Day 10

Rule #11 Don?t assume anything

Well, I am beginning to understand that it is unwise to assume anything when outside your home environment. And that can be in a good or a bad way. For instance, there we were, expecting the drumming festival to go on until at least 2am last night (as it did last year). But, much to our relief, they packed up at about 8pm - fantastic. On the other side of the coin, there we were expecting it to be a fine day today (as it has not been fantastic the weather so far). Well, it was blowing a gale last night and we woke to very grey skies and pouring rain. So we were a little glum - I tried to take photos of the rain overflowing the gutters whilst J was not happy that the temperature had dropped below 26C.

Well, we went for breakfast, and had a good feed whilst we watched the rain come down - J was very hungry this morning, she blamed her hypothalamus and the cold. It is hard to dry our swimming things in the humid and wet - they smell a bit 'wet dog'! Still, we assumed that the rain had set in, but I shouldn't assume, and by about 1pm the sun started breaking through. So we decided to set off to the beach, going overland for a change. We assumed that if we memorised the map of paths, we would be ok. Dangerous assumption - it's a jungle out there!

It was very humid as we struck out into the hinterland. I caught the lizard in the photo giving me the evil eye. Of course the map was totally unlike the reality and we found ourselves in an increasingly mangrovey situation (complete with suspiciously large crabs - yikes. So we stepped up the pace and eventually found the beach. It was fairly sunny so we set up camp when, lo and behold, our 'stalkers' arrived. Now I say 'stalkers', that is really only a theory. You see it seems that wherever we go, this other couple from the Pousada seem to turn up. Now don't call me paranoid, but we are beginning to wonder.

We assumed that we were in for a sunny afternoon, when lo and behold grey clouds came galloping over the horizon and it began to rain. Hey, ho - so we packed up and began the overland trip back. We got a bit lost and found ouselves on a jungle path which began to disappear into nothing. The leaf litter was not insubstantial and I was beginning to feel a little vulnerable in my flip flops as we pushed our way through unknown vegetation - who knows what was under our feet - I was assuming that the venomous snakes (if there were any) were keeping out of the way. We made it back, dripping wet, but enjoyed the cake we had saved from breakfast. Then the sun came out so we went down to the beach and enjoyed a beer watching the kids play football and play in the sea. Lovely to see the sun go down in a near cloudless sky.

I am assuming a quiet evening, but we will see ......