Day 2 (1/24)

To my people who are wondering...

Today I went on an all day trip. I went with two girls from Canada and the 8 people from Wisconsin. We woke up at around 7 and went to a bird sanctuary to start off the day. I was excited to take some pictures of some things so I could show you all how I'm living but the batteries to my camera were dead even though I hadn't used it yet. I saw lots of birds and plants including a peacock (Im not sure if they are wild on the Island or just here) and a Jesus bird that is capable of walking on water, hence the title. I also saw the many unique plants including the lotus flower which is a lily and for a non-flower kinda guy I was impressed, also saw some cocoa plants but thats old news after my trip to Venezeula. The tour guide was real cool and she was so passionate about teaching us how to help sustain the environment and had a very interactive presentation.

After birds we drove more and finally found lunch. After driving around for a while we were unable to find Subway which the group was set on so we settled for Pizza Hut and KFC (real culture shock there!) I had Pizza Hut which was really not all that different from the one at home however, they do serve "Ketchup" which is more like sweet and sour sauce and a hot pepper sauce with everything down here. We then drove around for many more hours just touring the different parts of the Island. We started in the northwest corner, drove south towards the bottom, across to the east side and finally all the way back up the east coast. I'd say I was in the car driving for a total of about 7-8 hours today just lookin out the window. Some cool wild animals I saw were a lizard about 2 feet long, many wild dogs that are real cool and just chill in packs, including many on campus and an oxen that kinda looks like a water buffalo. I think we should start writing to our congressmen to disband dog catching operations cuz it would be so cool to have packs of wild dogs roaming West Hartford center, they dont hurt nobody.

Even though I've done nothing since yesterday to help situate myself I feel much more at ease. As you may expect the Islander mentality is begining to take hold and Im just kinda going with the flow. I've yet to obtain a pillow, fan, food, water, beer, cell phone, and theres many other things that I could use too. I will definatly take less for granted after this week for sure (sleeping on a hoodie and beach towel is really, really not the same as a pillow and fans are so necessary). Its like 90 degrees (30 celcius) and feels like a July heat wave in CT. Getting used to liters, money conversion 1:6 isn't an easy ratio to get accustomed to, km etc is fine and I'm learning quickly.

Mom and Dad, despite all the bad things you've heard about this being party central I've yet to have a sip of alcohol and have really cut back on DA SENSI SMOKIN' JAHHHHH MON!!! (jk on the smoking part). However were going to a club/ bar tonite so that likely to change and I plan to be gettin' silly sometime soon.

Anyways Love ya and Miss ya all!!!!

-Patrick