Bañarse en el mar

If I lived here this would become a blog entirely about seals and sea lions, so I won't mention them in today's. Other than to say that I was checking them out around sunset when I got this photo of the lighthouse (el faro) in the fading light.

Today has been pretty lazy and relaxing; the kind of days the beach is made for.

I swam in the refreshing cool Atlantic waters, which is an achievement to anyone who knows me, as I am usually ultra pathetic about getting cold in anything other than 30 degree bathwater.

I finished the slightly dull and repetitive book I was reading and look forward to moving on to the second, which looks an altogether more witty affair. I'll find a travellers' book library and jettison the first as it's not worth the extra grams to cart home. In previous backpacking trips, books were always prized commodities, to be exchanged in hostels with other travellers. Never would you want to be left empty handed as in those days having to spend £8 on a new one was unthinkable and equal to a day's travel in El Salvador. Now travel culture has changed with the advent of online material, book-swapping logistics are likely less critical.

I continued to eat delicious food at the hostel, which this evening was fresh fish baked with vegetables. I said '¡mmm, que rico!' to anyone who would listen, and started formulating a very positive TripAdvisor review in my mind.

I walked all over the dunes and up the beach in the opposite direction from yesterday, acquiring extra blisters on both heels. Whoever knew that scampering around pavements and on sand would cause so many foot issues. I thought my skin would be relatively coarse as I've lived many cumulative years in flip flops but it's like I have the soles of a precious newborn. I've also burnt the tops of my feet, so I'm certainly putting my trotters through the mill on this trip.

I socialised with practically no one, except with the Argentinian woman who cleans the dorm, to discuss the mother cat who has birthed three tiny kittens in a storage drawer. She speaks no English and later an Irish guy moved into the other side of the dorm. They had a conversation about Uruguay, but neither understood a word the other was saying. I thought about translating (in pidgin Spanish) to lessen the awkwardness, but was too comatose and relaxed on the other side of the room to rouse the energy.