Tropical Life

Well, it's the wet season. There were some droplets of rain on Bahia Honda Beach, but later that stopped, and even though it remained cloudy, it was very nice there. I like that atmosphere of "Tropical storm approaching!" (at least as long as there is no storm actually approaching). One patch of the beach had a large sandbank where the water was about twice ankle height and you could walk into the sea in an area of about two to three football fields. The waves formed a dense pattern of little dunes in the sand, and with every wave washing over them, little plumes of sand were whirled up all along the crest of the dunes. It was really pretty.

The evening I spent with: cigar, beer, hammock. As life should be!

Yay!

The next day I was sick of wearing motorcycle gear and also wanted to get a drink at some bar, so I thought I'd take the bus to Key West. However, it's a rather patchy service, only every 1.5 to 2.5 hours, and the given times are a very rough guide. Just as I reached the street, I saw my bus passing by. So first I walked for about forty minutes, and then, while waiting for the next bus, I tried to thumb me a ride. I was stared at like a curiosity, got many smiles and sometimes a thumbs-up back, people laughed at me, a few cars with pretty girls looked rather intrigued, I got honked at by others, someone wagged her finger. But no ride. Then after about another forty minutes two dudes from Fort Lauderdale stopped and gave me a ride to Key West. Thanks, guys!

The classic view of Bahia Honda.

Key West is absolutely lovely, even if very touristy. Practically a tropical, colonial Caribbean island, it's just beautiful (though in fact neither tropical nor Caribbean). I like those colonial-style buildings, wedged between palm trees. The whole place is very relaxed. Chicken are running around everywhere. American tourists wearing ridiculous Stars-and-Stripes outfits celebrate the 4th of July. And the boss of a family-owned tiny ten person cigar factory talks to you about their production and how he got into it, all while he rolls some cigars for demonstration purposes.


Man at work.

Hang loose, parrot!



Tourist classic.

Roostering around.



Nothin' better than colonial style.

Except this, maybe...