It’s raining right now which is a welcome change from hot and sunny. Well, it’s not really raining. It rained for a moment, then misted and is just now a little overcast. For a moment we were supposed to get tropical storm Maria but I’m not seeing much unless this is it in which case...that’s boring!
Life here has been much of the same which is definitely not a bad thing. We got to see some sea turtles get tagged by the visiting scientist and those pictures are here on flickr (plus more pictures of sunsets than you would ever care to see). We’ve been working on learning our seagrass and mangrove species. So many algae, so many stages of each fish. Everything has begun to look the same but when studying is going for a snorkel, there’s really nothing to complain about. I also went on my first real dive of the trip and oh my goodness I’m counting down the hours until my next dive (tomorrow!!!) even though it means we can’t go out the night before :). The water was the bluest I have ever seen, as clear as glass even through 2-3 ft seas. The title of this blog should really be “how the hell can I work when the water is so blue.” I had no problems equalizing my ears and my equipment is still great. It’s so comforting to know that I’m the only one who has used my regulator; I don’t like the idea of using the same mouthpiece as someone else with rental gear but I’d do anything to get back into the water.
I also took my first freshwater shower since we’ve been here on Sunday (2 days ago). The saltwater shower we have is fine and I haven’t actually been feeling too gross. You’re going to be a little sticky, glisten a little, freshwater shower or no. However that shower was sublime. I had truly forgotten what freshwater feels like. My hair was clean. Very clean. It was almost a religious experience. That lasted about, oh, an hour? I’m back to being salt drenched and sun sprayed and to be truthful, I don’t much care. Despite the various discomforts, this is too amazing an experience to be lessened by more material concerns.
Speaking of experiences, going into town is pretty…unique. The people are all really nice (read: a little too nice) and the beers are cheap so I’m happy! It’s a lot of fun to go talk to people, but occasionally veering into the ridiculous. The island is super Christian and pretty conservative so only about 3% (virtually all men) of the island goes out on a regular basis but that 3% goes hard. Everyone is drunk. And then gets up and fishes at 5AM the next morning. There are some characters, some more…outgoing than others. It’s nothing threatening or unfriendly, but it sure is an experience.
Recently I met a man we’ll call “Cowboy.” Cowboy wears a cowboy hat and a leather jacket or vest in this 90 degree heat. He was at a bar we call Darryl’s and started talking to a bunch of us, specifically me. I was wearing southwestern-style earrings, which I guess is where our exchange started. He (very drunk) started asking me what tribe I was. At first I did not understand what he was saying, and then started to try to assert that I was just…white. He wouldn’t take that as an answer so eventually I said: “I’m Jewish!”
Now, I’m not sure why I said that, or what response I was expecting, but he started saying over and over again: “I love the Jews,” “I have such respect from the Jews.” I then extricated myself and as we left he shouted “Shalom, goodbye, shalom!” Fortunately he was more interested in someone else next time! Like I said, it’s an experience.
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