Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Rainforest/Ruins Hike
I don't have time to write *anything* because I had to hike out into the mosquitoes to get enough connection to post this. I've gotten at least 12 bites in the last 5 minutes, and killed no less then 30.
Rainforest/Ruins pictures
Running back to the mosquito netting,
Farrell
Edited 6.29.10
Rainforest/Ruins pictures
Running back to the mosquito netting,
Farrell
Edited 6.29.10
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Hooray, Update!
So, let me catch everyone up on all the events from the past few days.
Thursday night was the kick-off for Culturama, which is a big celebration of Nevisian/Caribbean culture. It officially began last night, which was inaugurated with a huge concert downtown with lots of dancing and street food.The whole group ended up going and it was a great deal of fun. The celebrating will last until August 3 (give or take a day), reaching full swing by the middle of next week and ending with the selection of the Culturama Queen and parade, both of which we are going to compliments of the program.
Friday we had the day off from work so that we could all go to St. Kitts for the day. Quetta, one of the directors, had this field trip organized to the letter. We all met at 7:45 am, hoped on the bus, and drove to the ferry. Once on St. Kitts we drove all around the island, literally -- the main road was a loop around the island. It was so beautiful, but everything here is. The most interesting site from the day was this old British fort from the early 1700s. It was in great condition and very expansive, providing great views all around, so it was so much fun to explore. To see all the sites take a look at our pictures, which will be up soon, hopefully. It was a long, tiring day, arriving back at Hurricane Cove after sunset, so most people just went straight to bed.
Today was the exhibition day at the museum. On Thursday Farrell and I went down town to help set up the exhibit, which was a little slow in coming together, but eventually turned out great. The exhibit was from 1-4:00PM today with Dr. Fitzpatrick giving a talk at 3:00. Not as many people turned up as I was hoping for (Farrell edit: more then I expected), but I did not really know what to expect. Overall it turned out well as it was a great experience and everyone did such a good job.
Now, it's time to relax. Maybe it will be a movie night?
Until Next Time,
Jessica
Thursday night was the kick-off for Culturama, which is a big celebration of Nevisian/Caribbean culture. It officially began last night, which was inaugurated with a huge concert downtown with lots of dancing and street food.The whole group ended up going and it was a great deal of fun. The celebrating will last until August 3 (give or take a day), reaching full swing by the middle of next week and ending with the selection of the Culturama Queen and parade, both of which we are going to compliments of the program.
Friday we had the day off from work so that we could all go to St. Kitts for the day. Quetta, one of the directors, had this field trip organized to the letter. We all met at 7:45 am, hoped on the bus, and drove to the ferry. Once on St. Kitts we drove all around the island, literally -- the main road was a loop around the island. It was so beautiful, but everything here is. The most interesting site from the day was this old British fort from the early 1700s. It was in great condition and very expansive, providing great views all around, so it was so much fun to explore. To see all the sites take a look at our pictures, which will be up soon, hopefully. It was a long, tiring day, arriving back at Hurricane Cove after sunset, so most people just went straight to bed.
Today was the exhibition day at the museum. On Thursday Farrell and I went down town to help set up the exhibit, which was a little slow in coming together, but eventually turned out great. The exhibit was from 1-4:00PM today with Dr. Fitzpatrick giving a talk at 3:00. Not as many people turned up as I was hoping for (Farrell edit: more then I expected), but I did not really know what to expect. Overall it turned out well as it was a great experience and everyone did such a good job.
Now, it's time to relax. Maybe it will be a movie night?
Until Next Time,
Jessica
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Quick post
Hello again!
Sorry it has been so long since we last wrote, but the internet where we are staying is extremely unreliable, in addition to a few power outages from various thunderstorms that have been rolling through. In fact, it has done little more than rain since last Friday, as a result of which we were unable to do fieldwork all week. Needless to say this week has been mind-numbing, filled with hours upon hours of scrubbing shells, tiny bones, and pottery with a tooth brush. To catch you up real quick: we are scuba certified, have adjusted to the heat and humidity, helped to set up the exhibit down town, and having a great time! Pictures will come as soon as the our internet connection allows!
Until Next Time!
Jessica and Farrell
Sorry it has been so long since we last wrote, but the internet where we are staying is extremely unreliable, in addition to a few power outages from various thunderstorms that have been rolling through. In fact, it has done little more than rain since last Friday, as a result of which we were unable to do fieldwork all week. Needless to say this week has been mind-numbing, filled with hours upon hours of scrubbing shells, tiny bones, and pottery with a tooth brush. To catch you up real quick: we are scuba certified, have adjusted to the heat and humidity, helped to set up the exhibit down town, and having a great time! Pictures will come as soon as the our internet connection allows!
Until Next Time!
Jessica and Farrell
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Scuba, Tours, and Work! Oh my!
Hello Everyone!
Sorry for the delay, we have just been so busy with tours and such (as you can see from the pictures), aside from all the work we have had to do. Anyway, this needs to be a short post, but I will try to give a good summary of everything.
