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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Small world (Chugchilan)

Photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/ChugchilanDayHike

Sunday, July 21, 2008

Last night I remembered that I had completely forgotten to write about one of those "small world" moments that happened to us on this trip. While we were at Llullu Llama in Isinlivi we mentioned to Donna, our new volunteer host, that we were on a sailboat. When she said she knew of two former sailors arriving in the next day or so, we asked their names. "Bud and Pat" faintly rang a bell which became louder as she described them in more detail. We left them a note that we would be in Chugchilan, and hoped they would catch up to us there.

There was no sign of them Tuesday, but late Wednesday afternoon John walked next door to Cloud Forest to see if they had arrived yet. He recognized them out walking and greeted them like old friends, asking if they'd gotten our note. Well, they had ended up coming to Chugchilan from the opposite direction and hadn't yet been to Isinlivi where our note was waiting, so they were really confused about who this stranger was. It's hard to remember people out of context, let alone in a remote region of another country entirely! John quickly reminded them of our connection to them (they had kayaked out to Nakia from their little RV in the "Aquarium" anchorage at Tenacatita in 2004, and we met up with them again later in the year for dinner in Zihuatanejo) and brought them into the lounge area at Mama Hilda's where we all had a drink together.

They had to leave soon because our dinner was half an hour earlier than theirs at CF so we made plans to meet the next morning for an "easy" day hike to a local cheese factory. We knew we weren't leaving early enough to see the locals bringing their milk to sell, but it sounded like a reasonable loop hike for me. We had a wonderful time catching up with Bud and Pat and though it took almost five hours the hike was just right for all of us. The countryside was beautiful and we had a clear sunny day to make it even nicer. After showers and a rest when we got back we went over to CF for drinks with them before it was time to say goodbye. We really wished they were still cruising because we've always enjoyed our brief visits with them.

Linda and John