Sat, 6 Feb

Sat, 6 Feb i woke up about 1:30am, had to pee, and couldn't go back to sleep. so, i got up and took my laptop to the library and started to upload photos. it was awesome, lightening fast. i finished just at 6am ... over 4 hours! so, i apologize for bombarding you all with over a week's worth of blogging; but i had to get caught up. i wanted to be able to start telling my Glovers 'story'. today is another different weather day. it's windy again, but from yet another direction. and .... considerably cooler, i.e., get out the sweat pants and sweat shirt again :( the waves are choppy out front, but calmer on the other side of the reef. not a day you'd want to work in the water! but, now it was time for breakfast. scrambled eggs, thick canadian-style bacon, pancakes, and hot oatmeal. you can also make yourself cold cereal, etc. we couldn't find Alex, so we didn't know what we should do. i went back and laid down and slept until about 10am, when Marie said we were doing another phase of the Sea Grass study .... in the water :( i planned on something like this, so before i left, i searched for a pair of neoprene knee length shorts, and a neoprene zippered jacket ... exactly for this type of situation. so i put it on ... i was the only one that wasn't really miserable :) as we were getting started, Alex called to us to come look at what he found. a rather rare citing ... a Sea Hare. it's actually a sea slug, but it's so cute. it has big kind-of 'ears', so they say it looks like a rabbit, hence the name. i think it looks like a little deer with horns. i offered to run and get my camera and attempt to take photos through the water. so he waves make it look abstract; they aren't Natl Geographic quality, but you get an idea of what it looked like. he was so accommodating --- he lined himself up with our tape so you can see his size today we were going back to the same measuring tape layout grid that we set up yesterday. we were doing 'core sampling'. you take a 4" PVC tube and position it over a plant and then push it down about 6" in the sand, and pull up the tube with the plant, roots, and sand in it. then put it in a mesh bag, shake out most of the sand, and then they analayze the sample. Ray and i worked together. he had the worst job of going under water and drilling the plug ... i was just assisting. i'm sure i'll get my turn later. we collected 6 samples in about 1.5 hrs. it was not really a fun time to be in the water. time for lunch and to warm up. lunch was fried chicken, red beans, rice, tomatos and cucumbers in oil and basalmic vinegar. Everyone decided that the weather was just too miserable and cold to continue the Sea Grass project. we had the rest of the day off, at least i did, i'm not sure if anyone else worked, but no one asked me to help. so i downloaded the photos of the Sea Hare and worked on other photos in my library. about 3pm, the sun peeked throught he clouds briefly. i needed a break. grabbed my camera to take a slow walk about the caye. i was hoping to get some photos of a lot of hermit crabs together like i saw the first day on my walk with Marie. i got kind of side tracked around the water, and then on the trail. i saw these oval balls, i think they are old old coconuts. but, ... i took a look at them, and .... i saw a little face ... 2 eyes and an open mouth. so i took a pic ... found another, he has a friend ... 3 friends, 4,5,6,7,8 ... a whole family. it doesn't take much to entertain me on a nature walk :) Janny, this made me think of you ! love you honey! aren't they cute ????????????? i also saw this huge termite mound in a tree so, my goal was to find a lot of hermit crabs. i found a few here and there, some pretty big ones as i was heading back, i saw another trail and followed it. i mentioned that after meals, we put all our food scraps in a bucket. well, i found where they dump that bucket ... OMG!!!!!!!!! hundreds, literally, of hermit crabs, and also some HUGE blue crabs, which are land crabs, with one claw larger than the other. the blue crabs are about 15" across ! ok, i've finally managed to put a video on You Tube !!!!!!!!!! so, you can go to: www.youtube.com type in the search box: "Glovers-Land Crabs" and you should be able to watch a 3+min video of the hermit and land crabs. in the meantime, check out these photos !!!!!!!!!!!!! i spent a lot of time there in amazment, and managed to get eaten by mosquitos and sand flies, aka, no-see-ums. dinner was baked potatos,,,, baked beef in dark gravy, and eggplant with cheese on top. it's Sat night, so we went to Alex's place for a nightcap then to bed.

