Back at the beach ...

Molinda

"Dos cer-ve-za, dos cer-ve-za," says Molinda. She runs our little place here on Playa Blanca and she loves to tease Carl about his Spanish. "That's how all the gringos say it", she says with a good belly laugh and a wink at me.

Molinda's place seems to be the centre of Playa Blanca. It's the place everyone on the beach comes for supplies and cold beer, but end up staying for a chat in the shade, to catch up on the gossip. Molinda plods around, tidying, putting stuff away in the shop, doing washing or she sits, knits and chats. She's everyone's amigo, including ours. Her smile is huge and always ready for us.

Life on Playa Blanca is slow, which is not surprising. It's little more than a long white beach lined with a few simple wood shacks. For most of the day, the beach is deserted except for a few tourists who stay overnight in tents or hammocks, and the locals who sit under palm trees or wander along the beach stopping to find out where you're from and whether you want whatever they're selling - massages, ice-cream, necklaces, fresh oysters and prawns (cerviche), corn fritters, marijuana, rock statues, rides on jet skis and banana boats, and the best tropical fruit salad money can buy (chock-full of papaya, pineapple, mango, melon and banana). The fruit salad lady is our favourite. She has a knack for knowing when you're feeling peckish and appears, miraculously, by your side with a bucket of fruit balanced on her head and a big grin.

Carl gets a massage

In the afternoon, boatloads of tourists arrive at the beach for a few hours. It's peak hour for the locals but it's not intense by any stretch of the imagination. The rest of the time, it's best to just sit back and watch the world go by from the comfort of your hammock. If it gets too hot or you get bored, a dive into the beautiful sea is the perfect antidote. At night, the handful of gringos who stay behind gather on the beach to watch a sunset and enjoy a quiet beer. And if they're as lucky as us, they get to enjoy a feast of fresh fish, plantain, coconut rice, and salad. You see, on top of everything else, Molinda is a cracking cook. Perhaps even the best on the beach.

Em doing what she does best - drinking beer and sitting in a hammock

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