Last night I was so tired, I just couldn't drag myself the length of the park to post. That's because in the morning, R and I cycled out to the estuary parking lot, left the bikes, took the canoe out to the beach, and paddled out through the surf and along to the entrance. We explored the lagoon for about two hours, beaching the canoe now and then to wander around on sand bars, annoy the pelicans, pick up sea shells. When we were actually paddling, we often stayed near the mangroves to get out of the wind, and that was apparently a problem for the egrets. They would take off with a great Squawk and move down to the next tree, then go back when we had gone by. The pelicans, on the other hand, saw us as a potential free lunch (no, that was the buzzards, actually.). The pelicans just thought our paddles might magically turn into fishing poles, so they took turns flying over us, then screeching to a halt in the water about twenty feet in front of the canoe and staring at us with one blue eye at a time. We never convinced them that we weren't fishing, and that no snacks would be forthcoming.


Eventually, the wind picked up in earnest, and we decided to head in. Rather than drag the canoe the length of the beach as we had done the day before, we paddled out through the surf and retraced our trip of earlier in the day. It was not an easy trip. The surf was much stronger, and we kept being swept in toward the shore. We soldiered on until we got opposite the place where we tie the boat, then made an abrupt right turn and beached the boat - almost. Just as we reached the shore, we were swamped. I was fine (except for being wet from the wave that had crashed over me earlier in the trip), but R was climbing out of the boat at the time. He got soaked and tumbled out of the boat rather more quickly than he had planned. His only injury was a bit of a cut on the leg, but the experience was very wearing. We pulled the canoe uphill to the ring, tied it, and cycled home. I had a Mexican cooking class at 3:30. We got home at 2:30, but we needed something from the grocery store, so after I unloaded the paddles from my panniers, I biked up to the store and back. Then I went to class.

There was nothing left of me, I tell you. Nothing. I know we ate dinner, but I'm not sure what it was. I think we both got a bit of sunstroke. We had a good time, though, and my class was the one on chiles, which was just great. Tonight I've made an avocado salsa to have with our chicken, and I used Maria's technique for the salsa I put in my beans.

By the way, the mountain you see in all the pictures of San Carlos turns out to be called Tetakawa. I must see if I can find out what language that is, and what the word means.

This picture of Tetakawa and San Carlos was taken on a day when the wind wasn't blowing. This is what the shore is supposed to be like when you're paddling your canoe along it!