5 Feb-First Day at Glovers

Fri, 5 Feb: i love to get up early, ... but i don't usually wake up early. Breakfast is at 7am. Marie was going to knock on my door, but she and Nick were going out at 6am, so i was on my own to get up. i woke up in the same position i was in when i got into bed. i didn't move an inch. i had a wonderful night's sleep. when i woke up, it was just getting daylight, i opened the door to my deck and got to see the sunrise. Let's get the day started ! photo of sunrise: off to breakfast of pancakes, omlette, sausage, and some kind of warm custard that i did not get, and should NOT have taken a taste of ... it was really good. i sat with Fagan, our boat Captain, also Dive Master. i was to meet with Alex at 9am to do some Sea Grass work. he said that since the wind had died down, and it was clear and hot; we'd change the plan. instead i was to go out with he and his dad to spot stingrays. i found Fagan and told him we'd be ready to leave in 1/2 hr. i went back to put on my suit and sunscreen. it's an on-going study of the Stingrays. a specific line is designated one mile long and mapped on the GPS. Fagan drives the boat slowly, following the GPS reading, keeping it on that 'line'. we stand on the bow of the boat. Alex looks left of the 'line', and Ray looks right of the 'line'. i am the 'scribe'. when Alex sees a stingray, he tells me how many meters it is from the 'line', and that side is negative. Ray does the same thing on the right side, which is positive. so i would write down -12 or +9. they also tell me if it is small, medium, or large in size. also male or female if it's possible to tell, which it usually is not because they are too far away to see and you are looking at them through the water. also anything else i should note, for instance, we spotted a nurse shark. Fagan keeps track of the mileage, and let's us know when our mile is about up. then we drive to the next location and repeat. this is called transecting and we did 9 of them ... and saw anywhere from 6 to 13 stingrays per mile. we started at about 10:30am and finished around noon. it was so cool standing on the bow of the boat, above this beautiful turquoise water, seeing stingrays and other fish at your feet. the surf was crashing over the coral reef on our right.... it was almost too much to take in! i can't believe i am doing this! Photo of the lagoon. Those are frigit birds. usually you see them flying, not sitting on a dead tree, .... like vultures. Alex said that that tree was on another caye that used to be there. it was a small one, and a hurricane blew it away ! so now all that is left is a dead tree or two and very shallow sandy water. it's really pretty ! ....ok, it's ALL really pretty ! :) it was after noon, so time to get back for lunch (environmentalists still have their priorities). lunch was tuna salad on fresh bread, ... and .... i had my first lettuce and tomatoes. wow, it tasted good! haven't eaten either because you don't know if they washed them in good drinking water or not, so it's best not to chance it. after lunch i found Marie and asked her if i could help with anything. she said she and Nick were going to do quadrants for the Sea Grass Study. Picture of Sea Grass area just in front of Dining Room where we do the Sea Grass Study: it was a hot day, and the sun had heated up the shallow water. i mean it was HOT. so hot, that you didn't want to just stand there coz it hurt your feet! amazing! there were bouys in the water. we took a measuring tape and tied it to the bouys underwater on the sand, and strung the tape between the bouys. so we made a 3 lines of measuring tape, on the sand, underwater, each 50 meters long. they were about 10 meters apart; which means the first line is in about a foot of water, and the second line is in about 2.5 feet of water, the 3rd in about 4 feet of water. we started at the shallow end, since the deeper line will be more difficult because it will be totally under water. then we took a wire square, and placed it on the sand, outlining any sea grass that was there, at specific intervals; determined by some scientist somewhere. so we looked at the measuring tape, and at 2meters, we put a square around the sea grass. then stuck a sign in the sand above the square that will designate what the coordinates