After the exhausting jungle trek day I really needed to relax and rest my feet a bit, so I decided to do nothing at all for a day… Tim and Joaquin thought this would be a good idea and we did nothing together. Fatima and Agustina had to leave that day, as they had to go to Kuala Lumpur to catch a flight to Indonesia (because apparently someone told them, that massages are very cheap over there, and Bali isn’t that bad either, so…). To pass the time we met with them for breakfast. Fatima didn’t eat anything, but she introduced me to something called “Mate”. She says it’s very popular in Argentina and she drinks it all the time, like people in Europe drink coffee. I didn’t fully understand what it really is, but it looks a bit like loose tea and you put hot water over in and then you drink it with a metal straw with a small filter in it, so you don’t suck in the small Mate-“leafs”. I’ll have to take a look at Wikipedia later, so see what this really is. Anyway, it tastes a bit like green tea with the after taste of coffee. And she said it also keeps you awake, is good for your digestion and some other stuff. She guessed we wouldn’t like it, but I thought it tasted quiet interesting. And as I don’t like coffee that much, maybe is a good alternative… However, there’s just nothing better than a nice fruit salad (ok, the perception here of a fruit salad is just some fruits chopped to small peaces, but anyway), some nice company and this view:

Afterwards the girls went to pack their bags and I decided to do some laundry, as I was running out of clothes (ok, only out of shirts, as I’m wearing my bathing pants all the time here ). When I was done we met again with Fatima and Agustina for some nice lunch at a place where we could see their ferry arriving, as there is no fixed schedule in the moment with the varying tide levels. Also I only knew them for a couple of days, it was sad to see them leave, as I really enjoyed the time with them. But after Indonesia they’re also going to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and as you always met each other twice in life, who knows, maybe I’ll see them again in a few weeks. If not, at least now I have some nice contacts in Argentina, should I ever visit South America…

Now while the sand flies biting me didn’t bother me the day before, the bite marks now really started to itch! And as I have like a gazillion of them on my legs and feet it got really annoying! I put some” Fenistil” and some kind of powder I bought at the Duty Free shop on it, which helped a bit, but I still had to scratch every few minutes. Man, I’m really having a hard time over here!!! Please show some mercy for me

The rest of the afternoon I wrote yesterdays blog post and started to read in the book I brought along: “How to Win Friends & Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. It’s being published for over 70 years now and millions of copies have been sold, so there must be something good about it, and so far, it seems like it’s a good read.

Later I met again with Tim, Joaquin and Maria (another german girl from Bavaria) and we went to the “city” to get something to eat and some cheap beer. Most restaurants let you drink the beer when you eat there, as most of them don’t sell any…welcome to a Muslim country. Most of the time we buy Tiger beer, as it’s the cheapest and doesn’t taste that bad (for beer), but you can also buy Skol, Carlsberg and a few other  brands. No german beer though…

On the way back to our beach, Joaquin got himself a burger for the way at a dodgy street stand. As it turned out, this wasn’t a really wise choice, as he spent the night on the toilet. I, for my part, have been lucky so far and didn’t have any problems in that direction, also I drink local stuff with ice cubes in it etc. The water seems to be pretty save here, as Tim is even drinking the tab water and doesn’t have any problems. But it seems like you have to watch out for some of the food…