I awaken in the tent, hot, sandy and sticky. Orien and I pack all our things and head out to find the Blue Lagoon. But first, we must cross the bay. The blaring sun beats down on us as we walk in the sand past private houses and docks. The bay seems to be endless, it wraps around into itself, almost like a spiral and each time we round the next bend, we’re sure that we will have finally hit the end of it, but it stretches on and on. We pass black, inky mangrove trees and women rooted in the sand, roasting in the sun, mining for clams. We pass into a rippling sea of tiny crabs who move away from us in one simultaneous wave and disappear into a million little holes in the sand. The bay continues. We find a beached sea cucumber shrinking in the sun and after marveling at it we toss it back into its wet and salty sanctuary. We pass schools of iridescent fish, sea pens, shipwrecked old boats and finally we reach a bridge along the back of the bay and our path veers off into the shade of jungle.
Obscured now by the lushness of the tropical plants and mightiness of the tall trees, I find myself desperate to pee. I find the first suitable “toilet-tree” and as I pee, I look up to see a massive spider in its tremendously huge web. Above it is another gigantic web with another monster spider and as I start to look around they appear, one after the other, a whole city of huge eight-legged predators lining the trail. It was straight out of the hobbit, people. We book it out of there fast and continue up the trail, taking wrong turns that lead up steep paths to a little old lady’s houses, one who gives us a coconut sacole for 2 Real (about $1) and directions to get back on track.
On our way up another very steep passage we look down and find the entire trail is covered relentlessly in ants, we are massive and sorry giants who kill dozens with every tiptoed step. We apologize to the ants out loud as we take the longest strides possible up the trail. Finally the ocean of ants subside and I feel a sharp pinch on my foot and then another and another. I look down to find a handful of stowaway warriors biting the skin off my feet with a vengeance.
The trail has been going up forever now and finally it begins to descend. We travel down the steep path riddled with rocks and roots and arrive at what we now call Buzzards Bay.
Its our perfect camping spot. The beach is short but deep and as we walk to the shore we notice the perfect little cove to house our tent. We set up and the tide rolls in, making it impossible to access our site without taking a swim. We are closed in and now have our own private beach.
We blow up our air mattress and take her on her maiden voyage before the sun sets and we crawl into the tent, away from the bugs and go to sleep.
