The Return Home

Our original plans to return to Bluefields on Sunday were shot down when our boat-driver and guide both decided that Sunday was a "day of rest" and didn't want to go out.  Why this was suddenly decided after we had already made specific plans to leave on Sunday was a mystery to us, but hey, what the hell.

We spent Sunday doing absolutely NOTHING.  It was an incredible feeling to be able to do absolutely nothing, and not feel guilty about it.  Usually doing nothing comes at the cost of putting off doing something... but out there, at the end of the world, doing nothing really means having nothing to do.

And so I sat in the hammock.  I read a bit about buddhism (something that seemed oddly fitting seeing as I was sitting in a hammock at the end of the world), and killed a chicken.

Monday morning (and my morning, I mean 3am) found us all packed, dressed, and ready to move.  The sand flies were exceptionally frisky - those damn things - and decided to chomp into my feet like it was Thanksgiving.  Only an hour-wait later (yes, time is not really of the essence here) a boat showed up, and we all got it.

Taking a teeny tiny boat out onto the ocean in the middle of the pitch-black night was a little creepy.  I had no idea how we were going to be able to see a thing, especially considering that the moon was still non-existent.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the plankton in the water played a nice little trick, and as soon as the boat started moving, they lit up like a carnival.  We literally steered our way through the waves using the flashing plankton as our guides.  The 5-hour boat ride turned out to be pretty uneventful, other than the sunrise we got to watch along the way.

Arriving back in Bluefields was like coming back to civilization.  I did take a minute to realize that suddenly a bucket-shower was a luxury instead of an inconvenience, and the fact that I could sit on the toilet seat and actually take my time was worth appreciating.  Three days in Monkey Point had suddenly shifted my priorities so much further to the left.