Well, had time to adjust to being back home again. Time to catch up on things a bit...
I think I mentioned all that went on when I was in Maine (not much that is), so I'll tell y'all about San Salvador.
We met at midnight on... can't remember the day... and drove nonstop from Starkville to Ft. Lauderdale Florida (pretty much as far south as you can get). About 14 hours of driving. I don't tend to fall asleep in cars, so I drove the shift from 4am-8:30am or so. Kristen then took over and drove for more than 6 hours, that crazy kid. Made it to a hotel near the airport around 4 I think. Spent the night in the hotel, got up early, drove to airport. Then we had to weigh in our luggage (had to be <40lbs per person). I had some of Kristen's stuff and all the snorkel gear, not to mention batteries, rock hammer, headlamps and other heavy stuff. Still, only came in at 34 pounds and felt I over packed. Kristen only had 18lbs. I think there were 24 people leaving for San Sal, so we had to split up on 3 planes. For some reason, Kristen and I got split up. I was on a plane with the Mylroies (all 5 of them), Erik's girlfriend Robika, and Athena Owen (good friend or ours and fellow geology grad student). They divided the planes up based on weight, so it's weird Kristen didn't get to be with me, since her and Athena are about the same size. But Athena's a good buddy, so I still had a good flight. I must say, even though the plane was very cramped (even more than normal commercial flights), I enjoyed it a lot more. I was sitting over the wing, right behind Athena who was riding shotgun (making sure not to fall asleep and lean on the controls or kick the rudder pedals). It's so neat to get to see out the front of the plane. Anywho, it was about a two hour flight. We cruised at 11,500'. According to Dr. Mylroie, they're supposed to stay below 10k because they're unpressurized. Anywho, I was surely short of breath, but that didn't matter since we were just sitting there...
So, once through customs (got my first stamp!) we were loaded on to a big blue truck (a converted moving truck with the box taken off and crude benches installed) and hauled to the Field Station ("the base"). The Gerace Research Center (formerly "The Bahamian Field Station") was a submarine tracking station for monitoring Russian sub traffic in the Atlantic up until the late 60's or so. Pretty basic facilities, but I liked it quite a bit. One neat thing is their water catchment system. Since water is so scarce there, the millitary built a catchment system on the hillside behind the base. Basically they just paved the whole hillside and made a basin at the bottom. When it rains, the water runs down the slope and into the basin (instead of into the ground and out to sea) from which it's pumped into holding tanks and treated. I think they have several million gallons of storage, which is way more than anyone else on the island. Grad students were assigned to rooms (Kristen and I roomed together) and undergrads were in a dormitory. Meals were served in a cafeteria 3 times/day. I ate much better there than I did at home. However, the cafeteria was much too small for the amount of people there, and you had to get there early if you wanted to have a seat. MSU was always at the front of the line. We're a hungry bunch. Several other school groups there too, including College of Charleston, Miami, Emory, and a bunch of others...
Anywho, first day we got settled in and went snorkeling. I'd never been snorkeling before, let alone have my shirt off in public (haven't done that in at least 5 years, since the AT). I was of course self conscious of my very pale and flubbery belly, especially walking down the beach with flippers on. I must have looked like an albino seal. Anywho, after the first time it wasn't as bad. Learned how to breath through a snorkel pretty quickly, and swam around for quite a bit. I enjoyed the snorkeling a lot. Lots of neat things to see, and the water is so clear it's pretty even without fish to see.
Anywho, this is getting too lengthy...
First couple of days we did some field trips. First day we toured the geology (reminded me of field camp), next day we looked at caves and karst stuff, after that we split up and went to Lighthouse cave in the AM (we happened to be there on a Springs high tide, so the water was about as high as it ever gets in there) where we had to swim to get around and even dive under to get through some places. That was an awesome experience and I wanted to go back... In the PM we took a boat ride to Green Cay (pronounced "key") where there were some iguanas. Other days we rode around the island checking out all sorts of various things, usually ending the day snorkeling on some neat reef. One day we went to a beach where there was some small surf and went body-surfing. I'd never done that before and it was great!
Every night we had a lecture of some sorts, given by various professors from the different schools. One night we saw an IMAX dvd movie about endangered reefs (forget the name) that was really cool. There was some aerial footage of Tahiti/Moorea and it seriously gave me goose-bumps. Soooo pretty.
Anywho, another noteworthy thing was New Year's Eve. About a mile and a half from the field station is a small bar called the "Short Stop". We went there the very first night and didn't drink, just to check the place out. But on New Years, I decided Kristen and Athena should try to get me silly and see what a fool I am when I'm drunk. To make a long story short, I had way too many rum&cokes, rum&juice, rum&whatevers. The only other time I've gotten sick was at a party at Teal's when I was living there, and that was drinking rum too. I should have known better... But, I aparently had a great time before I got sick. I remember dancing a lot (something that only happens when I'm drinking) and listening to the band. The played "Rockin' Robin" and I was aparently doing the "tweat" part rather loudly and offbeat to the amusement of everyone. Kristen was quite amused. Dr. Mylroie of course, was also rather drunk, and at some point I remember giving him a big slap on the ass. I'm not sure if he remembers it or not, but I think it's best to forget that incident. I also remember sitting with Erik Mylroie for a bit and saying something along the lines of "Team Green, hell yeah!". Anywho, at some point I wound up outside next to the road and barfing a lot. I had to get home though, and the Mylroies and other people helped me walk back. Kristen had taken Athena home a bit earlier but ran back like a mile to help me home! She's so good to me. Anywho, I spent a good part of the night sick and having a deep conversation with Ralph and paying my respects to the porcelin goddess, which continued parly into the next day. Once again, I vow never to drink rum again. Gotta stay away from that stuff. But hey, I'm going on 24 and I've only been sick from alcohol twice, so I figure I'm no alcoholic or anything, right?
Well. I think that's enough for now. That was my trip to San Salvador. Learned to snorkel, learned to body-surf, saw some cool caves, saw some different geology, saw tropical fishes and birds, got completely schmammered, and had a good time. I just might be ending up there to do my thesis work this summer, but that's STILL not figured out yet... I'll keep you all posted.
