What a Ride!

Hello from the Bahamas! With a little down time today, I realized that I get wireless internet from the porch of our beautiful stone cottage on the 'road to paradise.' I will catch y'all up to speed on my adventures by typing some of my journal entries...

6.13.08

A lot of what I wrote on this day has to do with battling nerves and anxious anticipation, so I will spare you the nitty gritty details such as how long it took me to walk to my departure gates and where I bought an orange juice. After landing in Nassau, things became more interesting.
I met the other instructor, Ana at immigration. It was so nice to finally meet her! We had some time to chat before flying out to Eleuthera on Bahamas Air. I was really nervous about that flight... Maybe it was because we had to actually climb up stairs to get inside; really close to ginormous propellers! Or maybe, it was not knowing what to expect on that flight... It only seated maybe 15 people, and the engine was really loud. I was only three rows back, so I had a clear view of the cockpit. Yikes! The flight was only fifteen minutes long, but that was long enough for me! The view from the air was absolutely gorgeous though. I could see the whole island. Eleuthera is 2 miles wide and 100 miles long.

After landing in North Eleuthera airport, we met Jen and Deanna, who have been very active in organizing the lessons here. From that point, we really hit the ground running! On our way to where we are living, we crossed a bridge that showed both sides of the island. There is the 'Atlantic Side' (East) and the 'Caribbean Side' (West); but, both bodies of water are actually the Atlantic Ocean.

After arriving at our little stone cottage next to the 'road to paradise,' Jen and Deanna gave us a tour of Gregory Town where we are staying. Everyone here is so nice! We met some children who are taking lessons, saw coconut and mango trees, chickens, and a whole lot of lizards. After our tour, Ana and I went swimming and then I finished the other half of my pineapple tart (SO YUMMY!).




6.14.08

Amazing doesn't even begin to describe the day I've had. Ana and I started our day off with a jog and went down dirt paths to explore. Some ended up being dead end paths, but were worth it just to see the flowers. One path we went down was really rocky and long, but totally worth it. We ended up on a cliff overlooking the ocean. I wish I had had my camera with me! I have made a mental note to go back there- many times before I leave. I think I saw a humming bird today... but, I definitely saw a SEA TURTLE!!! After our jog, we went for a swim and saw some really pretty blue and yellow fish under the 'caves.' We also some some clear fish, a yellow and black striped fish, and a couple starfish.

After our jog, we went back to the house to grab some water and lunch, but then were out exploring some more! We stopped in the local stores to say hello to people and talked to several kids about lessons. They all seem really excited! We decided to find Surfer's Beach, which was apparently a lot further away then we had thought... A police officer stopped further up the road went in reverse to see if we were lost or needed a ride. He laughed at us when he realized we were trying to walk to Surfer's Beach. He drove us there and waited while we looked around. He drove us back to town and showed us several other beautiful beaches. He had a ton of very useful information and was super nice! I was initially nervous about getting a ride, but hitchhiking here is very much accepted. Gas is over $6 a gallon here, and not everyone has a car.
The remainder of the day was spent swimming, cooking dinner, planning lessons, and trying to call home. The one payphone in town doesn't work and neither do our cell phones. I hope everyone at home isn't freaking out! Later, Jen introduced us to our neighbors; Ma and Pa. They are the sweetest older couple!

I am pleasantly exhausted.

6.15.08

Another beautiful day in Paradise! We started our morning off with a jog, and ended up going further North then we had yesterday. We found a resort that had a beautiful beach, but it felt man made and artificial. On our way back, we tried finding the pineapple field the police officer told us about, but didn't have much luck. When we got back we went swimming with our clothes on. We were too sweaty to try and change! When we got back, we got ready to go to Church at 11am. We figured it would be a good idea to go since religion is a integral part of the people's lives here. There are several different types of churches here, so the congregations are very small.

To sum up the rest of the day, we called people about lessons, went to a family get together (that Fish invited us to- Everyone here has nicknames...) at the beach and swam for a few hours with some of the kids, jumped off a cliff (yup), and watched the Celtic's game at a someone's house.

*Bellyjuice= coconut water, coconut milk & rum
*Potcake= a mongrel dog that pretends to be fierce

6.16.08

The Celtic's lost! Sad! Everyone here seems to be a Laker's fan, so that didn't make the loss any easier. We finally got our phone working!! For local calls anyway... and I was able to use the internet again at Double D's Internet Cafe in Hatchet Bay. She makes amazing smoothies.

After having a little down time, we walked around town trying to locate some kids for lessons. A woman gave us some mangos. Everyone is always giving us fruit- I love it!

Later on, we went to Rainbow Bay where we saw some breathtaking views. The picture I have up at the top of the blog is from there... Wow. I wish I was better at climbing. I'm pretty scratched up.

6.17.08

First day of lessons. The first few went pretty well. The water was really rough due to the massive thunderstorm we had last night. Everything seemed to be going well until 30 kids showed up after their Vacation Bible School. We stayed out to keep an eye on everyone, but there was no way we could do lessons. I got totally fried. I applied SPF 50 multiple times, but it didn't seem to help much.