were. then we clean up the area within the square, taking out any old dead grass and anything else that isn't living there. then we take a photo of it. pic of quadrant like this .... so we did this along the three 50 meter lines. for the 2nd and 3rd lines, we used our snorkel and mask, since we had to go under water to place the square, clean out the squares and take photos. it was kind of difficult, because we didn't have weight belts on and when we got down to clean out the squares, we floated back up to the surface. eventually, i put my foot down there, so Marie could hold on to it, to hold her down. we got a pretty good routine of teamwork going about the time we finished. the purpose is to measure the density of sea grass ... how much sea grass is in what area. we spent about 2 hours doing this. it thought it was quite fun; but they weren't too enthused about the task. this reminded me of what "i think" Pam does in the summertime with her field grasses study. i'm sure this is MUCH more fun! when that was finished, Marie asked me if i wanted to go out with she and Nick to do something similar with the stringray study she is doing. yes! of course i did! we took our snorkel gear and got in the boat and headed out. Nick drove and Marie and i got to stand at the bow of the boat. it's such fun up there, i guess because you never get to do it, coz your mom would say it isn't safe :) but what's the worst that could happen? .... you'd fall in that beautiful warm turquoise water! when we got to the site, the first thing i saw underwater was a conch walking on the sand. i missed the conch, but here is a pic of it's tracks: conch tracks. back to the study, Marie had another measuring tape on a reel. she tied it to a bouy. then she used her GPS and some computer model. she let out about 10 meters of line, then swam in a circle around the bouy until the computer told her to stop. then she had Nick free-dive down to the bottom and place another 'square' made of PVC pipe, on the sand. i was given a depth gauge, so i would then free-dive down to the bottom and take a reading on how deep it was. then Nick would take a photograph. then Marie would continue making her circle and stop at the next location and we'd do the same thing. after a complete circle, Marie would let out some more tape, so the circle would be larger, and go around and do the same thing. we collected 30 data samples. this study is done in a stringray feeding ground. and these photos would give a random sampling of what was on the bottom and how deep. we did this for about 1.5 hrs ... it was after 5pm now, and time to stand on the bow of the boat again :) ... and head back for dinner ... again priorities ... however ... first priority was a shower! when i got here yesterday, they had run out of rain water in our shower. the water had to be pumped to fill the tanks again and they did that today ... so we had water .... water , just water, NO hot water here either! dinner was at 6pm, we had baked chicken in a tomato sauce, noodles with parmesan cheese, and steamed veggies. WHAT A DAY ! my first day and i got to help on 3 projects !!!!!!!!!!!! again, i am reminded, i am a very lucky girl !!!! by the way, i am an official Belizean girl as of today .... i took my sandals off, and i'm walking around barefoot :) i went to the library after dinner, with still no luck in uploading any photos. Alex told me that between 1am-6am, i wouldn't have any trouble uploading photos. can i get up in the middle of the night for my blog ????? i returned to my room, i noticed it was thundering; then realized that i managed to lock myself out of my room. i know what happened. there is a hole in the floor and a 'pin lock' at the bottom of the door. when i closed the door, the 'pin' slid down into the floor and locked the door shut. there were some guys playing cards and they told me how i could find Buck. he kindly helped me get in. he went under the bungalow with a stick, and pushed the pin back up while i pushed the door open. good to know that anyone can unlock my door from under my room .... not to worry though. i feel totally safe here. as i was getting ready for bed, it started pouring rain. there is a tin roof and it was so incredibly noisy, i couldn't wait for it to stop. eventually it did, and i went to bed.