Saturday: Our first day scuba diving
Basically, it was amazing. There was no classroom learning session: we walked down to the scuba diving place, were fitted for everything we needed, and then hopped in the water with the instructor. After about 3 hours of instruction, we had an hour break, and then headed out on our first two legit dives. For our dives we took a boat ride out to a little unpopulated island in between Nevis and St. Kitts. That bay had the bluest water any of us had ever seen. We were then given final instructions and began our decent, granted on our first dive it was only down about 20 ft. but you still had to equalize and do various other things to ensure your lungs did not burst. Needless to say some of us (I) were nervous (hysterical), but eventually everyone was in the water enjoying themselves. This first dive was an underwater skills test where we did several basic things while sitting on the sea floor: put our masks on and off, lost and recaptured our respirators, shared oxygen with a neighbour, and emergency saves. Then, we returned to the surface switched tanks, jumped back in, and received a 30 minute tour of the most beautiful coral reefs you could imagine. It was just like we had stepped into finding Nemo. There were all kinds of fishes, and corals, and plants of all kinds of colors. The most interesting site being this soft sea cucumber, which looked like a huge, underwater caterpillar. On this second dive we went to about 35 feet, but I must admit I have no desire to go any deeper. All I want to do is swim around and look at the reefs, I cannot think of any other reason I would want to be that far under. Regardless, we have two more dives (maybe just one though) and our skills test all this Saturday and then we will be certified and able to go whenever we want, for a fee...
Sunday: Independence Day in the Caribbean
Everyone was really tuckered out so we all slept in late. We went out to eat as a group and got a tour of an old plantation. The restaurant was a part of the plantation so it was all fairly fancy, but it was right on the beach, gorgeous, and the meal was already paid for. We got fish sandwiches with a fruit relish on top. It was very unique and surprisingly delicious. After all that, we went down the road to this pottery place owned by the same woman that runs the museum. It is the only place on the island that still produces pottery the traditional way. They had some pretty cool stuff, so of course we bought some. Then we went to see an old fort, followed by a visit to the hot springs, where, interestingly enough, there were several men bathing naked, but not in the pools, just in the little river in front of it. It was rather odd. After all that we finally returned to our bungalows, and rested up. But don't worry, we managed to sing the National Anthem twice during the day to celebrate the 4th.
The Rest
As far as Monday and Tuesday, well we worked from 6:30 am to 1:00pm , had a two hour break, and then washed all the shells, pottery, and other artifacts we found from 3:00pm to 6:00pm. It's been fun, educational, and tiring. Plus, I still have a bunch of reading to do for class tomorrow. Overall though, things are going well. (Minus the fact that the fan just broke...)
Until Next Time,
Jessica
Sorry for the delay, we have just been so busy with tours and such (as you can see from the pictures), aside from all the work we have had to do. Anyway, this needs to be a short post, but I will try to give a good summary of everything.
Saturday: Our first day scuba diving
Basically, it was amazing. There was no classroom learning session: we walked down to the scuba diving place, were fitted for everything we needed, and then hopped in the water with the instructor. After about 3 hours of instruction, we had an hour break, and then headed out on our first two legit dives. For our dives we took a boat ride out to a little unpopulated island in between Nevis and St. Kitts. That bay had the bluest water any of us had ever seen. We were then given final instructions and began our decent, granted on our first dive it was only down about 20 ft. but you still had to equalize and do various other things to ensure your lungs did not burst. Needless to say some of us (I) were nervous (hysterical), but eventually everyone was in the water enjoying themselves. This first dive was an underwater skills test where we did several basic things while sitting on the sea floor: put our masks on and off, lost and recaptured our respirators, shared oxygen with a neighbour, and emergency saves. Then, we returned to the surface switched tanks, jumped back in, and received a 30 minute tour of the most beautiful coral reefs you could imagine. It was just like we had stepped into finding Nemo. There were all kinds of fishes, and corals, and plants of all kinds of colors. The most interesting site being this soft sea cucumber, which looked like a huge, underwater caterpillar. On this second dive we went to about 35 feet, but I must admit I have no desire to go any deeper. All I want to do is swim around and look at the reefs, I cannot think of any other reason I would want to be that far under. Regardless, we have two more dives (maybe just one though) and our skills test all this Saturday and then we will be certified and able to go whenever we want, for a fee...
Sunday: Independence Day in the Caribbean
Everyone was really tuckered out so we all slept in late. We went out to eat as a group and got a tour of an old plantation. The restaurant was a part of the plantation so it was all fairly fancy, but it was right on the beach, gorgeous, and the meal was already paid for. We got fish sandwiches with a fruit relish on top. It was very unique and surprisingly delicious. After all that, we went down the road to this pottery place owned by the same woman that runs the museum. It is the only place on the island that still produces pottery the traditional way. They had some pretty cool stuff, so of course we bought some. Then we went to see an old fort, followed by a visit to the hot springs, where, interestingly enough, there were several men bathing naked, but not in the pools, just in the little river in front of it. It was rather odd. After all that we finally returned to our bungalows, and rested up. But don't worry, we managed to sing the National Anthem twice during the day to celebrate the 4th.
The Rest
As far as Monday and Tuesday, well we worked from 6:30 am to 1:00pm , had a two hour break, and then washed all the shells, pottery, and other artifacts we found from 3:00pm to 6:00pm. It's been fun, educational, and tiring. Plus, I still have a bunch of reading to do for class tomorrow. Overall though, things are going well. (Minus the fact that the fan just broke...)
Until Next Time,
Jessica
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