PUNTA DEL DIABLO: A whole day to discover the beaches and wonders of this remarkable village of Punta del Diablo. My first objective was to visit the lighthouse down the end of one of the long beaches. After this I simply took time out to wander the rocks and beaches, enjoying the natural wonders of such an untouched area. And there were some other things that I had to do no matter what the cost. Morning Walk The sun had beaten me up this morning, so after the morning routine of rugging up with lots of coats against the super cold weather, and buying breakfast from the local shop, I headed off for a walk. I wanted to visit the lighthouse today. There had been conflicting reports of how long it would take me to get there, and also about the condition of the sand along the beach. By the time I reached the lighthouse I knew who was right and who was not. It only took thirty minutes to get to the end of the beach, although the soft sand made walking tough at times. The large waves of yesterday had now become much smaller waves today, but the sound of their crashing added a rhythm that made walking very relaxing as I sauntered along. Behind the beach some of the dunes had steep walls of sand covered in lines which had been etched there by the wind. The grasses that covered them created their own patterns as the blades of grass were pushed back and forth by the wind on the sand surrounding them. The slight cloud cover gave a biting edge to the cold breeze, but nothing could dampen the beauty that surrounded me. The Lighthouse Reaching the rocks at the other end of the beach, I was close enough to see that the lighthouse was actually just a colourful pole with a light on top. A large and luxurious house sat next to it, closed up for winter. There was nobody around. In my solitude, I wandered along enjoying the sight of the waves throwing sprays of water into the air as they crashed against the rocks. Suddenly a dog charged at me barking and growling. I was very startled indeed. Fortunately the dog did not pursue me, but only wanted to assure me not to come any closer to his territory. Behind him were people working in the garage of a much smaller house that had been hidden behind the larger one. Feeling safe, I continued my rock climbing until it finally ended once I reached the beach on the other side. This beach, like the other long beach that I had seen yesterday, continued into the distance untouched by civilization, until it finally rounded a sandy point. It took a long while before I returned around the rocky point of the lighthouse. I stopped many times to enjoy watching the waves, and took my time slowly wandering across the rocks that made up the point. There is something about being isolated in nature that is a very refreshing experience. This was one of those wonderful moments in time. Lunch Alone It is lunchtime by the time I return to the fishing village, so I head for the one and only restaurant once again. All the familiar local faces are there but there are no guests except me. We chat a little but today everyone has something to do and so talk is limited. This suits me fine, as I really only wanted to eat my meal and go out exploring again. Lunch is a lovely pasta dish with white sauce, and is so tasty that it takes very little time to finish. While I am eating, I notice that the family who run this place bringing out food for their lunch, and just as I am leaving they all sit down to eat. With the house as part of the restaurant they eat together in the dining area. Working Fishermen When I reach the fishing boats, the same two fishermen are busy folding more nets. I thought they had finished yesterday so I asked them how many nets they had. They replied that these few now were the last of all the nets. They had folded one type yesterday which floated near the surface of the water, and today they were folding the other type which sat on the bottom of the ocean. I hang out with these guys again and chat with them for a while. Most of the time I am simply listening to the conversation, trying to make sense of what I hear. When they are almost finished the last net, one of the men start talking about how hungry they are and how they really need to eat, making jokes about how his stomach is about to cave in. Then, as soon as he finishes the last part of the net he jumps down from the boat and runs off into the distance crying out how much he needs to eat. The other guy works to finish folding the net on his own. With this done, he continues working, moving on to clean out and organise the cabin area from where the boat is steered and then starts preparing the front hold to take all of the now-folded nets. I take a few more photos and then bid my farewells and leave. There was something that I just had to do, and it was over on the other side of the point, where the water was smooth and silky. What You Have To Do, You Have To Do The ocean that I was next to was the Atlantic Ocean. All my life I have lived and swam in the Pacific Ocean. Today, no matter how cold it was, I was determined to ensure that my experiences were expanded. Reaching the other side of the