Last Friday, the 6th, I woke up early and waited for the maid to meet me and take me to what was hopefully going to be my first day of work. We headed to one of he schools from the previous day. I thought, at first, that we were going to be unsuccesful yet aagin, but we finally found an Eglish teacher who openly welcomed me. I spent the morning shadowing her and helping her with her classes. It was awesome, and all the students were great. I work at a high school, so all the students are 16-18. Needless to say, it is not easy work!! My schedule varries, but I have most afternoons off to do what I want! After leaving school, I grabbed a quick lunch at my house and headed out with Laura and her friends across the canal to the beach. It was beautiful and quiet. We were basically the only ones on the entire beach.
Since being here I haven´t eaten anything to exciting-- some different things and interesting combinations, but all edible. I get so much food at every meal, it us usually impossible to finish! And, they eat rice with everything and at every meal! It is usually rice and chicken or rice and beans. It is so filling, and deffinately a food I have to get used to. The lifestyle here is great. Very relaxed and untimed. The entire town shuts down at lunch time everyday and then reopens and turns in to a bustling town again in the afternoon. I love all the free time, laying in the hammock, and being able to explore this interesting place.
On Saturday, we spent the day at Tortuga Bay. It is an amazing white sand beach on the outskirt of town. I just found out that it is number 5 in the world. I believe it. IT is quite a walk to get to it. About 2.5 km along a coblestone path. It took about 45 minutes to get there--but it was worth it. There were iguanas all over the beach. They are so funny to watch come out of the water and drag themselves through the sand. The beach is actually made up of two parts. The first area is a normal beach with sand and strong waves, but if you continue down the beach you end up at a calm swimming area that is blocked from the waves by mangroves. BEAUTIFUL!!! I was able to snorkle a bit here, but didn´t see much. Later that night the girls went out for some cake and drinks. I hadn´t gone out at night yet, so it was nice to hang out with my new friends. However, the highlight of my day: getting myself home in a taxi! It was awesome, it feels like such an accompliment when the taxi driver understands your spanish and you can arive safely! ha ha.
Sunday was a day of sea kayaking! This is one of the hardest activities that I have ever taken on. We started out going in to the waves. Eventually we ended up at a secluded beach that can only be accessed by boat. Again, we were the only group there. There were about ten of us, so it made for a very fun afternoon! We hung out at the beach for a bit and then went for a small hike. Up above the beach you can look down into a canyon like structure where the sharks hang out (napping maybe?). They were amazing to see. We found another beach on the other side. This one was much larger and rockier. It was covered in Iguanas, who I believe tried to scare us away from their beach! :) One slithered up to me and decided to rest in the sun about 2 feet away from my feet. I must admit, it was a little creepy. We headed back to our small beach for some snorkeling. It was then that I saw a sea lion sleeping under the boat dock. When I went up above to get a look at it it put it´s head up and growled. I noticed that it had a huge gash in it´s side and was suffering a lot. Shark bite, no doubt. It absolutely broke my heart to see him in so much pain and staring at the water longingly. The trip back was even harder than before, now it was low tide so the water was moving out--not helpful to us at all. By the end of the day I was exhausted, sore, and quite sunburned. But, it was a perfect end to my first weekend here. Already I have gotten to see so much.
No school on monday, so I took a rest day and recovered from the weekend. :) Hope everyone is doing well! Much love!
