For the first time in our lives, the Gentleman Friend and I masqueraded as genuine property buyers. It felt like the sort of things adults do. Neither of us have ever owned a house or employed servants or navigated difficult inlaws, we don’t have children, neither of us have ever owned a car, and we […]
Attacked by a caterpillar
I was attacked by a caterpillar today. The Gentleman Friend was attacked before me, and more badly. We were supposed to meet on Playa Negra and to stroll up north towards the houses and scope out the area. I waited for about 15 minutes, watching some boys play football in the wet sand where the […]
Perfect day
A perfect weekend day today, quite delightful. We left earlier in the morning than usual, since it is Saturday and market day, and as usual kept an eye out for the sloth that lives in a cluster of trees halfway between our shack and the main road. The GF spotted it at once, it was […]
Changes
A message was received today, and it looks like the Gentleman Friend’s childhood home may be sold. It is sad for him, as it is not only the place he grew up, it’s in fact the literal place where he was born, in the smaller room on the first floor. It is a lovely house, […]
Juice king
This afternoon my class was earlier than usual, at 1230, so we walked into town for an early lunch/ late breakfast, only to be stymied as all the places we wanted to eat at did not open till later, earliest around noon and the Caribbean speed of service made it unlikely I would be able […]
The mouse that roared
I work with many mice that roar. There is a particular type of person, loud and fighty and very macho (regardless of gender) and with intense favourites and hatreds, who seem to be particularly common in this line of work. I’m quite good at handling them usually, and most of them really like and even, […]
Poke in the eye
Today I had my first ever surfing lesson. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was not entirely successful. I was actually reasonably good at getting to my feet and staying balanced; the difficulty was paddling out to catch the waves. This was extremely tiring and my sore arm soon objected so I took a break […]
Unforced error
I went for my first class yesterday. I have to admit, I have my doubts about it. It is run by an American woman who is fluent in Spanish, but her style of teaching is very much of a unversity class, heavily dependent upon grammar terms and memorising conditions when one form is used or […]
To the sea
Early in the morning a van collected us and took us off to Puero Viejo, where we’ll be for the next month. The journey was long but fine enough. I listened to three podcasts on Hinduism: one on kingship in low-Himalayan kingdoms during the colonial era, one on small religious sites in Mumbai, and one […]
On horseback
It was cold and wet and rainy this morning, enough that we nearly turned tail. Instead we gingerly mounted our horses and set off. I hadn’t been on a horse since I was about 13 and that time I fell off. Before that, I rode a few times aged around 9 and fell off. I […]