??? at Playa Hermosa

Pos: here
Loc: Playa Hermosa
Acc: tent
Dist:49,4 km
Start: 6:40 End: 17:20

Tomorrow:
Estimated landing: Punta Capones or Isla Payana/ Ecuador
Estimated starting time: Right after sunrise
Estimated landing time: Well before sunset

I was hugging like yesterday the coast almost all day – quite entertaining when there are people having their beach life! I think when this trip is over, I’ll be a TV-like beach life expert…it passes by my eyes as if I’m watching a film. But probably *I’m* passing by *their* eyes also like in the film about the big white shark!

I’m paddling just that close that neither breakers nor any of the teenies in the crowded areas are going to catch me! The kids are making a challenge to sprint up to me – but they’ll never reach me…one guy was sprinting out with a Baywatch-like buoy in his hands, shouting loud “one moment, one moment, please!”, he probably wanted to practice his beach rescue skills, but I better pretended to “no entiendo” and rather paddled on. No idea what would happen if a bunch of excited teenagers were to hang on to my boat from all sides and a wave would catch us throwing us on the quite steep dumping beach…

A puffer fish

But such massive beach life I actually saw today only on three locations, the rest were scattered with few people. Still, when I’m paddling past a crowd, suddenly they all stand facing me, some guys whistling when they recognized me as a woman, and I’m waving occasionally like the Queen passing by in her horse-drawn carrier

South American beach life is noisy and colourful on a Sunday and in holiday times, but you see very few people doing any kind of sports in or off the water. Some guys playing soccer, some youngsters with some surf boards on not really matching waves, that’s it. So I must show up like a real alien – and a female one!

I paddled past the last village, anchoring boats and bathing groups, until neither the road nor houses nor people nor boats were visible, just a deserted beach. Seemed like a good spot! last night I didn’t get bothered with my woman-crew next door to me on the watch, but there was music, spotlights and barbecue smell until 1 am. No problem with earplugs and sleeping mask, but I don’t really like to put those on in civilization.

Tomorrow I’ll either stop just at the very end of Peru at Punta Capones, or I’ll paddle already over the border to the sandy Isla Payana in a river delta which seems to be accessible even on low tide. I must now take the tide into my consideration where to go and where to paddle or I’ll be stuck in the mud in river deltas! But in the afternoon it’s high tide anyway.

4 Responses to “Sun 13/01-2013 Day 362”