"The ocean is a desert with its life underground and the perfect disguise above" -Dewey Bunnell

 I have been on a major America kick lately (the folk rock trio, not the country, LOL) and I also just spent a crazy amount of time in/on the ocean so this seemed like an apt quote for this blog.   Since my last post, I went on my first vacation since arriving!!  

I've included a map to help describe where I was--St. Lucia is  27 miles north of St. Vincent.  You leave St. Lucia, fly to Barbados, and then fly to St. Vincent.  There are other volunteers serving on the St. Vincent mainland (but not on the Grenadines).  I was able to connect with Kim (my roommate from our 1st month here), Tara and Adam for this trip; it was so great to see them in person!  I started the trip with Kim on the mainland and then we all connected to go to Union Island.  During the rest of the trip, I was able to go to Mayreau, Tobago Cays, Palm Island, and Bequia.  

We spent a glorious few days catching up, drinking the local beer (Hairoun, much better than Piton), snorkeling, beach walking, and liming.  I love snorkeling--just watching all of the creatures interacting is something I can do for hours and hours.  I saw a lot of amazing fish--so many of which I could recognize because of the PLU Bahamas trip in J-term 2023!  The sponges here are absolutely incredible--I could not believe how HUGE they are.  The reef health was a mixed bag--some places it was good, but in others the decline of the reefs was obvious and sad.  

Traveling here is so different from anywhere else in the world that I have traveled thus far.  I found that we spent a lot of time and energy trying not to get hustled--as a white person here you are often considered to be a tourist.  As someone who lives here and knows "what's what" it can be frustrating to know that folks are trying to hustle you and navigating that within this culture.  To explain--in the states, if someone is trying to take advantage, I would just call that out and walk away (and usually with a decent amount of sass).  But here you can't really do that because everyone knows everyone and if you are thought to be disrespecting someone by calling them out, you are going to burn bridges that you can't even imagine.  I can also somewhat appreciate the hustle--across the Eastern Caribbean tourism is the main source of income and folks are trying to make a living.  So all of that is a bit of a dance--but the dance was worth it for the respite from the day-to-day challenges. 

Spending all of the time outside has also really cranked up my obsession with the UV index.  Most of you know that I am religious about sun protection--here it is next level.  The UV index is so high here every day that it is constantly on my mind whenever I am outside.  For a point of reference, I provide the current UV index as of this writing (noon my time on 14/04/24) along with the forecasted indices for noon : my community 11; Seattle 4; Fond du Lac 4; So Cal 2; Bahamas 8; New York 4.  The WHO organization recommends all the protective stuff at anything above 3.  Admittedly, I do the best I can with the clothing that covers (big hat, swimshirts) and sunscreen.  It will come as a shock to most of you, but I actually have a tan--that's how intense it is here.  Cannot lie--teaching a cancer biology course is not helpful in controlling this obsession, LOL.  I use this interlude to not only share my current obsession but to also put in a PSA for using proper suncare wherever in the word you are!  If you're going outside today, get that sunscreen on!!! 

Getting away from home was a really good thing for me; I am really glad that I have already made plans for a couple more getaways this year.  I return to school tomorrow feeling refreshed and like I am equipped to make it to through our final term of the year.