So this will be brief tonight dear readers....sorry to cheat you but it's new years eve and soon we will be leaving for the airport to pick up our friend Carol. Meantime, I am in the lobby of the hotel which, as i've told you before, is apparently a haven for no-see-ums that love to chew on my ankles as I type. I will attempt to keep them at bay while i send out a little something your way while rubbing my ankles together....good thing i can multitask.....
A regular occurance in our comings and goings is giving people rides. I believe I have touched on this before. There are certain specific locations these travelers post up at, then there are random spots that they just happen to be as you pass. One day recently, John helped a guy who's motorcycle had broken down. Both of them really had to struggle to get the thing in, but the task was accomplished. Today on the way in as we were driving on the highway, a gentleman of about ....well, an indeterminate age between 50 and 65- was riding wildly on a bicycle with a load of sticks strapped on the back (they burn these and sell them for carbon-like charcoal). he waved and whistled at us as we sailed by and thinking he needed a ride or help of some sort, we stopped and headed toward him in reverse. luckily there was very little traffic on the road. We pulled up next to him and after several hearty greetings all around we asked him if he needed a ride to Motul, the nearest town. He rapidly fired back in Spanish more than we could grasp but it was pretty clear he didn't need a ride. He fussed around with a plastic bag he had tied on the front of his ancient, rusted steed and handed through the window a bag. i had no choice but to open my palms and receive it or ot would have landed in my lap. before i could discern what was happening, my mind shifted to what the hell is in this bag? I simultaneously realized a) he wanted me to buy it and b) "it" was a bag of octopus-octopi? Now, keep in mind, this road is inlad. The gulf was about 20 miles away and this guy was on a bicycle that was all over the road......the octopus was very cold, frozen actually, and while it IS octopus season ( we see fisherman walking around with strings of them hanging from broomsticks like jungle hunters bringing in a wild boar) but he was on a bike on the inland highway waving down unsuspecting travelers to thrust it in their windows.....ahh...never a dull moment here....
And so we head into the New Year, by starting the day with frozen seafood...what will tomorrow bring? What could the next bend in the road produce? For now, a ride to the airport to pick up our friend. but before that, I need to wash my ankles because I have rubbed my sandals all over them to fend off marauding bugs and they are black with dirt. Happy new Year and may all your octopi be fresh and your ankles bite free!
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