Homeless by Choice: Kerstin and Sandra Day 4

Bat Cave

By nine we were ready for adventure, the tide peaked about half an hour before, "You want to go in a cave with a lot of bats." That brought excitement. Off to the end of the bay, I stopped by an Indians house and offered to hire him as a guide. The river is narrow and shallow, to take my boat I would need a man on the front with a paddle. Up the shallow mangrove river rising even as the tide fell, feeding from the cave. The girls learned to sharpen a machete, crack a coconut with a machete and drink the coconut water, then eat the meat. We encountered several red frogs and a three toed sloth and explored the cave.

Hospital Point

We swung by Clyde's I picked up my hat and we headed off to Hospital point for some snorkeling. The girls were quite impressed, taking pictures with an underwater camera and swimming in the clear blue water.

Bastimentos

Next stop, Bastimentos. We stopped at Roots, a restaurant and bar over the water. A Caribbeano walked over to the dock and talked with me. I understood none of his creole and he walked away in disgust. The girls and I walked into the restaurant and he sat at the table next to us and tried to interject himself into the conversation, but we ignored him. I'm sorry, speak English, speak Spanish, hell, speak German but Creole, this is most assuredly not worth the effort. We ordered three smoothies, all freshly blended from nothing but banana, mango and papaya, he asked me to buy him a beer.

We walked the length of town on the only pavement on the island a single sidewalk that bisects the town. One one side are the ocean front properties, houses, hostels and bars on the other houses a couple of chinos (grocery stores operated by the Chinese) and made our way down to "The Point" a "hotel" really two small dilapidated houses on the end lot with a dock over the water. We sat on the dock chatting with Kurt, an Australian and watched the waves crash. The girls went snorkeling. "They caught an eight foot bull shark this morning where you were snorkeling." The girls were having none of it. I nodded my head. We walked a couple of buildings down and they took a picture of the sharks head. They were pretty nonchalant about it.

A manta ray scooted out from under the dock, the girls shed their clothes and jumped in with their camera but failed to get a picture. Off to town for some provisions and I type this as they prepare dinner. "Jim, every day is better than the day before."