late night in PE

It is midnight on a Wednesday. The Beach Drive in front of us is pretty quiet…only about 6 cars a minute and few really whizzing along noisily. None of them are Kombis with a men hanging out the window yelling “Down Down”. He is really saying “Town Town” or “Down Town”. We have not been able to ascertain but it is said loudly and with a consistent tone that most of us can now mimic. (Performances on request when we return)

There is a strong wind blowing up the coast and the squiders (the dictionary does not like this word but we do) are exceptionally close in. Ah, the squiders, their boats can be easily discerned by their bright lights which draw in the plankton which attract the squid which are caught and exported to Scandinavia, maybe on the very large transport plane that chugs over the apartment at about 2:30 am each night. I choose to wear earplugs to sleep! We just found out that the squid we eat in the restaurants here is coming from the Falkland Islands. Talk about eating local???

Between these cacophonous interruptions and a couple of groups of people walking and talking below on the street, I can still hear the sound of the gentle waves rolling in on the beach. Opps there goes a siren which is always a bit jarring and someone is blowing his horn. I am sure that if I could take these sounds apart and put them back together in a melodic pattern I would have a musical composition that I could call Sound of Beach Drive.

I often say that going to Mayo was my rather expensive spa treatment….I lost 25 lbs. and got curlier hair….Something here has threatened that progress. I found a man who sells divine fudge and other tasty treats. He was telling me how dark chocolate covering a rose flavoured Turkish Delight was amazingly healthy. He is a merry old gent and has little selling to do to me. He just hands me samples and appears at our Sunday Market which is, sadly, right across the street from us. He should be, at least, several blocks away!

Which brings me to food as most of life does. Since we have been here we have had beef one time. The beef is good but dear in the stores and besides every time we are offered beef or fish we take fish or shrimp or squid or mussels. We have yet to have oysters or crayfish but it will come. We have had lamb and bacon, which is very thick and fatty but at least tastes a bit like bacon. We have some fruit that would surprise, apples, peaches, plums, apricots and pears. We finally found peaches with free stones.

We have, of course, mangoes, prickly pear (an invasive weed here after coming from Mexico hundreds of years ago), great though tiny, pineapple, grapes, melons, and tomatoes.

There aren’t many gardens in the townships but those that are there seem to grow tomatoes and what appears to be Swiss chard. Out in the country there are places where citrus is taking hold. It is apparently profitable.

More later - Norma