Advertisement
Thursday June 30 – I slept pretty well last night aside from the thick duvet. We are in a very hot place and yes there is A/C but not enough to compensate for such a large comforter. Dang man. Woke up at 7:30 worried that I would be the last to breakfast (7-9am). Nope, I was the second and no one was there but me. Perfect. I had my pick of the buffet while the chef made me an omelet. The only choices were onion, tomato, and chili. I convinced him to add cheese and never did he make a better omelet. Remember how there is no pork? Instead, there were chicken sausages and beef bacon. There were several other choices like baked beans (for the Brits), French Toast (which was labeled French Tose – at least it was not French toes), waffles, etc. I finished up as families started coming in. Score.
After breakfast I went for a walk, this time to the northern part of the island. It’s where I arrived by ferry and where the locals actually live. There are about 500 people on the island and no houses south of the hotels, from what I could
see. I’ve also not seen women working anywhere, only men. I did see women sweeping up in front of their houses or on motorbikes. And in Male for sure they were on their way to work, but I think it’s far more traditional here. It’s especially weird, but not uncommon in Muslim countries, that as a foreign woman everyone I interact with is a man. They must think it’s very weird too, that I come on my own as a woman, but they are very kind and polite and we kind of pretend that it’s not weird. It probably also helps that I look like their grandma now.
On the walk I spotted the homes in the very small village, the one ATM on the island (which may or may not have cash at any one time), the place where they store trash, etc. All the less sexy parts of the island. Sad to say, you do see trash wash up on the beach all around. My main request to everyone – please stop buying water in bottles when you can avoid it. And likely everyone reading this falls into that category. They don’t decompose, few are actually recycled,
and most plastics are becoming microplastics over time which get into our food and water. It is estimated that each of us eat a credit card’s worth of plastic every week. Small choices help. On this island, I have seen so many water bottles wash up. And sandals. And toiletries. And fishing gear. The list goes on. Due to a lack of fresh water, the water from the tap and shower here is at least somewhat salty. The hotel provides glass bottles of drinking water that I think they desalinate themselves, but I’m not sure. (Sorry, was I teaching just now? It can be hard to stop).
After the walk I put on my suit and went to the bikini beach with a book. I first was lying on my towel in the sand but then spotted a beach lounger near a couple not too far away. It was broken and only stayed in the lying flat position, but the guy helped me carry it over to my spot and I was quite happy to have it. I spent the rest of the day there, had a granola bar for lunch, swam a few times, napped, read, pet a
kitten who stayed with me a while, and watched the sunset (also unimpressive) before dinner. Same routine as last night but this time I was there first and ordered the nasi goreng. It was good and extremely filling.
Oh, also I fell in love with crabs again, as I do every time I come to the beach. Sidetrack – why are there no crabs on the beach in Florida when they’re everywhere else in the world? Anyway, as I was saying, crabs are just the best. I love the way they move sideways so gracefully (aside from the equally adorable forward motion hermit crabs clunking along) and so swiftly when needed. I love the way they would rather run into an oncoming wave and hunker down than come anywhere me as I walk by. I love watching them dig their little crab caves in the sand. Absolute hands-down best. Maybe because they’re usually the only ones I have to talk to on these trips? ? I’ve actually always hated that my astrological sign is Cancer – I mean, what? – but the symbol is a crab. I GET IT NOW. I don’t believe in it, but I get it.
After dinner I talked to my mom and Jeroen and started working on the blog – first time in (Covid) years. I also checked to see if there were any excursions on for tomorrow, but no, no one else had signed up. Didn’t go to sleep until midnight and had a little trouble sleeping. I guess now I have jetlag rather than just overtired. But it’s only a three-hour difference so it shouldn’t be that bad.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.064s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0376s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Welcome back after covid!!!
I'm loving your Maldives trip and look forward to you walking some of the Camino de Satiago which I did in 2016.