Thatchin’ and Patchin’

The road out front goes up a hill to the right that runs into a secluded beach at the far end of town. This morning for our dog walk, we decided to explore the area and see what’s over there. We crested a small rise and came to a fenced off property at the bottom that sits on its own private patch of beach. A cute caretakers shack with four curly haired guard dogs keeps potential looky loos from sneaking past the barbed wire fence.

From this point, the road turns to dirt and heads slightly inland through the jungle. We unleashed the hounds and let them run around sniffing new and exciting odors to their hearts content. A myriad of butterflies in various shades of brilliant colorings flitted about as we strolled the path that leads past a few gringo houses and back down to a secluded stretch of beautiful beach at the end of the road. 

The beach was maybe a quarter mile long with rocky outcroppings on either end. Crazy swirling shorebreak hammered the shore promising strong undertows and a sandy beating for any intrepid swimmers. The dogs cut loose, sprinting down the beach chasing the ghost crabs back into their holes. Koda came close to getting one that strayed too far out onto the wet sand but it made a quick sideways move and sped back to the safety of its lair. 

A serene location tucked away from the general busyness of the beaches in town. Another warm sunny day as we walked the mile back to the tower and settled in for a late breakfast. Around noon, Miguel showed up with Jose Luis, the palmero who is going to patch up our palapa. He pulled up in an old Toyota pickup loaded down with extra long palm fronds. He unloaded them down on the grass surrounded by all the Pequeno Paraiso busybodies asking them what they were up to.

We formed a chain with Miguel on the ground tying a rope to two fronds at a time. Jose Luis was on the landing between the 3rd and 4th floors hauling up the rope and I grabbed the palms from there and pulled them up the stairs onto the star deck above. In short order, we had them all staged on the deck, maybe 30 fronds in all.

Jose Luis climbed the ladder to the roof and I passed the palms up to him and he went to work from there. Each frond gets pulled in two down the center rob and then put in place to create overlapping layers to keep out the sun and the rain. We left him to it and went inside. Cali, being the delicate flower that she is, got all shivery and frightened by the banging and walking on the roof. Poor dog will have a heart attack one of these days. Jose Luis’ wife relaxed in the hammock while he did his thing.

He finished up late in the day running out of material. Tomorrow, Jose Luis will go trim some palms for another customer, then bring more fronds to do a slight return back towards the back of the house creating a peak at the top that flows water off both ways. He’s also promised to bring us some coconuts. 

We rode our bikes into town looking for the wood fired pizza joint on the asphalt street. We either missed it or it wasn’t open. We had noticed that the small taco joint on the cobbled side street had closed off the road and hung rows of banners overhead. We decided to give them a try and pedaled over and parked the push bikes at the curb.

It turned out to be a fund raising event for the elementary school adjacent to the town square. They were gathering funds to build a structure for the play area that would shield the kids from the sun and the rain. Having just completed a structure to shield ourselves from the sun and rain, we felt it fitting to help bring the same comfort to the students.

It was a buffet of unreal home cooked taco fillings: carnitas, machaca, adobada, pollo, chicharones and more. The whole ambiance was totally upbeat and all of the locals were stoked and going around making sure everyone was well taken care of. A gentleman named Chema sat with us for a while and explained what was going on and brought us horchata and jamaica drinks.

We ate our fill and added in a small additional donation before thanking our hosts and riding the Duosports over to the ice cream shops. There was a spooky looking green liquid swirling around the feet of the plastic chairs that line the street. We got a couple of scoops of ice cream and sat along the road side watching the townsfolk pass by.

PJ went into the small store on the corner and picked up a few items for the house and we rode back to our estate to watch a bit of CNN and unwind from our busy day.