06/16 I hate this road oh so very much. Today was a perfect blend of all the things I dislike the most: horrible road surface, steady traffic and a strong cross-wind. I asked my new friend Viven if it’s always this windy here and she confirmed it. She also said it can go from sunny one day to a hurricane the next which makes me wonder what kind of warning system they have in place here. There is a hurricane shelter in town and I think the building was rating to a cat 3 but I wonder how well word gets out if one is coming.

Crooked Tree Village is very sparse in services but the people are incredibly friendly. Viven, who I mentioned above, works here at the motel. I happened to run into her on my afternoon hike and we had a nice chat. She also has a wicked arm. There are fruit trees all over the place and she asked if I wanted a mango. Right above our heads about 15 feet up was a ripe one so she threw a stick up and knocked it down for me. I ate it back at the motel and boy was it good.

Cashews are a big thing here so I bought a bag of fresh ones and chowed down on those. Lunch was at a place called Carrie’s Kitchen which was hard to find because the signs are almost non-existent. I’ve had to ask if I’m going the right way more in the last few days than at any other time on my trip. Ended up having rice and beans with some chicken which seems to be the standard menu item in these parts. Also met the smartest kid while I was walking back here. He couldn’t have been more than 6 but he knew the names of every bird we saw. It’s so nice being able to talk to 90% of the people I meet. Except for one guy who spoke Creole, everyone else has spoken almost perfect English.

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