Playa El Tunco still

Today was the day we were going to move on, but a couple of days ago we convinced ourselves that we didn´t need to go anywhere. The Tortuga Surf Lodge is very small, only five rooms, but what a great group of people we´ve been hanging out with. Two of them turned out to be people we met at La Casa del Mundo on Lake Atitlan, and another two were a couple from Denmark. The last group is two guys from the US who are great to hang out with too.

It was nice to have the Danish couple, they turned out to be doctors which was great when I came down with a bad case of turista which had me hugging a toilet bowl at 2 am on our second day there. They were able to provide some good replacement drinks so I spent the next day drinking two liters of water mixed with the rehydration salts and feeling much better. I have no idea what caused the malady - the day it happened I´d had only breakfast, then a fresh coconut and for dinner only two ravioli, although by that time I was already feeling ill.

No matter, I´m great now. The reason for the odd meal that day was that Dean, one of the Americans invited us to join him on a tour of the area with a local guy who was his surf instructor. We went down to a couple of beach areas and then he asked if we wanted to go to a National Park nearby, which we agreed to. It turned out to be a hiking park, so with a guide leading us we were taken on a two kilometer tour, which went first to a natural cave with resident bats, then up a hill to a lovely viewpoint then down into a river basin and back to the start. The walk led through two totally different environments. On the first half, on the east side of the hill the trees were leafless and spare, very dry. These trees leave their leaves in the "summer" which is now in El Salvador. The other side of the hill is bright with lots of green vegetation and huge trees, which keep their leaves all year round. Very unique landscapes.

Last night we had a great meal at our place. Marko, the guy from Holland whom we´d met before, made a great barbecue with help from Dean. I got to fold the large foil dishes to roast the vegetables. We had local sausages and some deep dark tuna which Marco had bought in the market that day - two huge fish for five dollars each plus a dollar for cleaning them. Quite the deal. He made the barbecue sauce for the fish with lots of garlic, ginger, soy and olive oil and a lashing or two of Marie Sharpe´s BEWARE hot sauce which contains a warning not to use it to play tricks on the weak or elderly. Delicioso.

So we have decided to hang on here for a few more days. There´s no rush. Marco and Anna, Dean and Gordon leave on Sunday and Monday, the Danes left this morning, so we will have to expect new guests to arrive to entertain us. So far we are the only non surfers around. This is a great surfing beach and there are lots of young guys and women with incredibly toned and tanned bodies hanging out waiting for the next great wave, so we expect to see the three couples replaced very quickly. Let´s hope they are as much fun to hang out with.

As you can see there´s not much to write about. We are still lazing around the pool, eating fish, sleeping, reading - what else do we need?