4 Feb-Glovers Arrival

Wed, 4 Feb up early to catch the 7am Express Water Taxi to Belize City and a pretty sunrise, a great start to a great new adventure. Darrel went with me and made sure i was safe in Belize City, i took a taxi to the airport, and boarded my flight to Dangriga. it was a short flight, and only 4 of us on the plane. just as we were approaching Dangriga, i saw groves and groves of citrus trees. does Florida have this many? when i arrived in Dangriga, i met Alex, and we went to the boat that would take us out to Glovers. Here is a picture of the 26foot boat. before we left, i met our captain, Fagan. nice guy with bright blue eyes who will be out at Glovers while i am there. he told me that the ride would be rough because it was windy and the waves would be kind of big ... but, he stressed, it's safe! hummmmm, wonder why he told me this? the ride out there was very 'interesting'. once we got out of the mouth of the river, it wasn't too bad; we didn't go real fast, because occasionally we had to 'ride' a wave. it took us about an hour to get out to the reef. once we crossed the reef ... the waves got really big, we were out in the big water; and we were splashing and crashing down and up, like a roller coaster. i looked around ... i could see NO land :~ if you know me well, you know that i really like to keep land in sight, coz i want to know which way to swim; but ... i wasn't scared, Fagan said it was safe :) Alex and i talked all the way out there, he's easy to talk with. he told me that his dad is retired and is out at Glovers 'volunteering' too. i was happy to learn that there was another girl volunteer out here! yeahhhh her name is Marie (not likely i'll forget that name). i'll be working with her and the other volunteer, Nick, both from the UK, on their projects. right in the middle of all the big waves, a pod of dolphins started following along side of us, even saw a baby jump out of the water, they were surfacing and swimming so freely. there were a LOT of them. i was quite excited and pleased that they were excited enough to stop the boat and just watch them. i kind of thought that this would be so common place to them that they wouldn't be in awe as i was, but they were. it was great! i get the feeling that all of these people are environmentalists and truly concerned about it's future. eventually we took off again, they hung around for awhile, then vanished. we continued 'plowing' our way through the waves, and finally reached Glovers Reef. once we crossed over the Reef into the lagoon, it was like being in paradise. the color of the water changed from dark blue, to that beautiful turquoise green, light and dark variations, with the coral just below the surface. oh my ... i'm here! i'm smilin! we had several more miles to go to get to the other side of the lagoon and Middle Caye, and the Research Station. but it was much calmer and so beautiful. then, there in front of us, were a bunch of coconut trees and our dock. the rest of the staff and volunteers were out on the dock to greet us. it's like a family out here. a family in paradise! it is REALLY REALLY windy here! Marie showed me to my bungalow and room, and i got set up ... complete with my princess netting. Marie said i will need it here, even though there are screens on the windows. Photo of my bungalow and view out the door i chose the top bunk so i could see out the window View from my balcony: Marie and i walked around the island ... that took about 10min. the island is about .3 of a mile around. she is happy to have another girl here too. there are literally HUNDREDS of hermit crabs on the trail through the mangroves! you have to be careful where you put your feet when you walk and they come in all sizes, ... some larger than your fist. i walked around and took some photos, sat on the dock, and in the hammock. so far, it's a tough life, but someone's got to do it. did i say what a lucky girl i am? you know the 5 pounds i lost while in Caye Caulker ????????? i'll be gaining them back within a few days of eating here at Glovers! what a feast! Yvette, is our chef. she is so sweet and a wonderful cook. Dinner is from 6-7pm. Photo of inside of Dining Room, screened, overlooking, what else? ... the sea! it's buffet style, when the food is on the table, you grab your plate and fill it up. tonight we had fried rice, wonderful beef in a rich brown sauce, an asian-type salad, also, yummy lemon cake and fresh cinnamon rolls. there is always some fruit juice, water, and fruit. i ate with Alex, Ray, his dad, Marie, and Nick. after eating, we put our paper in a wastebasket, and take our plates to the kitchen. scrape all food into a bucket, including meats and dairy, then wash our dishes. there is a basin with soapy water and a basin with rinse water, then we put them in the rack to dry. :) after dinner i went to the library, ... the internet here is from satelite and, sadly, is slow and unreliable. at 8:30pm Alex, Marie, Nick and i had a meeting to plan the next few days. it reminded me of my days working on the Kalamazoo River Project with Karl, Billy, and Pam. tomorrow i will help with the sea grass study. after our meeting, we retreated to Alex's room for cocktails :) i was happy about this, i was hoping this wasn't an 'alcohol-free' caye, and that i could contribute with my bottle of Capt Morgan and Absolute Vodka :) Brian showed up a little later, the wind continues to blow and the waves are huge, so he was soaking wet from coming over from the neighboring caye. he works at the resort there, but will be helping out here too when we start catching, tagging, and tracking the stingrays. we chatted, laughed, and told stories for a few hours. i noticed that no one was wearing shoes.... then it was time for bed. i climbed up into my bunk and i was out!

2 Feb-San Pedro

Tues, 2 Feb when i got dressed today, i realized that my pants are almost falling down. i've lost some weight since i've been here. it's no wonder, i haven't eaten a lot since i got to Belize; and literally no sweets! No divers or snorkelers today. in the morning, i found an internet cafe -- hey, i'm in San Pedro now, and it's not so slow ... and, it's not so expensive! it's a nice little place with a nice girl running it that made me a great fresh fruit drink with milk and ice. in the afternoon, Darrel and i hung out again ... i feel like i'm on vacation :)

