11.26.2007

isla de la piedra

as predicted, i ended up spending saturday night on the beach. i found a gazebo near a bit of a grass patch so i put my stuff down there, and walked across the street to see if i could find some cheap food. as i made my way back on the sidewalk, three young girls stopped in their tracks.

"OH!"
"Wow!!"
"Look at her hair!"

one of them ran up to me and started stroking my dreads, the two others grabbing my pigtails and putting them on their heads. one of them looks up at me with big brown eyes and asks if i`ll give her my hair.

"Well i can`t really just pull it off..."

"Oh please! just this fuschia one!"

i rummaged around for my scissors in my bag and cut it off, she held it up to the other girls.

"she gave me one! look at how pretty it is!"

the two others demanded they get one too. i figured it wouldn`t be fair, so i cut off a purple one and a pink one.

they ran off after their mothers, each proclaiming her dread was prettier than the other´s.

it was cute.

found my way back to my pack and tiago, and set up camp. about 15 minutes later `m pulled out of sleep by the sound of my alarm - tiago is barking. i wake up and see five policemen.

shit.

"uh, what the hell are you doing, girl?"

"um. sleeping?"

"where are you from?"

"france."

"why are you sleeping outside?"

"the only hotel i can afford won`t let me stay with my dog. i do have to sleep somewhere, don`t i?"

"i suppose. well. it´s ok for tonight. but find yourself a room tomorrow. it`s dangerous out here."

strangely enough everytime i opened my eyes i saw a cop standing nearby. cant see how dangerous that is, unless of course you consider my cops-stealing-my-monies-in-tijuana experience.

yesterday morning i was wandering off to the market to get a bite to eat (and a banana papaya milkshake, man i love those things) when a man painting a sign on a store stops me in the street.

"is that a chucho?"

"beg your pardon?"

"your dog. is he from mexico?"

"no."

"oh. he looks like a mexican chucho, where did you get him?"

"bolivia. he`s a callejero"

apparently this little thumb thing he has on his front paws is a sign of being a street dog, and a lot of mexican ones (chuchos) have them. i ended up talking with him, oscar is his name, and he asked where i was staying, i told him what had happened the night before.
he shook his head. "you should go to chabela`s on isla de la piedra. she won`t mind our dog, and if you have a tent i`m sure she won`t even make you pay 50 pesos."

well i have no tent but i have my trusty hammock.

i jumped on the lancha (boat) to isla de la piedra and started walking. turns out that chabela is actually isabelle, an artisan from montreal who specializes in making stuff out of coconuts, and she agreed to let me put up my hammock for 45 pesos a night, including use of shower, kitchen and bathroom.

and she lives right on the beach. it costs 15 pesos to go to and from the island, so basically it`s a 5$ a day deal. not so bad.

i went to hunt my first coconut by kicking the tree a couple times. i can`t climb a tree with no branches to save my life (something i need to learn, note to self) so it was pretty comical.

then someone tapped me on the shoulder. i turned around. in his left hand, a machete. in his right, a cocount.

he showed me how to open it to get the water out. i drank half of it, and gave the other half to tiago. then i hacked away at it to get the flesh out. once again. half for me, half for tiago.

it was delicious.


i met my upstairs neighbours, bud growers from grass valley. their kush knocked me out and sent me reeling back to my hammock, where the gegenas ("no see ems") ate me alive all night. apparently they also lay eggs under the skin, which uh, sucks cause i'm covered in bites.
must change hammock`s location from bamboo grove to somewhere far from annoying bugs. that, or buy a tiki torch.

but for that i must get to work, which is what i`m going to do! wish me luck.

4 commentaires:

Unknown a dit…

Coconut... I ate half of one once and was sort of high for hours, also sick. Tasty but hard on the body apparently :S I'm glad you're outta La Paz!

Oh and i can accept monies via paypal now, coriander at gmail.com

Anonyme a dit…

could she made 4 or 5 mm tunnels ???
why don tu ask?
i love u and miss u cherie

narfette a dit…

quizas! pero hay tanto coco de todos lado que voy a traer unos y intentar de hacer unas cositas con este material... si kieres te hare tus tunnels oue. GAH! pinche oue.

Anonyme a dit…

tunnels tunnels ooooooo

10 or 12 is the mm size :P