Before I cook the mahi-mahi I bought for tonight's dinner, I'll just fill you in on what was a fairly uneventful day, at least for us. Robin and I walked to the north end of our beach today, and I made a little pile of rocks on top of one of the boulders, so now I have something to aim for every morning. The tides are quite high right now, and this beach is known for its undertow, so I still haven't ventured in for a swim - just several shallow wades. The beach here is very different from Mazatlan's. The sand is much more coarse, so I think I'm getting a more efficient pedicure.

After I marked the top of the beach, we both sat down on a sandy shelf, scooping out comfortable seats, and we watched the waves for a while. Suddenly, there was a resounding BANG! behind us. I leapt up and turned around, and saw a coconut rolling to a stop about twenty feet behind us. I walked back and picked it up. It has milk in it, so now we have to figure out how to open it, not having a machete at hand.

Sometime in the morning, I heard the prawn vendor going by, so I checked to see whether he had any fish - no. Prawns two nights in a row would be too much, so I didn't buy any. On the way back home, I saw a lizard that looked like an iguana, but black. It was sunning itself on the pavement near the laundry room. I took its picture. When I mentioned it to Kris, she told me that that lizard has a poisonous bite, so I should stay away from it. Fortunately, it was totally uninterested in me.

We had a late breakfast followed by some strenuous reading and a siesta.

About 3:30, I decided it was cool enough to go shopping for dinner, so I did that. The fishmonger did have fish, fortunately, so I brought that home along with what staples I could find. What I couldn't find were tortillas. No tortillas? Gack.

The highlight of the day - or so it was meant to be - was when we walked down the beach for 5 p.m. TJ and Kris had seen swarms of people carrying baby turtles from the hatchery to the water, and they were told it was done between 5 and 5:30. So we all went to the big sign that reads "Vivero tortugas" and waited - but nobody came. We'll ask around and find out what the scoop is. Maybe it only happens once a week, or once a month.

They were also told that you have to be careful releasing the turtles, because they're protected by law, and if you kill one you'll be sent to jail for seven years. I've spent some time since pondering the contradictions inherent in a society that permits dogs to starve in the street, but imposes such strict penalties with respect to the turtles. Now I'm trying to figure out what equivalent contradictions there are in Canadian society.

The highlight of Kris's day was when she and TJ went to the beach north of our beach- the other side of the rocks I touched - and saw three well-built young men cavorting and posing naked on the beach.