1 Feb-Esmeralda-SPedro

Mon, 1 Feb in the morning, Madi hugged and hugged me when i showed her the money. now she REALLY doesn't want me to leave. she said she's never had a contribution that large before. she said she could buy 4 'bales' of food with that, enough for 16 days. that's pretty huge for her. she was especially happy since i had given her a B$600 payment before she went to Mexico with her Mom .... and it was all gone!!!!!!!!!! After Madi left for work, Eddi and i finished up, quite quickly. a few days ago i figured out how to use the phone system here :) you buy a 'phone card', which is really just a receipt with a number on it. there are pay phones on almost every corner here! you go to the pay phone, pick up the receiver and wait; a recording comes on, "enter your pin", then you enter the number you want to call. as far as i can tell, this is how most people use the telephone. even for the land line at Madi's house, she has to buy a phone card to use it. you buy phone cards and enter them into your cell phone as well. so i took my phone card and called Darrel at the Dive Shop to see if anyone was going diving. he said they had a group at 9am ... it was 8:30; and they'd go out again at 11:00. i said i'd be there for the 11:00 -- hold the boat! i ran back home, packed my bags, wrote a quick note to Madi and Eddi, walked down the street to get a taxi, and left! i took the other water taxi this time, i didn't want to be late! i got there on time; and met the group from the morning dive. 2 women from Canada who were sailing around the world ... a young girl who was just certified ... a guy with a lot of camera equipment. Still being unsure of myself, i got in the water, and of course, i wouldn't sink :) i'm not sure why that is; but it's always been the case. Darrel helped me get down to the bottom where the rest of the group was waiting. we were diving OUTSIDE of the reef, at a place call Esmeralda Canyons. he had a gallon plastic water jug with fish he's caught to feed the sharks, moray eels, and grouper. it's an awesome place. there was a large area that had a sandy bottom, which is nice because you don't have to be concerned about stepping on or destroying any coral. he coaxed out a large green moray eel, and kind of held it and played with it ... no way, not me! i'll hold stingrays and nurse sharks, but no eels! lots of nurse sharks, which have skin like fine sandpaper. they have no teeth, they are bottom feeders, and just suck .. which is why they call them Nurse Sharks. many different kinds of large grouper. they aren't colorful, but really are pretty coz they have a lot of variations of brown, grey, black on them. then we started travelling. it was like being in the Rocky Mountains under water. there were huge crevaces, canyons, and gullys, with tons of soft and hard corals and fishes fishes fishes everywhere. it was so cool. i guess i was off in my own little world, marvelling at what i was experiencing ... and i was also practicing my breathing .... so i missed 2 sea turtles :( ...next time i'm staying close to the dive master! even so, it was awesome. unfortunately, i have no photos. after the dive, Darrel helped me find a room in town to rent for a few days before i take off for Dangriga and Glovers. we hung out, walked, and ate at the local restaurants, not the tourist ones. and fed the local dogs ... not cats for a change:

31 Jan--Last Day CC

Sun 31 Jan the last day of the month ! slow down, go slow, .... but you can't stop time ! we fed the cats, and did all the chores ... we were quite proud of ourselves :) it rained really hard a few times early this morning. all the locals have been telling us for a couple days that the weather was going to change and it was going to get cooler :( today wasn't very nice ... it was mostly cloudy and sprinkled off and on all day. before i leave Caye Caulker, it was a perfect day to do something that i've wanted to do since the first day i got here .... rent a bicycle and tour the island. so.... finally, on one of my last days ... i rented the bike. Why didn't i do this earlier ?????? i had a great day, and it was nice that it wasn't sunny, coz i was on a nature trail in a kind-of-jungle, .... well, certainly more jungle that i have seen so far. i saw some nice homes in this remote part of the island, ..totally different from the main 'town'. a lot of the homes look vacant. i was told that they people that own them can't afford to come down here now and they can't sell them..... the tide was out, and i saw these boys playing in the soft sand by the mangroves. they were having so much fun jumping from the dock and sinking in up to their knees. it was Sunday and it looked like a family outing. back in town, i also saw some of the homes where the locals live. they don't have much; but they seem happy. i went to the Leeward side of the island and took these photos of the storm that was coming in ... it looked real scary ... (but never amounted to much but a little more rain) i thought my time was about up, so i headed back, but found out that i had 10 more minutes. a quick ride down the beach sounded like fun (yes, it's allowed here ... ). i hadn't gotten far when i saw a sign at a Cuban Bar for Mojitos. Mojitos originated from Cuba (i think). they are made by pulverizing limes and mint leaves in the bottom of a glass, adding simple syrup, some ice, rum, and usually soda water or sprite. they are expensive down here, and i didn't know why; and they are hard to find down here because of the shortage of ... all things ... MINT! i can't get rid of it in my yard! note to self: if you move down here, you could grow mint and sell it to the bars! Anyway, i screeched to a halt and ordered a Mojito, even though it was out of my budget price range. they didn't have a to-go-cup and i had to get the bike back. the bartender gave me a glass mug with a handle, so i could ride my bike and drink at the same time :) ... i could return the glass later. i guess it's ok to 'drink and drive' here :) i went home, Madi was back, i grabbed Eddi and we headed back to the Cuban Bar so Eddi could get a Mojito, and return the glass. the Mojito was good, but not as good as the ones that Friz and i had in Bonita this fall.... they were, by far, the best i've ever had! ...thank you Friz! i needed to do some more uploading of photos, so i went to the Sports Bar to use their internet. a guy that Eddi had introduced me to stopped by and wanted me to play Trivia with them. i declined, i was on a roll with my photos. i kept working and working, 2 rum n cokes later, i'm tired and about ready to leave. a guy sits down next to me ... and pulls up his chair really close to me. you know me, i'm not real happy about this..... so i try to discourage him. he kept talking, i kept typing, and trying to respond. he had a German accent and was from Switzerland. eventually he said the magic words. he was sad and worried because he had to leave his cat at home while he was on vacation. and he had spent over $1,000 and hired 3 people to come in and entertain and take care of his cat. so, since i had my laptop and i had all the photos of the cats on it, i started pulling them up and showing him. oh, he liked that one, and that one, wasn't that one cute; maybe he would take some home with him. (he had consumed a few beers). anyway, i kept the photos rolling, i was enjoying myself now, with a man that liked cats. he kept telling me that he thought i was a nice person :) i still wanted to go, so was trying to wrap up the conversation; when he says, i want to show you something. i look to my side, as he started taking his belt off ......... i watched with intrigue ... what was he doing ??? he had a money belt on. he unzipped the inside of the belt, took out a US$100 bill and handed it to me; with a serious comment that this was not for me, but for the cats ! i tried to refuse since i knew he had been drinking, but he wouldn't hear of it. i encouraged him to come by Madi's the next day; but he said it wasn't necessary. isn't that nice? some people just have big hearts for the animals! i went back happy for the cats.

