Saturday, September 25, 2010

Small Cabina, Large Ocean

This is the best angle I can give to get a good idea of the layout of our cabina. Toilet, short wall, bed. That's pretty much it, the picture does not really leave anything to the imagination, what you're seeing is it.







Not to complain, the cabina may have been super small, but we also had vast beaches and a pretty big ocean to spend our time on and in.



Jungle Kitchen

Our kitchen consisted of three parts: a little alcove with a gas grill, a little room with utensils and a fridge, and a separate area with a fire-pit and sink. We generally didn't miss a meal, as we were on vacation, so at least two to three meals per day, and we ate out only about six times the whole month. That's a lot of cooking and dishes to do in a jungle kitchen with only one burner (the gas grill didn't really work but we used the side burner everyday) and limited soap and sponges. But we ate like royalty--well, kings and queens who like rice and beans--and the shared chores were more romantic than tedious.



The Most Expensive Air Conditioning


Some people call this an ATM; we call it an air conditioner. The little enclosed area outside of the bank where they kept this ATM was the coolest most airconditioned place in town.

El Frito Lay-o


Of course American cheesy tortilla chips are popular south of the border. But way too expensive for anyone to buy, so I think they sit on the shelves for years.

Wanna Buy Some Wetlands?


I'm assuming this land is cheap. There was tons of it and it was all covered with two feet of swampy rainwater. But then again, after a really good rain down there everything was covered by two feet of rainwater.

Miss Sky, Kiss the Sky

We could wright a blog--or a book--on the insanity and fun we experienced doing the zipline canopy tour, but we'll post a few pics here instead.


















Fun fact: As with every zipline ever built, this one was the longest one in the world when it was built.




















Coolest part: At one point we were looking down at a hawk that was flying high above the jungle canopy. Mountain to mountain we soar!!!


Picklebird






High, hello

Hey, Look at Me




Scary sweet

More Sky Kissing





Awesome

Crab the Door

The crabs could walk on walls and ceilings, so you would think after three and half weeks living with the little f@#kers we wouldn't get startled at the site of them. But you just can't be prepared to turn to open the door and see a big, bright orange and purple crab at eye level ten inches from your face. Cute but startling.





Let's Be Friends

These are our new friends Annalisa and Jasmine. They were staying at the Casa del Gato del Mar along with Annalisa's mother, Pia, Jasmine's new fiance, Mark (he proposed during their stay) and Mark's daughter, Tasha. We helped them cook a big celebratory dinner. And by help, I mean that we drank beer and watched them kill lobsters and burn rice. It was a wicked fun night; we'll see you in New York, Annalisa.


The Dishes are Done, Dude!

Pickle's turn at the sink.

Due to wild life like ants, crabs, lizards, monkeys, and racoons...yes jungle racoons, we had to keep the kitchen very clean and crumb-free at all times. Funny how tedious little chores like doing the dishes can become theraputic. I guess everything feels a little theraputic in the jungle.




P

Sitting Log





This was our sitting log. It washed in with the tide one day and every high tide for a week it would wash further and further up the shore until finally it was perfectly nestled at the edge of the beach shrubbery. Our little ocean sunset grandstand.

Perro Peligro
















The funny thing about these signs, at least once a week a different person wearing flip-flops and dreadlocks would walk right past them and through the jungle path up to our cabina and ask if we had any rooms for rent. Bad! Bad perro peligro!



Bamboozled



The idea was to take a picture of this baby bamboo tree everyday to record its growth, as bamboo grows so fast we thought it would be a pretty nifty project. However, because we were so busy everyday doing nothing, we kept forgetting to shoot the photos and what we ended up with was more like a before and after shot of about two weeks growth.

Ooh, That's a Hairy Jungle

We pinched pennies everywhere we could. For example, this was the first haircut I had gotten in 6 months and the cheapest haircut I had recieved since mom cut it back on Weston Heights.



Let's Have a Tweet




This baby deserves a full front page spread in every news periodical across the globe. The best of the best in frozen treats, misspelled and pronounced phonetically in its own language, and deliciously delectable in every language known to pie crust icecream lovers everywhere.

Monkey Barrel

Our little cabina was called the "Monkey Hut" due to the fact that it had monkeys painted all over the front. However, I would like each of you to notice the size of the structure behind me (it's about half as deep as it is wide) and how conveniently it would house a barrel of monkeys--no more, no less, just a barrel.


Beware of Crabs

Midnight bath anyone? The crazy part about the latenight soaks was that the little neon crabs that seemed to be everywhere, would love to go swimming in the pool at night too. And there was no lighting in or around the pool, so it was bring a flashlight or just chance it.