Happy Trout

Tuesday 9th February 1988

Dehydrated from last night’s drinking we enthusiastically downed a litre of milk each, with our breakfast. We get the hotel girl to put a carton in the fridge for us every day now. We then sat in our room in a pleasant breeze watching the sea and trying to motivate ourselves to do something.

At 09:00 hrs we went over the road to buy a Coke to wash down a cocktail of malaria and vitamin pills. We then went on to investigate the higher waterfall. We quickly ascended the secondary trickle of a waterfall opposite the main one and then followed a trail through the forest.

We then, mistakenly, continued to climb through a field of long grass and young bamboo. We slogged on upwards through vegetation which was determined to resist our progress, with crickets jumping all around us and the sun beating down mercilessly.

Realising that we had done a wrong ‘un we slid and scrobbled back down the hill to the path, covered in dirt and barbed seeds. This time we discovered that the path did not end abruptly but descended vertically via a natural ladder of tree roots to the top of the waterfall.

Thus, we gained access to the upper falls where a refreshing swim washed away the accumulated grime and sweat and we dried off in the sun. You could also look over at the main high waterfall far below.

At midday we clambered back down and demolished three bottles of Sprite each while chatting good-humouredly with Alaskan Chris. We then sat on our balcony watching the sea, chomping pineapple and waiting for the heat to die down a bit.

Declan nodded off to sleep and I read for a while before strolling down to the nearest beach for a swim in the sea. The water was relatively calm and relaxing apart from a brief entangling encounter with a length of nylon rope attached to a buoy.

I walked back as the sun dipped behind the hills and had a shower. We went to Chico’s Bar to eat but he said he was just waiting for the days catch to come in. It was due at any moment apparently, so we settled down to have a beer while we were waiting, sitting in the garden between a huge pig, some dogs and some parrots.

A group of Americans and Canadians gathered with Tom Brown strumming his guitar. Their sense of humour did not match ours, so we moved inside. Two hours passed with no sign of any seafood so at 20:00 hrs. we went next door to the Happy Trout and settled for Caribbean chicken.

We sat at a table with a local woman who told us that the wind of recent days had a detrimental effect on the local fishing industry. At 22:00 hrs we went back to bed.