Cold Beer, Hot Shower

Arrived in Bahia de Caraquez this morning with Elvis - the Rio Muchacho taxi driver - after 4 days at the farm. While we enjoyed most of the experience, the uncomfortable bed and the shower with little or no water - and definitely no hint of hot water despite the solar panels - were a bit of a challenge, probably even more than the lack of any alcohol.

I think we are probably past the back-packing stage and very glad that our 'suite ejecutivo' at La Piedra hotel on the Malecon at Bahia has AC, a good shower with lots of hot water and a big comfortable bed. The sea view and sound of the waves breaking on the rocks below is a bonus - we even got to see our first Pacific sunset this evening.

While we were at the farm, we managed a bit more bird watching and a variety of other activities - decided not to help with mucking out and feeding the pigs and poultry - we can do that at home and I am sure it is character-building for the young volunteers!.

While we didn't manage to identify all the birds we saw, we did see the Blue-Crowned Mot Mot which is the emblem of the farm.

In between meals and relaxing in the hammock on the deck of our cabin, we also tried our hand at some of the  local handicrafts - making rings and jewelry from Palm nuts and other materials, fishing for shrimp in the river - with limited results, making cheese and a yucca cake and roasting and grinding our own coffee beans. We then finished up with a rejuvenating face mask made from the local clay - which felt very refreshing when followed with an application of fresh Aloe Vera.

Rio Muchacho was a lovely place and we enjoyed most of the experience but...

Lunch today at D'Camaraon - on fresh local shrimp washed down with cold beer was the perfect way to wipe away the few discomforts of the last few days and an afternoon laying in the sun by the pool was just what we needed while we start to plan for the next stage of our trip.