Today we are actually able to sleep in for a while - until 7:30 AM. For two reasons - the sun was blocked by the early morning fog and we had moved our watched ahead one hour. We pack up our stuff after lazing around in our tent for a while, then join a group of us that are going to have a pirogue ride on the river and see a fishing village and an old Portuguese colonial building.
We take a walk down to the river, where the seven of us pile into a pirogue, that has been made by carving it out of one big log. We are then poled up the river. It is quite relaxing and enjoyable to be seeing the river with out the noise of an engine. We first get a look at the mangrove, after which we cross the river and stop at a very small fishermen's village. They have all the traps laid out that they use to catch the fresh water prawns - they showed us a bunch that they had caught. They took us over to a small fetish house, where they have laid out they fetishes that they have acquired.
They then go get us a bunch of fresh coconuts, which they crack open for us so that we can enjoy the juice. After we have finished drinking the juice, they extract the flesh for us. We are always fascinated to watch them hack the coconuts open with their machetes - we always hope they will not cut off their hand at the same time.
From there, we went back down the river to the fishing village at the river mouth. We walked through the town to get to the old home - it was built in 1920, but it was not very well designed or laid out. But, still, strange to see put in this setting. A few people were living in some of the rooms, but generally not really being used.
We went back across the river, to get to the Grand Popo side. We walked back to the truck, very hungry and ready for brunch. We were not disappointed - banana and raisin pancakes, sausages, fried eggs and fried left over hodge-podge. Following lunch we needed to do some chores - namely laundry. One of the less pleasant tasks of traveling, but it needs to be done. Jacqui does a great job washing very dirty clothes in tough circumstances (you should see the water - rather mud - when we finish with it).
Lars focuses on hanging it up to dry. Camp sites like this are great for laundry - the sun and wind dries it very quickly. The rest of the afternoon is spent taking it easy and working on our journals/computer.
The cook group for the day cooks up a storm. I have quite a job working on the fire. The key problem is that the wood we are supplied with is green. So I use some of the very dry wood that we had left to get a fire going and then had to keep stocking green wood on the fire so that it could dry and then burn. The cook group first used the oven to bake two cakes - one banana loaf for tonight and a Christmas cake for, you guessed it, Christmas. We then took the oven off the fire, and used the grill to cook Thai red curry, one with beef and the other vegetable. We had it with steamed rice. For dessert, in addition to the banana loaf, we had chocolate drops. We were stuffed!!!
After our usual shower - we try to make it the last thing we do at night before going to bed - it is off to our tent for a great nights sleep.