Happy Fishes

I am a Happy Fish.

Truely, swimming in Caneel Bay this week, scraping barnacles off the bottom of our Park boat, I recognized that I didn't taste the salt in the water. I wasn't putting my face down to see what creatures might be waiting to bite my toes. I'm finally so comfortable and at peace with my place in the world and feel incrediably blessed and happy. Can't get a hitch? One will come eventually. Internet doesn't work? No worries, I'll check email tomorrow. PB and J again? Bring it on.



With 11 days of family and friend visitors coming to an end, I had a day to sit and reflect on how amazing this island really is. It's always been amazing in my own eyes, but we as humans seek to share what we see with others so we can validate our own experiences.



We.......swam with a sea turtle, became conch-fritter-connoisuers, visited the BVI, went on culinary adventures :), threw a jammin dinner party, found bioluminesence, pet a donkey, snorkeled the "Indians", participated in an entire tent tearing down and setting up team (I have a new tent with a zipper!), danced like wild vildehyas (Joy, how to spell that?), drank entirely way too much rum punch, ate breakfast on the beach, ate a sundae as big as our heads, and saw more stars than I could ever imagine counting.



Because I could do all of these things with unbelievably generous friends and family, my experience has become fuller and richer and I'm so lucky to know such amazing people. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

With such fancy new digs, a cooler full of food (DAD: how did you know I love Nutella??! Thank you!) and visions of returning to a DC bursting with cherry blossoms, I am indeed, a very happy fish.



A notice to all: I am completely stocked with peanut butter.

This blog's song is for Grandma. Allison Hinds is known as the SoCa Queen (Southern Caribbean) and my favorite song by her is "Faluma". So Grams, that goes out to you because you, too are a SoCa Queen!

Next Up: Puerto Rrrrrrriico! Ya ready, Hot Pants?

Much love to all, I'll be back so soon ;)

A Guest Feature-- Segment by Joy

It's not every trip you can say you've stayed in an exclusive villa, rouged-it in a tent, ran into a scorpion, petted an adorable donkey that we just bumped into, hitch-hiked my away around an island and vacationed at what is considered by some as one of the top ten beautiful beaches in the world. I will say I've 'majobled' myself to many islands and this has been the most breathtaking that I've seen. I'd say this has to with the island being extremely underdeveloped, as two thirds of the island is national park. The many beaches are quiet, with trails leading down from the woods. I almost felt like I was in an episode of Lost-- I didn't think these type of islands still existed. I suppose that's also why everything is outrageously expensive- I'm still not over a carton of milk costing $5.99.

In any event, I won't get boggled down in details, because this is my one and only blog and my Guest Feature, guest entry... So what to tell of our experience...

I am quite impressed by Jill's resourcefulness and camping attitude and personality. Yes, the island is equisitely gorgeous, but there is no luxury in her accomodations. The frigid cold shower on the chain was quite the wake-up call. She warned me and told me you get adjusted, but there is nothing remotely enjoyable about cleaning, and I'm not sure I believe in her getting used to frigid cold philosophy... I loved the tent apartment, minus the killer Scorpion (ok, maybe exaggerating on the killer part) and the stiff back. Jill's newfound amigos, Skye (quinissential name for the type of islanders and visitors that frequent this island) and Eric (Ejj) and Kevin (Moon- yes Moon because he's out there, like it...) were all very fun and sweet and made my trip that much more interesting. Thank you ejj for the deliciously packed lunch, beautiful hand-made necklace and the delicious Antiguan coffee. The people I met who lived on St. John, mostly limited to our hitchhiking buddies are all slightly quirky, but also really friendly and warm.

Jill's family is wonderful! Perhaps when they read this blog, they can think about making me an honorary family member. They were so gracious, warm and fun!!! They rented a villa for the week so our first two nights were spent in their gorgeous week home enjoying the overlook. My full-day with her family consisted of time visiting beaches, snorkeling around a wildly huge turtle, a delicious lunch and a fun night out on the town. Yes, family, my name IS Happy!

