Our Day Off

The past few days here have been really busy and even hectic. There is some kind of a stomach virus going around, as well as several other ailments, and so I've been making regular trips to the clinic with students. The engine of our highest capacity boat also seized up, and one of the 2 SFS vehicles is out of commission too. Plus, we still don't have a filter for the pool so our community outreach activities have been somewhat limited. (Some of our younger swimmers from the community who show up on Saturdays for lessons don't feel comfortable in the ocean yet, so yesterday they stopped in only to say hello and see if the pool had been filled yet, but then left after they saw that it hadn't.)

Cookout at Long Beach

Last night about half the group camped at Long Beach. Brett and I and one other staff member stayed the night too and drove back early this morning. And today, being Sunday, is our day off! It doesn't end up feeling like much of a day off if you stick around the center though, so Brett and I decided to go for a walk. First we explored the salinas and visited the "boiling hole," which is a natural underground passageway to the ocean that was used to fill the salinas. The salinas would flood when the tide came in, and they'd block it off when the tide started to go back out. When the water that was trapped inside evaporated, the salt could be raked up.

The Salinas

The "Boiling Hole"

Rusty Old Machinery

It's dry out there.

There were so many interestesting birds around the boiling hole. Here are a few that we thought we could identify: flamingos, little blue heron, snowy egret, plover, killdeer, green heron, tricolored heron, least tern, black-necked stilt (noisy!!), and some kind of bird of prey too. A falcon, maybe?

Flamingos

Reddish Egret

Snowy Egret (or the "white phase" of a Reddish Egret)

Green Heron

Then we made our way to a few run-down, abandoned houses. The large house probably belonged to one of the salt barons, and the smaller ones adjacent to it, we guessed, were for their servants. Though (as is obvious in the pictures) they are in serious disrepair, they're quite nice, and with enough work could be restored.

Abandoned House

Finally, we walked down a small ridge and out to coast on the east side of the island for a refreshing dip. The walk back seemed much longer and hotter than the walk there, and we were so hot and thirsty by the time we got back, even despite the fact that we got a little rainshower on the way. I jumped in the water again as soon as we reached the center. Brett's method of cooling off, however, is to lie on his back either in our room or on the back porch and stick the little electric fan we have under his clothes. Sometimes he even falls asleep like that. Maybe next time I'll try to get a photo for the blog! For now though, we've got to rest up for another busy week to come.