“What’s that?” Rhonda asked as she arrived home from having dinner with family and climbed aboard in the gathering dusk.

Sitting in the cockpit awaiting her return, I took a final deep pull on my cigar, and then leaned my head back and exhaled a stream of pungent smoke into the cool night air. “Drums,” I said. “They’ve been at it for over an hour now. Want to go see?”

“Sure,” she replied, her curiosity aroused.

A moment to fix a couple of quick cocktails,  and then we ventured out into the deepening darkness, following the rhythms riding the mild sea breeze. They led us to Plaza de Luna, where we encountered this somewhat unusual scene:

As the percussionists explored variations on a rhythm, a small crowd of onlookers gathered, some swaying and twirling to the tribal beat. As we watched, others arrived carrying drums and took their places in the group.

After following the tempo through what seemed every possible iteration, someone would spontaneously vary the beat, and the drummers would adjust to the mutation in the rhythm as the dancers adapted their movements to keep time.

“Well this is something we haven’t seen before,” Rhonda observed.

“Indeed. In the ten months that we’ve been here, this is definitely new,” I agreed.

Who were they, and why were they drumming at our marina on a mild Tuesday evening? We have no idea. Like the man with the wild hair and bushy beard who randomly shows up to blow a ram’s horn (the voice of God, he calls it), it’s just another one of those little things that adds to the atmosphere of this place and makes it an extremely interesting location to live.

We may not have yet thrown off the lines and headed somewhere south of somewhere, but if one of the goals of cruising is to fill your life with new and interesting experiences, then I think we’re already well on our way. 🙂