point I discovered the water was not as smooth as it was yesterday, and with the tide out I needed to walk a little further to reach the deeper water. These did not dampen my enthusiasm for a swim however. Being a quiet and private place, I considered going in naked to save me carrying around a wet pair of swimmers. Then I thought against it and changed into my swimming shorts. Just at that moment, a couple appeared on the sand dunes behind the beach, heading my way. Now in the middle of winter on a day where the sun is shaded by cloud and a gentle breeze is blowing, you cannot pretend that a swim in the ocean is going to be warm. It certainly was not either. As I waded into the waters of the Atlantic, the freezing cold water bit around my feet. I knew this was going to be a challenge, but it was becoming greater than I first expected. My determination to swim, and my commitment to follow through with my words after telling the fishermen that I would be swimming today drove me on. I am not sure which was the greatest motivation. I was not in an area that went deep very quickly, so there was plenty of time to think about how cold this water really was. As the water started to rise above my knees, the small swells rolling in started to reach some of the more important parts. The water felt like it had come straight off the south-pole and already my legs were tingling in the freezing cold. Finally, once I was in up to my waist and still trying to avoid the swells, I realised that it was time to "do it". So taking a big breath I gathered myself and dove head first into the next oncoming swell. It was freezing. My skin crawled all over my body, growing tight with the cold. I could have left right then, after all I had immersed myself in the Atlantic now. However, just a dive in the water did not constitute a swim, so I stayed in there until it felt like a swim. After a while of playing in the water I started to grow accustomed to the sensation of not feeling anything and began to enjoy playing in the water. It was probably about five minutes later that I emerged from the water. Dimples covered every part of my skin which was looking more like it belonged to a plucked chook than it did to me. I was cold before my swim, but once I had dried off and dressed again I was feeling comfortably warm. Perhaps that was because it took a while for the sensation of feeling to come back to me again. But I had done it. I had been for a swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Next time though I think I will wait until summer. Venturing Through Town On my way home, I wandered up through the sand dunes to the back part of the village. Here were located many commercial buildings, built in threes or more for the sole purpose of renting them out during the summer months. As I wandered through the dirt streets, looking at the many interesting designs and colours in the houses, I encountered a cat sitting on a post. It seemed lonely, so I went up and patted it and immediately had a friend. It wanted to climb onto me then, but although I was friendly, I was not that friendly with it and did not like the idea too much. Cat And Dogs When I left, the cat jumped down from its pole and followed me along the road. It was probably the worst thing a cat could do in this dog inundated town. Before long, two of the many dogs that roam free in this town saw it and thought that dinner had been served on four legs. The cat quickly realised that the two dogs hurtling toward it were not about to become friends and it took off with a flurry. The dogs were chasing hotly behind it. The cat quickly found a wooden pole and raced half-way up it, out of reach of the dogs. With its head hanging frightenedly over a sign, looking fearfully down on the dogs jumping up and down, barking wildly. It was a sight that I had only ever seen in comic books before. Before too long, the owner had retrieved his disobedient dogs, much to the relief of the cat. Not certain of the safety down there, the cat continued up the pole and sat on the roof it was supporting. I had lost my friend, but this was safe at least. Bones and Fossils I soon returned to the more common section of town, away from all of the barking dogs who were protecting their turf. It was down here along the beach-front that I met up with one of the fishermen that had been standing beside the boat while I was there. Greetings and a short conversation later and we were soon looking at bones. He pointed out a bone on the ground that had belonged to a large whale which died on the beaches nearby. Another whale bone was also now part of the roof structure of his house. Now that I saw these two bones I also remembered seeing another in the restaurant. It looked like this whale had been scattered around the village. These bones were not the only items that had been collected either. Inside the house I was shown many other bones and fossils that had been collected over the years. Most of these sat proudly on the sloping bricks above the fireplace. A penguin that died a similar fate to the whale had bones and its pelt on show here, as did fish other animals. Even