“Two turtle doves” We decided to attempt the cooking of our own breakfast this morning, + I walked up to R + L’s cabin to alert them of this fact. I needn’t have bothered for some considerable time tho’, since our fire-making was not a conspicuous success. The wood was a little wet, it is true, but even when we managed to acquire some dry, we weren’t able to induce anything even vaguely approaching a blaze. Roland also succeeded in making himself a pain in the neck. It does not help, when someone is doing something wrong, to tell them so – they are usually only too well aware of that fact. And any helpful advice which one is fortunate enough to be able to give should be given with the utmost of tact, otherwise they are likely to serve the very opposite of purposes to that which is intended. Be that as it may, we did manage both coffee + toast – eventually – so ultimately all was not lost.
One thing that was lost was the bottom half of Val’s bikini. Some miscreant, animal or human, had purloined it. This was a pain, but we still both went in swimming – there was a beautiful spot for diving from there (tho’ I lost my bathing trunks – almost – both times I used it. Then a period of sunning, then more swimming, + then sitting + sipping a coke while we waited for the bus to Palenque.
Palenque itself seemed rather a nasty, smelly little town, so we weren’t sorry to leave it as soon as possible, pausing only to purchase some groceries for dinner. We bade farewell to R + L, then started to walk out towards the ruins, since we’d heard there was a camp-site out there. The light was beginning to fade as we walked, but fortunately we got a ride, and so weren’t forced to pitch tent in complete darkness. It was rather too late to find wood tho’ – so for the second time we tried to make a fire, and this time weren’t even a partial success. Eventually, rather fed up, we gave up, but we were able to cook sardines + then coffee on someone else’s fire.
Cooking over a fire can be a joy; when it works well, and the weather is good, nothing could be finer, for it provides both the means of cooking and a focal point later. But having to make a fire in order to eat some breakfast is another matter entirely. Not entirely sure how Val managed without her bikini bottoms; swam in her knickers, I suppose.
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