Life is BETTER at the beach

Marino: This is the worse mosquito bite I got. My eye got swollen after it happened. I could not see very well. The mosquito bites and no-see-ums are not as bad.

I like fishing in the morning. I almost caught 1 fish today. I am fishing with string tied to a bottle with a weight and a hook on it.  I also use a lure. For bait I use crab and fish. I get it from a man called Marcell. He is an older man from Honduras. He is a fisherman. I bring him a mango everyday in return for the bait.   

Kim: After looking at all the available places to live (in our price range and region), we have decided to stay in the same area we started in, but have moved to a different cabana. Lucia calls it our cabin. So we still have the beach and snorkeling and a pool, but are farther from the school than we had wanted. We do have 2 bedrooms and a loft area – very simple but so much nicer and more spacious than most of the locals live. It feels like Gilligan’s Island to me – with the different personalities represented, although we also have a rotation of tourists coming and going.

We have all calmed down a bit with more space and a nicer, cleaner place. The bugs are still biting, but our reactions are not as big (emotional and physical!). We are trying all available resources to repel the bugs (since many of you have asked!): B vitamins, garlic, sprays (homemade and otherwise), long clothes, fans, nets, and oil. Who knows what combination is working!

Today off our dock, we saw giant sea turtles feeding on the turtle grass and swimming. They are massive creatures that are so graceful and fast in the water. The boys like to scare them (ie try to swim to them) and I prefer to observe. We also saw a very large Moray Eel under a coral head trying to catch a fish. The sea life is amazing and I hope we continue to swim everyday. Marino and I swam with a school of about 200 blue fish for about 15 minutes last week which was magical.

The locals are friendly, the food plentiful but other than the fruit a bit dull, and the scenery and ocean incredible. We will adjust. Another family we met at Sundancer planned on coming for a month and then moving here, but they told us they were leaving early. Marino said “They would have gotten used to it if they had just stayed longer, like us!” From the mouth of babes. Breathe in, breathe out.