End of the Beach

Leaving Chacala was really difficult. We considered transplanting there, but for various reasons, we don't think that will be likely. However, we really hope to revisit the town before heading home.
Before we left, we did have a few more adventures:
First, one day, Peter decided to try to go fishing. He borrowed the family's boogie board, bought an inner tube, some fishing line, hook, weights, an onion bag for his catch (well, I kind of think they just gave it to him) and calamari for bate, as well as ice, a cooler, and beer, and set out to the water to try to fish while getting to enjoy cold beverages. I swam out to him and we brought the whole enterprise back to shore where Peter regrouped. He downsized the plan to just one floating device (the inner tube), putting a couple beers and his fishing gear into his onion bag, and went and found a stick (actually the dried base of a palm frond without the leaves on it). Back he went. Meanwhile, I read and drank a pina colada. Eventually, he walked up the sand and lo and behold, he had caught something - a problem. He explained that he had started bludgeoning the fish before he realized what it was, and besides which, he had not liked to bludgeon it. The thing is, it didn't start puffing up until he started hitting it...and yes, the puffer fish was a bit puffed up in his bag. "You can't eat that." Said some people at the neighboring table. Yes, but what do we do with it. Peter took the fish and went to rinse off in the outdoor shower. Then he came back, possibly with a solution: "It moved a bit! Maybe it's still alive." Immediately, I jumped on that: "Then throw it back, quickly!" Oh, and did I mention that this puffer fish had teeth like a human baby? Ack! Peter waded into the surf and waved the onion bag around in it, setting the fish free, and off it swam. It must have just been stunned. Well, and maybe brain damaged...we hope it is more or less ok.

Another day, maybe the next, we went back out on the boat with Alberto, his teenage daughter Erica, and the Canadians also staying at our Casa, plus their 4-month-old baby, to go to Isla de Coral, where there was supposed to be good snorkeling. Unfortunately, the water was not really clear enough that day (I thought maybe from the rains that we'd had a few days before, but Alberto told me it was just a matter of the currents), so mostly, I saw fish that I could then picture in my mind, if that makes sense. However, I did see a really big puffer fish through clearer water (where it was shallower), with a little yellow fish hanging around its back -- seemed to be eating something off of it. I went up to Peter and said, "I saw a puffer and he said to tell you, 'I'm gonna get you.'" The beach was nice, though, and we ate lunch. On the way back was the real treat. Alberto brought the boat close to shore at one point to show us another beach and some water-caves. As we were heading back to seat to get home, I glanced up and saw a whale jumping. I shouted and pointed, and off we sped to try to catch up with it. We found a baby and a mother humpback. And we got close, and they came up and went down, spurting their air and then submerging a bit before coming up again. It was much better than on the cloudy day, because they didn't go deep the whole time. I had been so excited to see baby whales, but really it was the mama that blew my mind -- she was SO big! We didn't see all of her, of course (though Katie and I tossed around the idea of jumping in the water with the snorkels), but Finally, we turned back towards home. Peter was still looking behind, and got a treat -- the baby jumped clear out of the water.

When we got back to the dock, Peter and Alberto decided to go back out and fish. They took a break to eat, and Peter bought more calimari bait, and off they went. Peter reports that he noted they had no poles -- it was local style fishing. They tied up to a buoy, threw some lines over with bait, and pulled in fish after fish. It was sunset, and they talked (Peter got a good practice of his Spanish), and when they came back, Alberto and Aurora pushed all the fish on Peter. He brought some of the fish (there really were several) down to the beach to meet me and we went to a restaurant to ask them to cook it for us. The grill was turned off, so it would all have to be fried. We learned the fishes' names (Peter relearned): one was a bota, one chile verde (of which he had more back in the fridge at the house), and two were small fish that were similar to red snapper, but not the same thing. The waitress scolded him for catching a baby fish. All except the bota (Aurora had told Peter to get the bota filleted, and the kitchen said it was too small to fillet, so he just kept it and we gave it back to Alberto and Aurora along with the rest of the chile verdes) were fried up, served with tortillas, beans, rice, and limones. The two small fish were great -- a lot like red snapper -- and the chile verde was ok, but not as exciting as the name had led me to believe.

Again, this side-trip was awesome. We met really nice people, got to see friends, and got to relax on the beach. Peter's tan is now peeling, and I'm about as tan as I have ever been, which is not saying much. It is good to be back in Guanajuato, but also was hard to adjust to being back but not to our real home. Still, good to know where that home really is.