It is really hard to sum up this trip, but hope these highlights share some of our experiences. Jill's doing amazing in her two-month home we all look forward for you to return back to your real one. Lots of love and island wishes to Jilly.

I will dedicate this segment's song, "Coconut (put the lime in the coconut) to Ejj and Jilly for their island supper--

~Joy

8 Tuff Miles

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....." are the immortal words of little Nemo and come in handy when you decide to make your first footrace an 8.3 mile traunce across virtually 90 degree hills all over St. John in an old pair of broken-in puma tennis shoes.

The 8 Tuff Miles race is an annual footrace that goes from Cruz Bay to Coral Bay along Centerline Road. In it's 12th year, it was quite the event with over 600 people from many different states and countries flying in to participate. The island population swelled to create a pre and post-race festive environment with lots of gatorade pre-race, and lots of beer post-race!

Katie, Jess and decided to start out together and ended up finishing all within 15 minutes of each other. For a first-time racer, I was proud of my pace of 11:02 and spot within the Top 100 women.

Katie and I are really not that sweaty...it started to pour in the middle of the race which is what I think saved all of us, though it made for some very squishy shoes. If i happen to be able to afford it, I'd really love to make an annual pilgrimage to run 8 Tuff...it was just such a great, exciting, lively vibe. I think I finally found my runner's high!

This is my favorite beach on St. John (Oppenheimer/Gibney Beach. Yes, Oppenheimer as in the creator of the A-bomb.) where I went to cool my heels after the race. Not a bad place to unwind, right? I had accomplished too much by 9am on a Saturday on a tropical island and needed to be lazy under palm trees. The problem was that once I tried to get up off the sand, i couldn't move!!

Peace, love and gatorade....Jilly

PS! Please read the Friends of VI blog link on the left...i didn't know that the link was faulty, but it's fixed now and talks about the work that I am doing here. It's not just alllll fun and games :)

Lunar Eclipse of the Heart

Ram's Head, day time.

Most of you probably know that on Wednesday of last week, we had both a full moon and a lunar eclipse at the same time. Full moon parties are really celebrated here on the island, but with an eclipse to boot, it was a true soiree!

You have a few full-moon choices. Choice one is going to the sugar mill ruins at Catherineberg to take part in the drum circles that echo really loudly through the central island. I would generally choose drum circle (hello citron training!), but in order to make it echo so awesome, you go down underneath the ruins, thus missing the sky-action.

I went with choice 2, which was a moonlight hike up to Ram's Head, the southern-most tip of the island and the same ridge we hiked in the daytime last weekend. It's spectacular during the day, but at night its a totally different ball game. The rules were: no headlamps, no flashlights, just the light of the moon guiding your path.

My girl Meaghan and I started around 10:00 pm from Salt pond with some of the folks she worked with, the owners of the Tap Room and brothers and girlfriends (random connection for DC folks: you know Thievery Corporation? I did this hike with the bassist, "Hash" (sub-parathentic comment: Hash's brother's name is Cheech. I couldn't make that up). Our crew followed in single file, passing the bottles of wine up and down the line as we made it up the ridge. Once at the top, all of the clouds miraculously blew over and everything was silver and shimmering. We laid down on our backpacks and settled in to watch watch the sun eclipse the moon. It was really surreal and one of the neatest things I've ever done! Some smartass brought an ipod with the Dark Side of the Moon (it sounds like it would be cool, but was a tad cliched).

We hiked back down around midnight just as the rain set in. I was dragging the next morning, but was so glad that I did this, it was one of the neatest things. I wish that I could show you photos, but nighttime photos don't really work on this camera, so here is a daytime shot of the hike up to Ram's head, and Meaghan and I squinting into the bright camera flash from our eclipse-viewing positions.

