Isla Fuertes. We had a beautiful anchorage all to ourselves after being escorted in by a couple of the locals 5,000 pesos. I'm sure we could've done it ourselves, but they weren't going to go away without a "propina" (tip). We wondered into town later in the day & once again were the center of attention. It's remarkable how much you feel like you're on display. (I've made up my mind, that I don't think I'd like to be famous!!) The town is poor, but clean & the people "muy amable". We went to the local tienda looking for some verduras (vegetables) & ended up with a couple of potatoes & onions. After we left, we were approached by the local English teacher, Roberto. He lives above the storeowners place & Carlos told him a couple of English speaking people had been by. We got to talking & one of his 13 year old students joined us. We ended up back at Carlos' buying a beer for Roberto & talking a little of both languages. After our farewells, we said we would be back tomorrow for a walk (el camino). It was a Sunday, so Roberto was available to show us the sights. We went most of the way around the island, seeing such sights as El Bango (the largest tree on the island), the "Walking Tree", the "faro" (lighthouse), & El Cueva de Robert Morgan (the cave) He also took us to visit a local families place where I handed out some paper & crayons. They had offered us some bananas which were excellent. Upon our return, we bought Roberto a beer & as we were leaving he asked us for a Propina. I must admit, the two of us were extremely disappointed as we thought just maybe, for once, we found someone who was actually interested in us. No such luck, but we carried on with our plan of photocopying part of my dictionary for his classes anyway. We went to his school the following morning & copied 14 pages of notes for him & then we asked him back to the boat. He was happy to do so (the thought crossed my mind to charge him for it!). We took him back to town as we had to get ready to depart for the over-nighter to Sapzurro that evening. We had dinner, cleaned up dishes & headed off about 8 P.M. on one of the blackest crossings I've ever been on. It was pleasant enough, not another boat to be seen & the seas coming at us off our beam. At times the winds were light, but we able to sail the whole evening arriving in Sapzurro around 10am.
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