Bob(the dinghy) neeeded a bit of inflation, he was looking a tad flacid early on before the day heated up. We try and leave early and beat the heat, ideally getting back to the boat around 10am. TBH was raring to go today, I couldn't work out why until I remembered that I had said we would have breakfast in town after the shopping was done! Honestly you can get that man to do anything for a meal...
We tie up at the dock for the supermarket, yes most people do their shopping by boat here. We pushed our way through the heavy lanchas that were already there and after locking good 'ol Bob to the wooden post we trudged up the road to the store. It's always a bit hit or miss here. I arrive armed with a list but accept that dependent on weather, season, exchange rates, staffing or phases of the moon I will most likely be making some adjustments to our provisioning!
It was not too bad today, flour well within sell by date(you always need to check), nice fresh garlic and delivery of well dried onions. Excellent. TBH then takes the haul back down the hill and loads the dinghy. Making his way by water to the dock at Bruno's whilst I head off down the main street to buy the fruit and veg and visit a couple of specialist stores that have those little extras that make life such fun. We are talking FOOD here!Not a good day on the veggie front, rather tired looking broccolli that I passed on but some superb mint and cilantro went into my backpack. One tienda had some sundried tomatoes in olive oil. A big jar at a big price but I find them invaluable when we are out at anchor. Once the fresh tomatoes are finished these are superb on pizzas...Jars of pesto, excellent and even a big pot of mediterranean sea salt. Yes!
I popped in to the Casa Guatemala store to thank them for my pigs trotters, they remembered me, what a surprise! And finally loaded down with bags like a burro (donkey) I met up with TBH as he lounged in the shade, watching TV, replete from his Desayuno Americano. Eggs, bacon, potatoes and fresh fruit. Washed down with coffee and a strawberry milkshake. See he's not always the one doing the work!!With a well loaded dink we headed back downstream. In the water I spied what looked like an animal head. TBH altered course to bring us alongside and I was surprised to see that it was a large (12lb ish) turtle floating on the surface. I made a grab for him but we were moving too fast and I only got to touch him with one hand. He was BIG. I think that maybe he had been hit by a boat and was a little stunned. We made another attempt to land him but that seemed to shake him from his stupor and he dived away from us and headed for the shore. Darn there goes my opportunity to try making turtle soup. (Only joking).
First time I've actually touched a turtle. Not an experience you have heading for Sainsbury's back in the UK!
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