I have forgotten to dedicate songs lately, so sorry about that but I shall resume here:



This dedication is a revelation of the fact that life is all about perspective and that aside from really serious things like termnal illness or depression, the power to make it as beautiful or as ugly as you want rests in your own hands. And while traveling, isolation, etc. brings out much stronger emotional manifestations of your experience, you realize that we're all the same no matter where we are. I hope that everyone got a chance to peek at the moon, because (at least in this hemisphere) we all had the opportunity to see the same eclipse.



So, "Same as it Ever Was" by the Talking Heads goes out to Uncle Brack. I remember that being the opening song on the Talking Heads DVD Jesse bought for you maybe 6 years ago and you dancing around the kitchen to it, and that song always sticks in my head. Plus, its just a freaking awesome song.

On the more lighthearted side, i forgot to dedicate a song with the peanut better blog. So, to my brother Mikey, and to Scotty E, i had meant so send the song from Family Guy, sung by Brian, "It's Peanut-Butter Jelly Time, Peanut-Butter Jelly Time, where ya at? (x4) there ya go (x4)". Love to Mikey and Scotty E.



So many kisses and hugs to all. My family is now visiting and Joy arrives thursday and its just a huge par-tay. Plus, there are real beds, hot showers and amazing food. Arriba arriba!!!

Read down..

Apparently blogger publishes posts on the day that you start them, so read down to see a new one (with pics) from a week ago. much love!

Great for vacation...

...impossible to live on. The term, I believe, is "rock fever".

Just wanted to tell everyone that I have four entries drafted which are contingent upon the photos that are stuck in my camera, I just can't find a computer on the island that is fast enough or smart enough to get the photos from the camera onto the computer and then upload them. Sooo, you'll have several things to read once I can figure that out!

Since the last posting, I've run an 8 mile race on the hills here, snorkeled in the bluest water ever, met a celebrity chef, hiked at night to see the full lunar eclipse, have become one with the lizards that live in my tent. It's amazing how close to nature you really are here.

Being close to nature really does mean being far from technology. There is rarely cell service (none for my phone). The pay phones at the campground are always broken. There is not one bank here that will cash any checks or make any deposits for me. The computers use dial-up.

As I said, this trip has been like a pendulum swinging from extreme bliss to extreme frustration. I'm shunning technology for now and heading to the reggae party at the beach to nurse my really sore legs and forget about photo uploads for now. I'll have much to say very soon, but I think that for now I'll have a rum and coke and chill OUT!

Sending reggae vibes....love, jillian

Island hike and updates...

Since our big hike was last week, I feel like its been eclipsed (literally!) by so many other things this week, but I still wanted to upload a few pics from our trip around the southern half of the island...

We started out at the top of Reef Bay trail and hiked down to see the petroglyphs. The petroglyphs are rock carvings that were made by the Taino Indians somewhere between 900-1200 a.d. They are on a soft rock in a freshwater river and sometimes can only be seen when the water level is low, but if you get there on a day when the water level is just right and the water is still (as we were), you can see that the carvings are reflected like a mirror which has been interpreted as represeting the duality of the material and spirit world.

From Reef Bay we went down and across to the Lameshur Plantation ruins (pre-1733 slave revolt) and across to Salt Pond, a really still and beautiful beach, great for snorkeling. By the time we hit salt pond we'd already been going at it for about 4 hours and had no intentions of continuing, but seeing how close Drunk Bay and Ram's Head were, we rallied :)

Drunk Bay is other-worldy compared to the green, lush, white sand beaches of the northern side of the island. First off, no one was there, it was just us. Secondly, the beach itself is made up of big rounded pebbles and boulders and the waves are really huge and crash loudly on the rocks. Thirdly, people come here to do this really crazy rock art, where they stack the rocks and pebbles and make people out of the rocks. Everywhere you look there are stacks and mounds of smoothed rocks making the landscape seem so interesting and almost alien-like.

