San Benito and Flores
Our first 'Tuk Tuk' ride of the trip to our hosts' tree house from the town centre of San Benito to a quieter suburb. The compound belonged to a family and Wilson, in his mothers absence, he hosted us.
We had a basic outdoor kitchen, flush toilet, cold water shower and clothes washing area next to shady hammocks in the courtyard. Up a steep wooden ladder was our tree house, the bedroom decked out with a comfy bed, electric fan, candles, a mosquito net and Wifi- what more do you need!
Wilson was a welcoming host and lent us his push bikes in order to cycle the twenty minute journey over the bridge to the island of Flores. We arrived in the afternoon of the 25th of February and took the bikes over to Flores. It is a beautiful little island with an outer road running counter clockwise and two or three internal one way street too. We zigzagged our way through and around the island as the sun began to set, we covered the island in around half an hour. It was reminiscent of a Spanish mountain town, only set in the midst of a lake. Being surrounded by water, unfortunately, the north-eastern part of the island was partly submerged underwater.
The next day we took the bikes on a bit more of an explore, through San Benito (a busy, dusty town) across the bridge to Flores where we picked up burritos and tacos for lunch at 'Cool Beans' restaurant before boarding a 'lancha' which took us (and our bikes) on a three minute journey across the lake to the peninsula of San Miguel. It was a good job Wilson's bikes were mountain bikes as the steep rubble roads were a challenge to navigate. We cycled through the small village and up to the middle of the peninsula where there was a viewing tower, down the other side we found the Playita El Chechenal. After a couple of hours of swimming and sunshine we caught the lancha back to Flores in time for 'happy hour'. Two 'Raises Special' cocktails and a tiramisu to share at a five star restaurant for a fiver, salud!
