Rest Day

Monday was our "rest" day, which just means we did not have a full day of predetermined adventures planned through our travel package. After breakfast, Lauren and I borrowed the resort's stand up paddleboards and tried them out at sea. These are the real deal. Not the ones I've used in Richmond on the James River that essentially tell you where you place your feet. This is just a flat, smooth board. When I stood up, I fell off as soon as the first wave approached. After that, I figured it out. I wasn't standing close enough to the middle of the board, and I learned to start bending my knees when larger waves rippled through. We paddleboarded for about 2.5 hours and explored the water in both directions from the hotel.

After that, we cycled down the dirt road in search of a store so we could buy snacks (let's be honest, these were for me, not Lauren). On our ride, two different animals crossed the road in front of us that we were unfamiliar with. One looked like a rabbit/rodent combination with no ears and the other initially resembled a cat until it turned its head and exposed its long anteater-like snout. We asked a local resident and he told us the former was a bush rabbit and the latter a coatimundi, which is part of the raccoon family.

Bush rabbit
Coatimundi
I happened to select the bike with a rusty chain that was way too big. As a result, the chain fell off my bike three times and we had to stop to fix it. The first time, it took me a while to get it back on and a man stopped to assist. The second and third times, I was able to do it myself (more quickly). I am fairly certain this is the first time in my life I have ever fixed anything (documented in a photograph below, for evidence). Lauren and I noted that every single person who saw us stopped to ask us if we needed help. Men, women, young, old. Everyone took the time to ask if we were alright. No one is in a rush here, which is a stark contrast to life in the U.S. and it is a refreshing and welcome change of pace.

Fixing rusty bike chain x3
We rode into town and were greeted by children running around in brown and yellow uniforms (it was the first day of school). It's not that easy to locate a store in a third world country, but we ended up finding an Asian grocery store that met our (my) needs.

Riding through Hopkins
In search of food
Local library  
Local school
Church
For lunch, we headed back our new favorite spot: Loggerheads. Once again, we played Big Jenga as we waited for our lunches. We made friends with one of the waitresses, Georgia, and she invited us to come to Driftwood Beach & Bar Pizza Shack Tuesday night, where she would be waitressing. Some establishments in Hopkins close for a couple of weeks during the rainy season and this was their closing party. Live music on the beach, dancing and good pizza? We're there. On the ride back to the resort after lunch, we found a coconut on the ground, split it open, and drank the warm milk. Delicious.

Big artsy Jenga with a twist
Coconut milk
That evening, we had dinner and drinks back at the resort and went to bed early, as we had to wake up at 6 am on Tuesday for a tour of Mayan ruins followed by cave tubing. Let the adventures begin.

Rooftop view

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