Then we did the big hike, up to Ram's Head. Both of us had run out of water and were discussing up and back what flavor gatorade we'd buy when we returned, panting all the way. It was SO worth it though, you can see all the way to St. Croix and the mountain peaks of the entire island in the background. The photos don't do it justice, so you'll just have to come and see it for yourself!

Jess and I got on the last bus from Coral Bay back to Cruz Bay, got a pizza, crashed and got up the next day and went to Trunk Bay with her cousins who were visiting. We took them to Rhum Lines in the evening for some drinks and appetizers, and I met this fellow:

I'm guessing that only a few select people will know who this is...hint: I noticed him by his orange crocs. Write in the comments if you know him! It was a really big celebrity sighting for me!


We then went to the "Pour your own". I don't know what this bar is actually called, but like to call it the "pour your own" because, well, when you order your drink, you get to pour it yourself, whatever ratio of liquor to mixer you like. I really, really liked this and took over asking everyone in the bar if I could pour their drinks for them. I am destined to spend some portion of my life as a mixologist.

We went to Trunk Bay the next morning and spent the day on the beach. Trunk bay is stunning, but also a huge tourist beach so you have to stake out a spot early. I'm very glad that we went, but prefer to keep it to the smaller beaches.

Peace and love, much more to report soon!

Ode to Peanut Butter

I'm excited to post pics of the epic hike that Jessica and I went on yesterday. Jess is on the NPS dive team and is really, really nice to let me crash with her in town for the long weekend, which has turned out to be quite rainy, so a dry bed feels like a dream. Yesterday, we were hiking for about 8 hours and traversed half of the south side of the island on foot and felt so accomplished at the end of the day. It was amazing. But, I don't have my camera cord with me here in town so pics and a better description of our travels will have to wait until next week.

For now, I have a poem to share. The first two weeks here I spent in solitude, very pensive, journaling, lingering over things I've never understood or ideas that required sorting out mired in heavy thought. I'm sure I'll go back to that at some point, but with so much quiet and peace, you get tired of thinking about the meaning of life and have a lot of free space for silliness to creep into your head. When Jess and I were on trails yesterday that weren't conducive to conversation, I composed a poem in my head and wrote it down while waiting in the middle of nowhere for a bus that arrived out of nowhere to take us home, spent and fulfilled and exhausted and so proud of ourselves for how much we'd seen. And starving. We ate the biggest pizza ever and passed out.

Today, I got up early, refreshed and sore and walked to the cafe to get two giant coffees and got caught in a deluge. I haven't spent a single day inside yet, so I'm not quite feeling guilty about being forced inside. It gives me a chance to share my poem. Don't worry, I'm really not going crazy; I promise I'll go back to my Siddhartha-esque search-for-meaning-of-life after poem-writing...

(Aheam, throat-clearing)

"An Ode to Peanut Butter"

Oh, Peanut Butter, how you sustain me,
It's been just you and me as of lately.

Silky smooth or crunchy sweet,
almost as much protein as a piece of meat.

I prefer to eat your kind without hydrogenated oil,
but without refrigeration, I fear you would spoil.

You are perfect with jelly and other stuff,
but sometimes I'll even crave you with fluff.

On crackers, on wheat bread, on haagen daas vanilla,
I'll take you with me when we rent the villa.

A fiber-rich food that's good morning, noon or night,
when there's nothing else to eat, you're always right!

Oh, Peanut Butter you make chocolate taste better,
super dark or milky, you're so perfect together.

Sometimes you stick to the roof of my mouth,
unfortunately you are absent from grocery stores waaay down south.
(south america that is)

If I become lucky with more fruits from Susanna,
I'll see you tomorrow morning on a banana.

Oh, Peanut Butter the ants share my love.
They often try to get into your tub.
This explains the three plastic baggies.
Just please don't make my thighs look saggy!

Happy Sunday kids. More intellectual thoughts next time :) Much love and peace, jilly

Conch Sundae

This is a photo of my favorite view in the bay that I took during the most amazing sunset last week in a brooding sky right before a dark purple storm rolled through. That is our lab, on the right. It happens to be one of the oldest building on st. john, dating to the late 1600's.



