Every Day

We woke up at 5:15/5:30 am. Thats early. Our shuttle was picking us up at our place at 5:50am. Ty, my parents and I were out the door at 5:47 and our ride pulled up and the gentleman who booked our trip jumped out (the nice gentleman who didn't speak much English). Only the four of us were outside so we yelled for our companions to join us. "Ride's here!!" But sense there was only room for four per taxi, the gentleman assured us that he would wait there for the next taxi and the rest of the group so we jumped in and hoped that the rest would arrive after! Our driver stopped the truck (white trucks are used as taxi's down there) and said something in Spanish which we all assumed meant "get out" or something similar in nicer language. So we hopped out, grabbed our stuff and met our Naturalist for the day. After a few minutes of waiting for the rest of our group and thinking each white truck would be them, they finally showed up and joined us and so we ...

After we got back and had our not so hot shower, we relaxed for a bit before figuring out where to go for nice man at the front desk suggested a good Indian place and we all decided a change up in our diet would be great. We have been having a lot of Thai food. The mosquitoes in phi phi were insane and very itchy and I had not brought many long sleeve/pants options, so I wanted to find a shawl or some pants that I could wear to combat the mosquitoes. I found a beautiful dark blue shawl with elephants on it that I absolutely love! There are so many cute  things buy at the shops there. After shopping, we went to dinner and enjoyed our Indian food. At first our food didn't come with rice which was strange for Indian so we had to order some for like 75 American cents. Dinner was cheap(ish) and delicious and not Thai and after we went to the beach. The tide was very far out so the beach was very long. The bars on the beach were already pumping some music trying to get people to c...

I love exploring new places with old friends. It may be one of the best feelings ever. Luckily, my friend and I both had the same spring break! Worked out perfectly! I landed in Tampa last night  (monday) around 8:30 and was so happy to see the smiling face of my good friend whom I spent time with in FL and the VI. Her new puppy greeted me as I hopped in the front seat and we chatted about life the whole way back to her place This morning, we took it easy and then grabbed the dog and started the drive to Myakka River State Park. With the sun out, a slight breeze and 70+ degree weather, it was the perfect day for a hike. We got to the park around mid-day and our first stop was at the bird dock. This was a birders paradise! Hawks, vultures, cranes, herons. There were beautiful birds of every kind flying over the water and low shrubs. You could see for forever! After the birds, we went to find our trail. The trail started in a wooded area and then opened up pretty quickly. ...

5:11 pm Today was really fun. We hiked Volcan Pacaya! We took the longest bus/shuttle ride there. It ended up being 2.5 hours instead of the supposed 1.5 hours. It was along twisty turn roads too. There was a lot of traffic and the gas got to me but I was able to take a short nap. When we got there I was so happy to get out of the car! Once we got out of the car we had to pay our entrance fee and I tried to get to know some of the other people on our tour. Then we got introduced to our guide who was awesome! He spoke clear, slow Spanish that I could actually understand. Too bad no one else could speak Spanish because it would have been cool to do the whole tour in Spanish and see how much I could actually understand. Then we started the long hike to the top! It was all uphill but not too bad as we made frequent stops at the beautiful outlooks along the way. I was chatting with the other people on the trip who were pretty cool. Some from Spain, New Zealand, UK and Australia! The a...

4:04pm Its friday the thirteenth and I didn't even realize! So, today I slept in until 7 am and took an hour and a half nap mid-day. Ive had an annoying headache all day. I drank, ate and took a nap but it was still there. I think my sleep schedule is just weird... Melanie and I ate lunch (an avocado, pesto and grilled cheese sandwich. as good as it sounds) at the lodge and then went on a little adventure hike. There are little trails all over this mountain because of the locals. Thats how they get around. On the way to el mirador, the lookout, we were unsure if we were on the right path. We had a map but it wasn't very good. I asked almost everyone we passed of we were going the right direction. This little boy we first met was so cute. He asked in spanish if we were looking for el mirador. I said "si" and he pointed up the steep path and said "ariba!" up! So we continued up this horribly steep hill... I just spilled delicious popsicle all over myse...

The last couple of weeks have been good and bad. Here are the ups and downs: Work has been intense. Ive been working all night shifts, no time for developing my garden, planting more plants, mixing the compost or other office work. We have been busy. Its been good but also super exhausting. Im exhausted. It has given me hardly any time for myself. I want to exercise more but I'm too tired to get moving in the morning before my shift... On Wisconsin!! Watching the final four was super fun! Im not a huge basketball fan but I love watching big games like that. Winning against Kentucky was super exciting and then the amazingly close game against Duke was great to watch. I was almost asleep at the bar last night but it was worth it. Shout out to the generator at Melt cause the power was out. Went out right as Ty and I finished cooking for Amber and Darren! (Burrito night!) The cats are super adorable. They come hang out by me a lot and the baby girl kitty loves to cuddle with me. ...

My parents have been visiting since Tuesday which is why Ive had no time to post! I had to work during the week while they explored the area around Red Hook and enjoyed the warm weather. Then yesterday was my first full day off. The first thing we did that day was sleep in! I had been having to get up early to go to work the days I worked, so sleeping in a bit was necessary.  Then Ty came over for breakfast and surprised me with a ton of fair trade/organic chocolate! (That stuff is hard to find on island) I wondered why he bought all of it, I thought that he was just being an awesome boy until later he reminded me that it was Valentines day, haha! I had completely forgotten…  Then Ty drove us to the ferry and my parents and I were off on our adventure over on St John for the day. After we got off the ferry, we tried to see if we could rent a car for the next day to explore St. John a bit more. Its a beautiful island and I wanted to be able to drive around more b...