Seaside Sweetness

So, as most of you are aware, Sunday was my 24th birthday. Having kept up a tradition of memorable events to mark the occasion over the past several years, I felt that this year needed to be equally entertaining. Hence, Stephanie and I organized a BBQ on the beach. As you've probably picked up from previous blogs, organizing anything here is something of a challenge, but either the gods were in our favor for the day, or we're finally getting the hang of life in Bluefields cause the day went off without a hitch (well, without any major hitches to speak of).

Having invited 3 very distinct groups of people to celebrate with us, we had a bit of coordination to do on Sunday morning. The night before, we had arranged a time to meet all the bE folks down at the docks, so Steph & I left our house sun morning to pass by M's place with our chicken for the BBQ that he had offered to help us marinade creole style. Floored to discover both him and his friend awake, showered and ready to go when we arrived, we caravaned our way through town with cooler, grill and supplies in hand. On the other side of town we didn't even have to knock when we arrived at the BBS boy's place (who had just come from a 2 month vacation to the States a few days before). They were up, dressed and ready for a day at the beach. Once again, we were thoroughly impressed having prepared ourselves to have to drag them from their beds.

We were getting close to the time we'd set to meet the bE folks, and we needed a few last min supplies, so Steph and I left M & company dutifully cutting up chicken while we went to check up on the rest of the party's status. Arriving at the docks, they were nowhere to be seen, but as soon as we'd finished buying supplies and returned, half the crew was already there. Wow. Once again, we were both impressed that everyone actually showed up at the time and place they claimed they'd come.

At that point, Steph headed back to the BSS house to commence herding her cats down to the dock while I awaited the stragglers from bE. A little while later, the majority of our crew was loaded into the panga, but Steph's group had yet to appear. Choosing not to hold up the rest of the passengers, we headed off across the lagoon.

Arriving at the other side after a pleasant and thankfully event-free trip, we headed through town towards the beach. Along the way we passed by crowds of children happily playing soccer in the streets, mostly in their skivvies. We also wandered pass large petrol storage tanks, a very loud diesel generator and many small, brightly painted houses.

Arriving at the beach we were greeted with nearly vacant stretches of sand with waves lapping lazily at the shore. The few people we passed along the way were out to collect wood, sell coconuts or, like us, spend a nice relaxed afternoon on the beach.


Arriving at one of the cute little wooden huts that line the beach, we stripped down, dropped our belongings and headed into the waves. The next few hours were spent body surfing, swimming and enjoying being fully immersed in cool, refreshing water.

A few hours later Steph finally showed up with boys in tow and we set up the grill for a meal of exquisitely marinated chicken complimented by homemade cookies and plenty of rum. It was a fabulous way to spend the day.