Santa Clara

7th July 2013

We went fishing once again!
Actually, there was only one person who was really fishing. Rest of us were either playing, helping him or just watching.

It was Amavasya (new moon). The waves were high and the sea ......... very rough. 
No fish was getting caught. But some people are so passionate about this sport that they refuse to give up. Our fishing enthusiast was hopeful that he would catch really big ones this time..... but not even a small fish got hooked.  He finally gave up when he ran out of bait.

Santa Clara beach is beautiful!

The hour long drive from Sabliere to Santa Clara was rough.... there were no solid roads leading to that place. And the ditches were good enough to rattle our bones. I was trying to imagine what the condition would be like when it rains.

We came across a man standing in the middle of the road with a spade. He said he was filling up the bad patches on the road and asked for money for his work. I suspected that he was actually digging them up.

But what a surprise! He was doing neither. I realized that when I saw him standing at the same spot while returning home. He was begging!

There were exits from the road at regular intervals to reach the sea shore, with paid parking spaces at each point. But that's it. Thankfully, there were no restaurants or resorts spoiling the beauty of the beach (at least at our chosen spot)

Picnic benches were placed under the trees all along at our picnic spot, along with a few hammocks here and there and nice rope swings hanging from trees.

But at the same time, there were massive logs of wood.... huge tree trunks lying on the shore. They were rolling in and out of water with the waves. Well, it was quite dangerous. 
One of us fell when a log rolled in. The same log hit another person on his ankle and later even my leg also got trapped under it...... all within a span of 10 minutes!

But we were back on our feet in no time and continued fishing against all odds.
Yes, the odds were really against us.......

Two hooks and one sinker got lost in the sea. 
We lost all the bait. 
Even the line was getting shredded. Have you ever seen that?......... a new, strong nylon line, shredding because of waves! 
In the end, one of the fishing rods also broke..... the current was so strong.
One little fish.........., and we would have got even..... but no luck.

The little children had to be held very tight. They were getting thrown out and dragged into the sea every time with the waves.

Even I got nicely thrashed. In fact, one huge wave actually knocked me down.

It was when I fell; that I realized that the sand on this particular sea shore was so coarse and rough. Not at all like the fine, soft sand that is found in most places.

After a terrific day on the beach, we headed back home. 
We were soaked to the skin and thoroughly tired because of the battering that we had. 

The return journey was incredibly short. Thank God, that it was, because all we wanted to do now was go home and crash on our beds.

Fishing

26th June 2013

We had gone fishing in the sea on Saturday.
Contrary to my belief, its not an easy sport! I had even taken a book along, thinking that we just had to sit in one place holding the rod. 
That is what pictures in books suggest, right?

But ...... No!

Its not like that at all.
It is real hard work.

 It involves putting the bait on the hook, throwing the line really far out into the sea, waiting for the fish to bite and finally reeling in the line very fast when you feel the tug.

We used crevet i.e. prawns as bait. The fish in the Atlantic were gobbling up all our bait without getting caught themselves. Hmm .....smart!

But it was great fun. We caught 2 little cat-fish but set them free again. We had even put one in a bucket full of water and wanted to bring it home alive.... thought of keeping it in a pond or something...... But the bucket overturned because of a huge wave and we lost that one too. 
Anyway, keeping a sea fish in a pond would have been a bad idea. Sea fish don't survive in ponds.

The beach at Sabliere is a quiet, peaceful one with just a few people wandering around. Not at all crowded like so many other beaches on this planet. The best thing is that it is just across the road from where we live :)
The waves appear sandy close to the shore but the sea looks green if you look far out towards the horizon.

A peculiar feature about the beach is that, though it is generally flat in many places, there are spots where there are sudden steep dips. Its not really advisable to venture too far inside the waters unless one knows the undulations which lie beneath the waves.

And can you imagine that the beaches are cold and windy in Libreville? Believe me.... they are. I was actually shivering on the equator! I wish I had carried a jacket along. I'll be wiser next time.

We ended the great day with steaming hot tea at a friend's house.

We did not bring home any fish but we sure did bring the sounds of the sea with us........

A bumpy ride called life

We could not believe that we had done this!
We had agreed to live in Gabon, a small country in Africa.

In fact, before saying "yes", we went through a very difficult phase and many challenges.

The first challenge was whether we really wanted to leave the comforts of home and go and live in a country so unknown to us that we had not even heard of the name a few weeks ago.

The other challenges included : finding out whether it was safe,
                                                : was the education system in place.... etc.

All done, we finally decided that yes!... we were ready for adventure.

But this isn't about Gabon/Africa.
It is about 'my experiences' in Gabon and the impressions I have derived from those experiences.
Its Africa through my eyes.

This is a collection of events which have touched me or impressed me in some way ............. an amalgamation of memories of this wonderful place.  

There is no particular order of writing.... no systematic sequence.
It is an unadulterated description of the bumpy ride I am enjoying :)