My second day in Los Frailes, I joined my freak friend Capitan Ron for an afternoon cerveza. Ron’s misfit friend, John, came by for a bit of a chat before heading back to the “other side.” I was beginning to think that I had been here before. I was beginning to wonder if I was one of “them,” one of the Freaks and Misfits.

The following day, John returned to invite me over for sashimi. He was slicing up the fish that he caught from his kayak that morning. How could anyone refuse an offer like that?

  

  

  

I arrived at noon to discover two more guests, Meggy and Lars, from Germany. John and Meggy had taken up residence in one of the fishermen’s huts on the beach and planned to stay through October. I also learned that there was an entire other section to the campground. John had created a little hobbit hide-away among the trees and bushes on the north side of the beach. He even had a real refrigerator! I hadn’t ventured into that part of the park because the roads in looked pretty sandy and I was still shell-shocked from my Los Barilles experience.

Lunch was delicious and the company was lovely. Lars is a very quiet guy, but his reticence is off-set by Meggy who is cute, sweet, bubbly, and very chatty. John is one of those know-it-all types, but he actually did know almost all, so he is ok. I discovered that in-season, this place is absolutely packed. It is such a popular place that they have a mayor of the community, dogs are not allowed in that section of the campground, and they take bets on who will die that year. Strange scene for sure. I am glad I arrived post-Semana Santa and all those folks had left. All who remained were Ron, John, Lars, and Meggy.

  

John encouraged me to relocate to the forest side of the campground. I explored the area a little more after lunch. I thought for about 30 seconds. Then I packed up my rig and moved to the other side, where I stayed for the next two weeks. I walked the beach every morning, swam, snorkeled, wrote, read, slept, did yoga and pilates, and watched birds. It was incredible!