Buildings and Animals, etc.

Before I begin- Happy Fathers Day! Thank you to both our dads out there. We love you both so so much and appreciate everything you have done for us.

This posting is going to be a mix of things, which equals randomness. It's been a while since I have posted so I'm going to catch up. I want you all to see what is going on down here!! Ben has been busy studying, he had another mini test this week. And I completely sold everything at the bake sale!!!! Yay! I made carrot cookies with cream cheese, along with the regulars (mango coffee cake, and banana bread). They were amazing!! Maybe every once in a while I will post a recipe. I will try to post the recipe for these later. I have also started to teach English every Tuesday and Thursday night at church to locals. They are 20-40 year olds and mostly men. It is so much fun and it's always fun to see them randomly in town. It's nice to hear them remember my name or shout out "Hi Teacher". Although this last class day I tried to have a conversation with a few of them and realized that they probably have no idea what I am saying half the time. It took us forever to understand each other and talk about where they are from and how long they have been here. But they are always excited to learn. On Tuesday there was a blackout during class throughout the town and instead of jumping up and leaving (which is probably what everyone in America would do with excitement) everyone pulled out there cell phones (which have flashlights on them-wonderful!) and stayed for twenty minutes. It was really wonderful to experience that.

But to continue with this posting I want to talk about the pictures! So I'm going to jump to that (like I said, randomness). The picture above is of a lizard that was on the fence around our apartment. It wasn't cooperating with us, because there is a fan that flares out under its neck and we couldn't catch it with the camera. But it is still cool. Then a few weeks ago I was leaving the pool with some friends and we came across this awesome Caterpillar!!! They are huge! The head is pointing down my arm and the tail is where the antenna is sticking out. You can't see it very well, but they have about 10 stubby legs, like soup cans. I wish I knew more about them, but the fact that they are not poisonous is all that matters sometimes. (Thanks Jacquelle for the photo)


Now I know that this is not a great picture of me. But you have to see what amazing superman eyesight I have! Ben and I were walking back from a lecture that he just gave about splinting for Ross EMS and Wilderness club. He did an awesome job and there was a great turnout. There is an old crumbling mill building on campus that we pass on our way home and sitting on one of the rock walls was an iguana! It was monstrous and pretty exciting.

Can you see it?

There it is!!! BIG!!
So now I'm shifting to buildings. A lot of the buildings here are hut-like. It's dirty and people live in what they can. Some are decent, but I doubt there are more than two room and it doesn't look like they would have a bathroom in them. But the houses and buildings are cool and should be documented.

House at Tocauri Bay.

Part of the main street in Portsmouth.

Cricket field next to church. The yellow building on the corner is a snackette- where people get food. While I was taking this picture, it turns out there is a old white man that lives on the other corner. He was like, "Let me take a picture with you in it". Smiling I replied "oh, that's OK, I've got it." But in my head I'm thinking, "Creepy, what's a strange white man doing in the middle of nowhere?" It makes one think that maybe he's hiding out from the government, from selling drugs or killing someone (that's my mind jumping to conclusions). It was weird, though because white people don't live in Portsmouth, but apparently one does.

This is our awesome green church building. We have sacrament and classes on the second floor, primary and nursery (in the kitchen) on the first floor, and I think there is a business on the top. This is also where we have our English classes.

So last weekend we went out to eat with some friends at Blue Bay Restaurant. It's down an alley and is a restaurant right on the beach. It was really good, the fish was amazing! Ben got grilled Mahi Mahi and I got King Fish in curry. They bring out an appetizer of fried something-dough? And then side dishes of rice, veggies, a different kind of banana cheese like bread for everyone to share. Definitely yummy.

View from the restaurant.
Us at the restaurant. I know it's not an amazing picture, but I like it.


And finally my purchase of the month (or semester). I was taking the transport back from the market yesterday and there was an old man selling mats he made. It's a woven mat made out of dried leaves (palm leaves that are stripped?). I got it for 15 EC- which turns into about 6 dollars. I took this picture and when I showed it to Ben, he automatically said, " Well that looks like a blog picture." It totally is, because I'm proud of my purchase and want to show everyone.

Toucari Bay

So Monday Ben and I were able to spend some time together. It was great. He finished his exam around 11:00 in the morning- so we decided to go to a beach farther north on the island. It was called Toucari Bay and was really nice. We were the only people there, except for some locals working in the small town making some beach shacks and the fisherman. In the picture above you can see I'm eating some of the picnic I brought with us. It was some super yummy Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches. We also went snorkeling for about 45 minutes. There were a lot of cool fish and I got stung yet again!!! Ridiculous. This time I booked it and left Ben behind after I got stung on the face. But we swam out pretty far- in the picture above we swam out to the tip of the bay. Then it kind of got to a drop off- and I freaked out and didn't want to swim any farther. Freaky- but Ben didn't think so.

