We are still here

We live in a hut thatched with palm leaves, behind a restaurant that knows how to make both muesli and pasta pretty well (a rarity), on Kudle beach, a stretch of sand roughly half a mile long, bounded on each end by palm-forested headlands of black rock and red earth.  We share our hut with a lot of inquisitive, hungry, rambunctious little rats, all named Sampson, too many mosquitos, and a load of other mysterious insects that appear to enjoy the warmth of a human body throughout the warmth of the night.  We read all day, interspersed with swimming and body surfing in the ocean to cool down, and eating to power ourselves on for further reading.  Cliff-side trail running on the headlands, south to further beaches, provides a welcome break from an otherwise sedentary lifestyle.  Long swims in the ocean, out to small rocky isles, serve this purpose as well.  The sun is very hot.  It is good that we are here during the winter.