Hi ... it´s been a nice chilled couple of days here on the island.
I seem to be attracting animals ofdifferent varieties ....I´m sitting here in Altagracia in the lobby of another hostel and a chicken has just walked in off the street .....ok then.
Yesterday I took the bus over to the other side of the island, the volcano Maderas side to a place called Balgue. There is, I´ve been told a nice coffee plantation (Finca Magdalena) there with great views etc. The bus ride over there was interesting, there are no roads over there, just a sort of mud track going through forest - imagine seeing a bright yellow school bus bouncing along a track in a forest .... I find I´m surprised at nothing these days ! Got to Balgue and started the hike upto the Finca, about 2k uphill, mud track and of course it starts raining - hard ! By the time I got up to the finca there was no way I could look round or anything so I hung around, had a coke, watched the rain and headed back down to Balgue to get the bus back. Whilst waiting for the bus a pig, yes a pig, wandered past me without a care in the world. On this island you are more likely to see a pig wandering the streets than a dog.
Then last night I was sitting in the hotel lobby and a bloody gecko-gecho-gecco (??? spelling???) landed on my thigh !! I would love to report that I brushed it off without further ado but I have to admit a very girlie shreek came out of my mouth, purely from surprise though ! They are everywhere here and quite cute - honest !
I read Ian´s comment about my sixpack (bloody hell Ian that was ages ago), I´m afraid to report it´s not so impressive, I think it was more just my ribs actually and the food here is too good !
Hired a Kayak today and took it out from Charco Verde, it was lovely, the lake was so calm (a lot different to the Irish Sea, Sam and Em !) and the views are just breathtaking. I´ve seen loadsof different birds aswell, not knowing anything about birds I couldn´t tell you what they are but there´s one that is everywhere which is like a long tailed magpie, a saw a vulture I´m sure the other day and then today I think I saw loads of Quetzals - sort of big eagle ish type ....
Spoke to a guy today who had ridden his BMW all the way from Alaska and is heading down to Argentina, god that killed me. I´d love nothing more than when I get down to South America - convince BMW to give me a bike plus a man who can fix it when it goes wrong and I´ll head all the way back up again ! I try not to think about my bike but every now again I meet someone like that ... grrrr ! Hey, never say never eh ?
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