Having fun. Notice Ben's sick mustache that I shaved earlier that day.

Fisherman with the fish they just caught. The owner of the boat got mad at Ben for taking pictures. Not happy at all- but we saw a member of the church there and him and I smoothed things over. It was pretty neat.

Crab on our front doorstep when we arrived home from the trip. Fun. We tried to catch it but it ran away.

SARI SARI FALLS/ Happy

I'm so happy. I'm so happy that I am here with Ben, enjoying the island. That I can take time to relax, discover, nap, tan, have a simple routine, go to the beach, exercise, cook dinner with Ben, pretty much do whatever I want, etc. I thought I would post a picture with both of us- since I haven't put one up in a while. When Ben had a moment to breathe we decided to snorkel at our beach- a 20 second walk from our front door. It's kind of rocky so no one goes out there, but there is some really neat snorkeling and no urchins (for some reason I have become paranoid about these). We were able to find two starfish, hermit crabs, mating crabs, colorful fish and lots of sand dollars. It was a lot of fun. I love hanging out with Ben when we have the chance, but that will have to wait until next week because he has his first big test on monday!

Earlier this week I also went on a trip with the spouses group to Sari Sari falls. It was amazing!!! Sometimes I feels like I'm in a totally different world and maybe I am. The falls is on the other side of the island, the Atlantic side where there are huge waves. The water on our side is always super flat. The drive ended up taking two hours each way!! It was ridiculous, halfway through the drives I want to say, "Excuse me, I think I'm done with this, I don't want to drive anymore", because of all the hills and turns. I've never gotten car sick before- but i might become one who does. Luckily it was cool up in the mountains and I think it helped, plus the fall was totally worth it. The hike was took about an hour or more to get in. Everything is huge- these pictures don't do it justice because it's a jungle and the depth and height in the pictures gets ignored. It is just amazing! It's like your at Disney World, where they recreate the jungle at the animal kingdom- only astronomically better. (I feel slightly lame for even trying to compare this to Disney World, so if it is a lame comment ignore it)

Big tree on the ledge of some huge rocks covered in moss. This is one of the three rivers we had to cross. Pretty.

Huge waterfall- maybe 100-150 feet!! It had rained earlier and so it was gushing! Where I'm taking the picture was where we left our packs, and were getting drizzled on. We had to then crawl over those huge rocks. It was like a tidal wave in the pool, a friend and I tried to swim under to the fall. We only got halfway though because the water is spraying so hard, there is a current, it's super loud, and it felt like chaos. I felt like I was in a hurricane. To swim halfway my friend went first and then I followed. But halfway through I was laughing so hard because I couldn't see, and was being pushed by the current and suddenly my friend yells, "Liz, your a swimmer....SWIM". I laughed so much and had to grab her hand. It was so funny. Hahahaha. I guess you had to be there. Notice the big rocks that the people are next to?

Me in front of the waterfall. So cute.

Another river we had to cross. Look at the rocks compared to people!

Jungle. Can you see the person?

Another river we had to cross. Coming back we ran into another group of people from a cruise. It made me realize how lucky I am. I am so lucky to be a local (sort of) and be part of the island and not some random visitors, traveling with 30-40 strangers. I get to experience this everyday! Luckily our groups are only about 8-10 spouses, along with a local who gets us where we need to go- sometimes dropping us off to explore on our own or joins us to show the way.

Guess what this! A cashew!!! No wonder they are so expensive. They grown individually on a tree. The top part is the cashew with the nut inside and then the yellow is fruit that you can eat. Our driver pulled over to show them to us. During lunch my friend and I cut one up and tried to eat it. The yellow fruit part is waxy and taste slightly of sugar- it was actually kinda gross. They are really juicy and I guess people make drinks with them. We also cut the cashew and the driver jumped out of his pants (not literally) and yelled at us to wash our hands. I guess the oil in the shell can cause your skin to peel off. I don't know why he didn't mention that earlier when he gave them to us.

And finally cows..... this picture was taken from our deck. Ben had to go back to study at school and had some trouble getting out our front gate because of the cows blocking it. There were a few more that aren't in the picture.

So it's a lot of fun right now. And I thought I would update from the last couple of days. Enjoy!