Today our “activity” was going to be (wait for it) playing cribbage. But midway through the day, we decided to be more adventurous (i.e., upright) and take a 10 minute walk across the island to another beach. Signs from our resort led us along to the service area of the resort. Past a sketchy hotel resort of some sort. Past “Hippies”, a restaurant for god knows who. Through a series of fetid swamps. Past some more sad-looking shops and restaurants — seriously, how many people possibly come here? Along the Tsunami Evacuations Route. Into a Tsunami Hazard Zone (geesh). Down a sketchy dirt road covered in dead palm fronds and surrounded by palm trees who had lost their tops. It was really an ominous site and I expected at any moment to hear a sitar play out those notes from Deliverance.
So then we got to the beach. The guidebook described the beach as more neutral, through a bit more flotsam. Yeah, heavy on the flotsam. And ringed with a shantytown. Not so picturesque. So we headed back to the unreality of our beach, saddened by the knowledge that even paradise has a dark side. Of course, after 5 minutes at the pool, and after a frothy pineapple daiquiri at the swim-up bar, all dark thoughts were whisked away. And then we played cribbage.
***
Have I mentioned the fruit bar yet? It may be the best part. Or at least top ten. Every morning at breakfast, there is a huge array of fresh fruit with a woman constantly cutting more fruit into nice manageable portions. Dragonfruit, bananas, little oranges, papaya, mango, longans, watermelon, pineapple. And one mystery fruit that looks like a yellow marinated artichoke and tastes like artificial banana flavoring. [Later determine to be jack fruit.] And yes, that is the second time I have compared a fruit to an artichoke. 
corah25 said,
March 3, 2008 at 10:04 pm
the mystery fruit is called a jackfruit.