some indoor activities, including the many hours it takes to identify all these new-for-us birds, laundry, and games. We expect to pass our 500 lifers any minute now.

We heard a whole bunch of very noisy howler monkeys again – they were working their way up from below us to above us. You could see them swinging in the trees just off the road.

And around 5:30 it started raining – a heavy downpour. In fact, we’ve had amazing weather considering the forecast is rain everyday. So now it’s time to break out the games like pass the pig, and hope that it ends so we can go to dinner. We’ve been working hard and get hungry! Although this house has a very well stocked with appliances kitchen, it’s just not worth buying oil, S&P, etc. We just manage breakfast here. And lots of snacks.

Never mind, we’re just going to snack tonight for dinner. We just had a wild and crazy 15 minutes trying to smack all the insects that just snuck in through the poor seals in the windows. Flying termites? We have seen some enormous termite mounds. Perhaps the hard rains brought them out.

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