The Advantage of a Poor Start

One of the advantages of having a crap start to a trip is how much you appreciate it when it stats to improve!
Having left England with temperatures of around 3 degrees C in the daytime, and heavy frosts at night, it was lovely to find that, once the sun was up, T-shirts were entirely suitable garb… temps of 18-22 degrees and trees full of ripe oranges and lemons everywhere. Kat & Chris, on the other hand, were starting to feel it was getting a little chilly, so our first outing was to the local market, to buy some rugs for the floor, as well as buying fruit and veg. Exhausted by the task of selecting oranges, and learning the Turkish for cucumber, we decided we were in need of a little sit-down… With Pelicans.

And Beer.

The Pelicans were not really supposed to be there, they stopped off, a few weeks ago, possibbly because one of them was ill, possibly just becasue they relaised they would get free fish. They have become very popular. They have not yet quite learned how to order from the menu - currently they try pecking the menu, the table, passing waiters.... But I'm sure its just a matter of time.

Incidently, their beaks are incredibly pliable, and bendy (all of it, not just the pouch) - quite soft, but with lots of teeny tiny serrations all along the edge (presumably to keep the fish from falling out). This pair seem to have given up on the option of catching their own fish, and prefer to stand around looking plaintive and occasionally trying to eat a table or chair, until somone gives them some fish. It doesn't seem a bad lifestyle...