Sat, 30 Jan

Sat, 30 Jan Madi was up at 5am feeding the cats before she left or Mexico ... Eddi and i could have done it, ..... but ... we did finish up and Madi left with her mother. Eddi and i spent several hours going over the 6 page document that i spent 4 hours on one night outlining the Feeding Procedures. having finished that, we went to the internet cafe and had them print it out for us. we now have a document to follow! this document would will make it MUCH easier for the next volunteers ... too bad i didn't have it when i got here i needed to get some meds at the pharmacy for the cats and pick up some cat food that was supposed to arrive at 11:30 on the water taxi. while i was at the water taxi dock i saw a poster about a Bonfire at The Split for tonight's Full Moon, ... a possibility for Eddi and i. the cat food didn't arrive ....and the pharmacy was closed for 'siesta' or something :) it was hot and sunny, so i came home, put on my suit and went to The Split. it was one of the most beautiful days here, full blue ski, no clouds, and little wind ... would have been a great day to dive :( i got bored swimiming and sitting in the sun, . .... gosh ... does that sound like me ????? so i got some shrimps from the Shrimp Man, then Eddi came and we headed back for the evening feeding. Here are some more pictures of the cats: This is a group from the Kitty Kat Lounge that were waiting by the door to come in for their evening feeding, ...how many cats do you count ? This is Munchkins ... doesn't he just have a face like you've never seen before? not sure what's with his ears, but he sure looks sweet. This is a cat from across the street. Madi feeds 13 cats there. Punkin, he was wild, has been trapped, neutered, and released. he doesn't 'live' at Madi's ... but he's always in the yard and on the porch, putting in his time, hoping someday to be accepted. Another great cat that would sit on your lap for hours and purr. Who could refuse? This is Snowy ... a beauty, isn't she ? by the time we finished with the cats, the clouds had started rolling. so we only had a few minutes of the full moon in all it's glory. ... so we walked slowly to The Split. when i was in San Pedro in December, i noticed that after school, young boys walk the streets with baskets, selling baked goods or jewelry that their mother's have made. none of them are pushy, they just ask, with those beautiful eyes and beautiful young faces. sometimes they don't even say anything, just show you what they have. if you say no, they quietly go away. it's not like in Mexico where they hound you to death. their approach works much better, how can you refuse those sweet faces? .... plus the food is always unusual and very good. we got to know Julian ... he was a beautiful boy, ... thoses eyes! we saw him tonight, so i asked if i could take his picture. his brother was with him. they were kind of embarrassed and were excited when i told them i would post their picture on the internet. so, Julian, ... here it is. there was a bonfire at The Split, a big one, but no one was around it. there were a 'few' people at the bar ... but it was early... for most partiers. they had 2 for 1 Happy Hour ... we each had 4 Panty Rippers :) we met another nice local guy, that lives on the north end of the island across The Split .... he just takes his boat across to the bar. we enjoyed talking with him ... 4 Panty Rippers were enough and we went home early.