Across the Street

(Note: You may want to enlarge some of these)

It was such a beautiful late afternoon yesterday, we decided to take a little walk across the street. For some reason, we don't go over there very much. I hope we don't take it for granted.

The water was bright and clear all day yesterday. Lots of blue and green and you could see the coral rocks through the water. As you can see, most of the shoreline on this side of the island is rocky. Sharp rocks too! Not sure what kind they are, but I think lava. Really old lava of course!


As you move further south along the beach, it starts to get a little sandier. This area used to be a big turtle nest area. I don't think any even came on shore last July. Hurricane Wilma changed a lot of things around here. In this picture, you can see the big rocks that rolled in with the surf back then.


This is a closer look at the road side of the beach. Notice all the boulders lining the road. These were dumped there by city crews after Wilma. This is an attempt to protect the roadbed from the next hurricane. In this area, the waves don't break until they get to the road. This area of the road, which is about 1/4 mile down the road from us, was smashed to pieces. The surge kept on going across the road.


I guess the locals have forgotten that already. Note all the "houses" built right where the hurricane deposits the biggest waves it can send at us. These are all temporary houses and part of a squatters' project going on in protest to some land issues here. I certainly would not want to spend any of my money building something in this location. Yes, people are living in these "houses" without the benefit of electricity, sewer or water. Most of these people who are part of the protest have houses or apartments elsewhere on the island. They are only required to sleep in these to maintain their squatters' rights. Most tourists think these are permanent houses and feel sorry for the poor people who have to live like this. The true story of what is going on here is totally different and very interesting.


Finally, I leave you with this:


Can anybody tell me what is going on here? Answer tomorrow!