Tour Providencia by Mule
AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Sat 15 Dec 2012 21:27
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We are approaching the two week point since our crash
bang wallop sail from Panama. Finally we took off to tour the island and see
what delights it has to offer. The 'Mule' was of the four wheeled variety -
did you think we would subject some poor baying flea-bitten quadruped to a
days torture lugging us around on its back - you did?
These Kawasaki things look like a Friday afternoon doodle
on a fag packet by some bored 'chappie' in the design
office failing in an attempt to cross a golf cart with a jeep. The
layout is quite simple, two rows of seats and a cargo space behind -
perfect to stick fuel cans, backpacks or unpopular members of your
tour party into. Our plan was for six of us to hop into or
onto this thing and to hell with the discomfort. After all the
island is only about 12 miles round by road so no great distance to endure
the warmish proximity of one's friends or partners. There is no windscreen
or indeed any windows whatsoever so any flying insects that would normally be
mashed onto the glass in front of you continue on unhindered to hit your
face. It has to be said that these little vehicles reach their theoretical
top speed only when driven off a high cliff and the quality of the road
surfaces leaves much to be desired. Just how many times we would circumnavigate
the island was open to speculation - three or four times
maybe, switching from anticlockwise to clockwise no
doubt to refresh the view from one's seating position. In
reality, due to a severe case of the 'turkey trots' there were just
the four of us. We bounced just the once round the island as the lure
of morning coffee along the way and a long lazy lunch on what could be
described as one of the nicest beaches we have left footprints on meant we
arrived back in town with no time to go round again.
We hired the 'Mule' from the Ferreteria (hardware
shop) at a modest cost of 100,000 pesos. (Approximately 3000 to £1). Make a
£400 withdrawal from the bank here and you become a 'Peso millionaire' - until
you buy a loaf of bread. After a short introductory driving lesson on our 'Mule'
and with our 'ferret man' having topped up the fuel tank with a few teaspoons of
petrol we were free to load up and drive away with our newly met Kiwi
neighbours on the yacht 'Balvenie'. So without further ado
here are our day's memories in pictorial form...........
 Our 'Mule' complete with camouflage paint job -
why?............We got in and waited, .....and waited... for the road to clear -
no horn you see
   Quaint old church alongside a new one........the
'Kalaloo Point Coffee House and Boutique' could be in the New Forest....... time
for a coffee stop
  The island is the cleanest we have visited -
spotless in fact. It would win any award in any country for it's
cleanliness
 
 Unspoilt beaches...........just paw prints and
'dog-ends'.........southern end of the island from an 'Admiral's' view
point
  And so to lunch.......cooked on open fires in an
open kitchen ..........2 huge fish platters for 50,000 pesos (£17)........we
were stuffed
 
 Not sure what's going on behind......but the
'Admiral's caught by an octopus ...the dog walked all the way down to the
beach and back with us having first jumped up and put filthy paw prints on
Phil's fresh clean white t-shirt!
Our day came to an end with a visit to the fuel station (the
only one on the island) where we replenished diesel and petrol cans before
handing back the Mule. Providencia is the sweetest of islands. Some
beautiful scenery with great friendly people. Sometime in the recent past
an awful lot of money was spent around the island creating a municipal
theatre - now derelict, as well as many features including some
dubious concrete animal sculptures like the octopus in the pics.
Elsewhere a large manta ray, an iguana, a crab, a turtle seat and a pirate
lady and galleon could be seen. Considering the island's low level tourism it's
strange to see these objects as playing a critical role in the island's tourist
trade. Still, never mind!
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