Ramena

Took a little trip into a nearby town as I'd heard that Sunday nights are fun there.

It was fun. I enjoyed seeing a sunset facing West.

The town reminds me of several places I've been in Nicaragua or Costa Rica, 20 years ago. Relatively rough around the edges - concrete and asphalt, but still rustic and bare bulbs vs. light fixtures.

We ate on plastic tables & chairs on the sand, our food was cooked over fires (and was delicious and inexpensive).

Music was LOUD vs good. People, mostly locals, mostly young, were having fun. Qat is pretty commonplace - an herbal stimulant that people chew. It's a funny thing to watch as they put leaf after leaf into their mouth until they have a large wad in their cheek. I'm told it is somewhere between caffeine and cocaine, in the spectrum. That sounds like a heckuva range to me.

I called it an early (9PM) night because I didn't want to be alone in a 2wd taxi on rough dirt tracks in unknown lands very much later than 10PM. Also, waking for sunrises doesn't pair well with staying out late. Truthfully: It is also a bit exhausting to socialize in French and some English. I am learning... But a different language is always more mental effort and less return on investment: the conversations are shallower by dint of less understanding/common ground, but I am glad that I went and enjoyed seeing another place.

On the way to the bar, we were walking on the beach and I grabbed my phone to catch a quick video. Pulling it and my money (all the money I had at the moment) from my pocket - the unnoticed money fell onto the sand and I kept walking.

Lesson: use different pockets for phone vs. money!

As we entered the bar and I wanted a beer, I quickly noticed (with a sinking feeling) that the proverbial cupboards were bare.

A lot of good fortune smiled on me. I popped back out of the bar and walked a few meters to find a small pile of bills, damp in the sand. Neither waves, wind, nor human had moved them in the five, maybe ten minutes between dropping and finding them. Several people were standing nearby. If I were inclined to believe that something supernatural were looking out for me, this would feel a lot like proof!Lue lisää