Far from a white Christmas....

The smell of cooking fish, or two, caught that morning red snappers, filled the warm, dry air with a delicious bbq scent, stuffed with garlic and herbs, wrapped in banana leaves and then covered with foil, and slowly left to steam over hot coals from the fire prepared from coconut husks, how much time would they need, two beers was the majority vote.

Having spent the last five Christmases obtusely hoping for a white Christmas, I was glad to be spending this one dressed in a pair of shorts and a vest, sitting around a fire with five new international friends, who only a day ago were complete strangers. Gone was the unwrapping of presents, gone the idea that you should all get on because it's Christmas, gone was who does what and gone was the decision where it was to be spent, we laughed and joked without fear of per-programmed reactions learned over time, taken as gospel due to family dynamics.

This Christmas we finished a beer then decided on what to eat, at around 4 pm that afternoon, afternoons are cooler in the tropics, slowly we strolled into town, bartered here and there, to find the best deal, 2 red snappers weighing in at 3 kgs and a kg of calamari, a little salad, loads of beers and some coconut arrack, dinner and drinks cost us around 5 British pounds (8 dollars) each (between 6), the equivalent of a day worth 20 times that amount in the UK, just the cost of the heating alone, to sit in shorts would have cost more.

I finished the night sleeping in a tent on the flat roof above the hosts house (his spare room), the house is still in the process of being built, only the ground floor is (nearly) finished, and woke to a warm sunny day. To shake off the nights festivities I stumbled down to the ocean and spent an hour in the cool, refreshing morning's surf, riding calm, windless, glassy waves what better present can a person want.

Merry belated Christmas to your all, as you can see I have been busy, I hope this finds you all in good health having enjoyed your Christmas celebrations, what will the new year bring, who knows, though I wish you all the best wherever you are or have been :-)