Chacala and the feeling of empty nest syndrome

We all had a lazy morning but the idea of a hike burned in our minds. We managed to pull ourselves from comfort of the boat and make it ashore. Once ashore I got halted by some beach guys. One was Pablo and the other was Bobby from Watsonville. They had a bet on my age but I refused to divulge such information with out the proper trade...beer. I got a fatty Pacifico and spread the wealth among my comrades. Bobby wanted to go hike with us so we set off leaving David at the Las Brisas palapa since he had ripped the scab off of his slowly healing stingray boo boo. Merry had done the hike last year so she led the way followed by Ann, Laura, Paul, Bobby and myself. Our first obstacle was a chain-link fence. We'd heard the property along the road had been sold, but now we knew it was fenced off as well. As we went to double back a big shirtless Mexican dude appeared. I recognized him as one of Bobby's friend from the beach. His name was Guadalupe Lopez Lopez. He said there was another trail off to the right instead. We did find the other trail to a pond of water that we had to cross. I was perfectly fine where I was since we had stumbled upon butterfly heaven. There were bunches of the mariposas all over the place. We pushed on until the trail was a bit too overgrown and we had an uneasy feeling about the situation. We rounded up the troops before Ann and Laura hiked the countryside without us. Merry, Paul and I were ready to call it quits and do the "palapa" hike back to the beach. I knew Ann and Laura really wanted to continue hiking, but they settled on turning back so they could meet Guadalupe's god.

As our crew reassembled at Las Brisas we were joined by Guadalupe. We had a great night of chatting, massages from Ann, Coronas, margaritas, lots of pictures and even more bonding. Paul graciously treated us for dinner and Guadalupe as well. It was an evening to remember.

The following morning we all lazed about the boat under the hazy, thick tropical air. Eventually we all made it into town for a last beer together before saying our goodbyes. Having all four of our amazing friends all leave at once was like having empty nest for me, the non parent. I missed them as soon as they left. David and I made our way back to the boat and it seemed strangely clean and empty. We are already finding things reminding us of our temporary companions like Merry's spanish/english dictionary, wine opener and Paul's electric toothbrush charger. That is all the physical evidence of our boatmates that we have discovered so far...that and wine that will probably still be here waiting for their return.

It is not all sad though. David and I get to go to Isla Isabela and that is a great way to get back into the way of just us.