The same night, before the storm I played with the self-timer on my camera after I'd had a long swim and was in uniform....long sleeved t-shirt, wet hair, bathing suit bottoms. Pretty much what everyone wears here. And flip flops, if I can be bothered to remember them and if they haven't been swept out to sea! Life is tough here, eh?



I am writing from a real, actual dial-up connection in a real, actual house with four walls. Susanna and Ronnie are in the states for the weekend and were nice enough to think of me as a house-sitter. So there are things like refrigeration, and a hot shower, etc. Their house is set into a hill and they have a little screened-in detached porch cottage where I am staying with a charming bed covered in mosquito netting and surrounded by banana, papaya, lime trees, lots of bright hibiscus, and even, very appropriately, a basil bush :) It feels like a tree-house. The only drawback are the rediculous roaming, haughty roosters that wander around the island and start to signal daybreak at about 4:45 a.m. For some reason, they feel it is most effective to make this call from around and atop my picturesque porch. I don't know why the roosters aren't in cinnamon bay (where the pitter-patter of adorable little lizard feet across my tarp wakes me up very gently instead), but they are certainly at Susannas. St. John, an island that was once covered in Danish and Dutch plantations, has a large amount of feral goats, donkeys, pigs, cows and chickens. It's very common to have to stop your vehicle to let a pot-bellied pig take his time crossing the road. Actually, its very humorous and adds to the personality of the island. Everyone takes their time!!

So conch sunday....last weekend I was a lazy, lazy girl. I did either hike or run both days, but then I spent a lot of time on the beach, swimming and reading and lounging. Finished Slaughterhouse 5 (thanks Karen!), began The Namesake and can't put it down (thanks other Karen...Aunt Karen!) On sunday, surf-shack boys had adventerous things planned....a sail out on the little cattamaran (sorry, i dont know how to spell that) and then a lesson in making real conch horns. I should add that when I talk about the surf shack, its about 100 feet from the lab. They are the only two buildings on Cinnamon Beach, which is why i am always entertained by these guys. So conchs. First, there is the removal of the conch which happens by attaching pliars to the foot and then hanging it upside down from a clothesline.


The conch may take only a few minutes to hang onto his shell, and may take hours. The longer he hangs on and stretches out, the more tender the meat. Conch fritters, somewhat like crabcakes are delicious. So once the conch drops, you soak him and drill a hole in the shell.





They are really hard shells. The long and the short of it is that you get these horns that sound a bit like train whistles rather than calls to war.

Sunday night, i was hungry for something other than peanut butter and jelly, but my Coleman stove was broken. Actually, I just couldn't screw in the gasket, something was blocking it. I really tried too. I had taken out the bread and peanut butter when I heard new voices coming from the campsite across the way and saw the glow of the fire. Man-voices. So I walked over and in my sweetest voice said "is there anyone here who can help me with my stove?". Again, I serendipitously chose the right folks....this was two young men from the states who had just moved here for new jobs in a restaurant...they were chefs. I forget their names now, but shall call them Chuck and Larry. Chuck and Larry were staying at cinnamon because they were looking for housing, but had already started working and had brought home a gigantic slab of gorgeous prime rib, potatoes, and some sage sausages. After three days straight of pbj, this was music to my ears. I had bread, mustard, and seasonings, which they lacked. so we had a nice potluck and I returned to the tent apartment contented and with a full belly. I think they may have been a bit intoxicated, but they were really good grillers and very sweet. And they fixed my stove, to boot. And they removed the tarantula that was on my tent when I returned and did a loud "eeeek!" Chuck and Larry found a house and now work in town and invite me to stop into the restaurant. I love making new friends!

