So on Memorial Day we went to the beach with a group of people. We went to the beach in front of the village the governor grew up in, and when you go to a beach in front of a village, you have to ask permission from the high talking chief to go there. The high talking chief was very nice about it and immediately granted us permission. It was a really nice day I spent reading A Walk in the Woods, looking for shells, dipping in the water, and talking to one of the guys who came here because his wife got a job at the hospital, and he works as a teacher in one of the private schools. He told me about how he hiked the Appalachian Trail right after he got out of college and how he met someone who ran into Bill Bryson (the author of A Walk in the Woods) on the trail and that the character of Katz (pretty much makes the book) was actually invented from a conglomeration of people he had met while hiking-a pretty depressing awakening for me since Katz was so ridiculous and hilarious. After the beach, we went out for Chinese food, which was an interesting experience. A plus-they had vegan options! I shared a broccoli dish and an eggplant dish with Whitney (a woman who just graduated from Columbia for her masters and is the Climate Change Specialist for Coral Reef Advisory Group) who is also a vegetarian. They were huge portions and delicious, but the quantity of grease and MSG in the dishes made me feel so so terrible afterwards. There goes any hopes of finding good vegan food out to dinner. Apparently spam rolls are a specialty at sushi places as well…

            So I’ve gotten much better at cooking without any form of measuring utensil…For dinner the other night, I made vegetable teriyaki over rice (I’m a queen of rice cookers now-they’re the best!) in the wok, of course. I also made unhealthy walnut banana bread which was so delicious and addicting. Then today I made healthy walnut banana bread that I put dried cherries in and wheat germ and flax seeds and oat bran in. Oh, and I picked two papayas off of our papaya tree for the first time on Friday! I also bought a bag of like nine local mini eggplants for a dollar! The eggplants here are really good since they’re not foamy or acidic like the larger ones in the mainland. I made fried eggplant (breaded in flour with some salt and pepper then dipped in cornstarch and water and sautéed in a pan) that I ate with marinara sauce and pasta. Today I am marinating some eggplant in my specialty salad dressing (balsamic vinegar, olive oil, water, salt and garlic) and am going to either bake it or “grill” it in a non stick pan. Nommm. I’ll let you all (all three of you who read this) know how that turns out.

            Then yesterday Kelly and I went on a hike with our mentor Emily, her boyfriend Oscar, Oscar’s son and Oscar’s son’s best friend. It was AWESOME. It was pouring rain pretty much the entire time, and we hiked to six or eight waterfalls (depending what you consider a waterfall) and most of it was hiking through waterfalls, rock scrambling, clearing paths for ourselves through completely unchartered territory (Oscar is ridiculous and super badass), and even shimmying up fallen trees, climbing up vertical rock faces using vines, using waterfalls as slides, wading through streams, getting bitten by giant black ants with pincers (feels as painful as a bee sting!), etc. Oscar had the boys between Kelly and me the entire time to be able to catch us when we fell or hold our hands and yank us up at a really hard part. You know me, Ms. I Can Do it Myself. And mostly I did, aside from some scrapes and bruises, but it was really nice to have the guys there on some parts. I realized it’s okay to have a bit of help. And it was really fun to have Zach launch me over a gap in the rock using his hands as a basket for my foot. I believe his friend JJ is a football player, and he was wearing those running sock-like things with toes in them so he was basically a monkey, absolutely ridiculous and fearless. Extreme hiking to the greatest degree. It took us about five hours. Definitely not the longest hike I’ve ever been on, but definitely the most dangerous and most challenging…just thinking of my mom trying to do that...she would have a heart attack. Love you Momma!! I survived, don’t worry! Well then there was also that waterfall repelling we did in Costa Rica which was pretty nuts…Needless to say, we were exhausted and starving when we returned, and I passed out on the couch trying to read at about 10 pm…pretty exciting Saturday night, let me tell you.