dried fish skins adorned the brickwork. It looked a little bit macabre, but this fisherman was obviously proud of each item. I soon discovered that these sorts of items were not only located above the fireplace. As we looked around the house there were others sitting on or hanging above the shelves and on the walls around the room. The most significant fossil however was sitting on the dressing table in the bedroom. This was the complete skull of a seal, with the jawbone and teeth intact. It too was a casualty that they found along the beach. A Fisherman's House As I looked at each of these fossils, I was also looking around at the house that I had been invited into that was truly the house of a bachelor. There seemed to be no order to things, but it had a certain feeling of home. The kitchen-living-dining area was the first part of this two room house that I entered. Here there was clutter everywhere. Things collected from the sea and beaches were scattered amongst the essentials of pots and pans and food items. There were no cupboards here, only shelves that revealed all they contained. The fire was burning, making the inside much warmer than it had been outside. On the table sat a cluster of items from books to food to collected items. There was enough room there for one, but only for one. One shelf, standing as high as a person, was filled with books. As I looked through the titles, I saw books relating to fishing and boats, the ocean and the beaches, and books teaching tying of knots and other skills related to his profession. There were only a few novels and books that offered other topics. As we entered the bedroom, the large single bed caught my eye. It was not made, which is only to be expected, but the most startling aspect was a massive big hole that had sunk into the middle of the bed. The way it was set up, the bow in the bed because of the hole would make it worse than sleeping in a hammock. On the floor of the bedroom were old clothes scattered around. Shoes and other items not currently in use filled in the holes among them. A cupboard was here with its doors flung wide open, but there were few items remaining inside. The dressing table was covered in items, many of which belonged in the workshop or other places. Things were now within easy reach however, such as the seal skull fossil. After viewing this last and most prized of fossils, I thanked this friendly fisherman for the opportunity to see them and for our conversation. From here I went my way again, heading toward the flat. Dinner Alone On returning to my flat, exhausted and tired after a day of constant walking, I quickly fell asleep even though it was only late afternoon. When I woke, at dinner time, I headed down to my favourite, and only, restaurant. Yet again I dined alone. All of the girls of the family were seated in the corner nearest the fire, making many different items of pottery, but the boys were not here. With the girls involved in making some of the items that would be sold in their artists stall down by the beach, there was no-one to talk with. A local paper provided some interest during my meal, which was a delicious serving of fish steak covered in mushroom sauce. It was one of the tastiest meals that I had enjoyed in this place, and probably significantly better than my standard of steak and fries. Thanking the ladies for such a good meal, I gathered my coat and headed out the sliding glass door. It was a good time of night to look around the town a little. Nobody Here It became obvious to me very quickly that there was nobody around town tonight. Even Gringo was locked away inside his home. After thinking about it, I considered that perhaps last night, being a Sunday, was the reason it was so social. Today, on a Monday night appeared to be an in-house night and I found not a single person socialising. Making Fire Returning to my flat, I set about to make a fire, retrieving more firewood from the pile outside Gringo's door. There was one dilemma that I had this time though. After using almost ten matches to start the fire last night, I now was left with only one. In preparing to light the fire, I armed myself with a lot of pre-torn and crumpled paper, and made the fire just as they taught me in boy-scouts. Then I lit the match and ignited the paper in my hand. From here it was a frantic process of pushing one piece of paper after another into the small fire until finally some wood started burning. It was another cold night, so I stoked the fire with a lot of wood and let it burn brightly. Learning from last night where I put all of my wood on the fire at once, I waited until the wood had turned mostly to red hot coals and then sparingly added more wood as it was needed. This kept the flat nice and warm and conserved my wood. By the warmth of the fire I sat and enjoyed reading more about Punta del Diablo. With much time on my hands I also found time to finish reading about vacations around the world in Spanish and some of my Bible. It was a pleasant and relaxing night to sit by the fire, and by midnight I was happily asleep in my bed and dreaming of the day that had just been.