Celestino Ceviche

Finally, a morning where the wind was blowing lightly. The small waves were rolling in with fairly glassy seas. The sky was gray but I didn’t want to wait for the sun and have the wind come up. I paddled out and started the day with a tour up the coast. It was easy going on the calm waters and I went past the entrance to town where I came upon a major feeding frenzy just ahead of me. Some big fish tearing into a bunch of bait fish that were roiling up the surface. I turned around and headed back. The oyster fishermen were just kicking their way out when I came up even with Villa Celeste. I caught several fun little waves. It was much easier today with the smoother conditions.

I made some oatmeal and got in some reading sitting out under the awning. Since I’m right on the sidewalk heading down to the beach, I get into a lot of conversations with people passing by. It’s a good thing since I’m semi-reclusive, it helps me to be more social. Around midday, I took my bike and made a run into town. My first stop was the two tiny grocery outlets in Celestino. They are both the old school everything is behind the counter and you have to ask for it style, no browsing the aisles here. The folks in the first store were kind of surly. They didn’t have any dog food so I picked up crackers and sodas then went to other store where they had some of the wet food in envelopes. I picked some of those up and a few other food items.

From there it was over to a mariscos place to score a liter of shrimp ceviche. I sat and talked to a couple of beer guzzling cowboys while they were making it. One had spent quite a bit of time in the states and was eager to bend my ear. The other vaquero didn’t utter a single word the entire time. Soon my carton of ceviche was ready and I kicked up some dust pedaling for home. Luciano and Betsy were sitting outside the kitchen hut about to have lunch so I brought my ceviche over and shared it with them. They had some sierra ceviche from La Cruz so we had a variety and sat on the steps filling up on seafood.

It was definitely time for a nap and some lounging. I was just about to doze off after doing some crytoquote puzzles when I hear my name being called from outside. It was Wendy and Kevin with one of those collapsible wagons filled with dogs and musical instruments. I tried to beg off and go sleep but I was lazy shamed so I rallied and we played a set of songs using some online play along ukulele sites. Kevin has a keyboard, Wendy played her ukulele and I did the background with guitar before switching to ukulele to try and learn to play that instrument as well. The three generation family that has been staying the past week was returning from the beach and saw what we were up and started singing along following the website. It was like karaoke day at Villa Celeste.

At sundown I gave fishing another attempt with no luck this time. The sky was overcast and the day had turned cold. I put in about forty minutes until I was too chilly then it was time to feed the dog then finish off the ceviche while watching a couple episodes of Seinfeld.