This week I have really settled into the work and to daily life in a campground and at the beach. Every day, there is some portion of the day where we don snorkels and swim for awhile and dry off in the sun on the beach before returning to work. As a girl who grew up on Lake Erie, I've never been accustomed to swimming around for a long time in water where you can actually see your feet. Here, its like you are floating in bright blue sky and its such a freeing feeling. I shall write next time about our work, but one of the reasons we swim and snorkel is to keep our eyes on the constant artifacts that are coming out of the bay. In addition to lots of potsherds and ceramics, just in the past two weeks we've found the parietal section of a cranium, a tibia, and a (possibly juvenile) femur. Cinnamon bay has several areas of human remains.....will write lots about the work next time, but just have to say that I'm so glad that I've take a little time to return to archaeology. In spite of the fact that we are constantly surrounded by items associated with the dead, it gives us a chance to bring history and pre-history alive.

Today I send a song out to Caro because I am so glad I just got a quick chance for a g-chat with her and send muchos felicitaciones on the tix to Buenos Aires. In honor, I send "Calaveras y Diablitos", by the Fabulosos Cadillacs which we both love. I've had this on repeat on the beach, plus they are Argentine. But since i am sending a song to Caroline and reading The Namesake, I need to also throw Seu Jorge's "Carolina" into the mix. Oh hell, a little Cheryl Lynn for you too, my dear :)

Lots of love and hugs and kisses for Valentines day. I've got a bottle of merlot and a dark chocolate bar and am sending warm vibes and virtual hugs to all family and friends. Thanks so much for reading...it always makes me smile to see your great comments! Until next time...

"Just let it happen, man!"

Friday, Susanna and I set to work catalouging and analyzing artifacts that had been collected in a surface collection on Hassel Island, off of st. Thomas before a beach sweep was going to ocurr. So, we worked in the lab all day. It was such a gorgeous day...the sun was out until about two, then a very violent storm came past around then, and was gone in 20 minutes. This is a pic of the view from the lab window. I think its the most beautiful window I have ever seen.

After work, Susanna drove me into town and I went to work creating a fun evening for myself. People here make friends very quickly because everyone is always coming and going and moving on and off the island. No one sticks around for too long, so you need to make friends with everyone. SO, I had a chance to go over to the brewing company where my friend Tim's cousin has set up his Virgin Islands Pale Ale. Damn good beer. I thought I'd introduce myself to his cousin (you always want to know the brewers in town!) but he wasn't there. So, I had a beer. I was the only girl in the bar and soon all the fellows in the construction company (joe, and travis...who is friends with Susanna and Ronnie) were showing me on the map I carry around all the best places to snorkel and they bought another round. Austin, the bartender filled me in on the island music scene and invited me to a reggae show on the beach in two weeks (I'm THERE!). I've decided that I am meeting all the right people.

But I was hungry, and the brew pub does not have food. No problem....I went back to beach bar and ordered a sandwich. Of coarse, single girl at the bar gets some looks and an intoxicted gentleman asked if I wanted to play Connect 4. He wasn't being dirty, very serious as he had the game in his hands. Sure, I'll play Connect 4. I kicked his ass three times and he whooped mine twice. Then we teamed up to play a couple down the bar. Had my sandwich and moved on.

As I was getting ready to figure out how to hitch back to the campground, I ran into John who works at the surf shack right on the Cinnamon Beach. John has gorgeous dreds and access to all the boats and kyaks, so of coarse I must befriend this fellow too. We had a beer before some of his friends came along and, hurray, they were going back to Maho, relieving me of the need to hitch. That was a totally normal night.

Today, I got up and 'cleaned my tent'. I went for another hike, ate a peanut butter and jelly (I'm out of granola bars...this week its peanut butter. Good thing I love peanut butter).

Went to the beach.

Perfect beach day. Then, I decided to hitch into town again to meet Kourtney's boyfriend who is visiting. Man, did I pick the RIGHT vehicle! There was a gentleman leaving Cinnamon in a rusty, old hatchbacked jeep with his daughter and son-in-law who were visiting and they were happy to give me a ride when I asked. However, this was a tour guide too....just 200 feet down the road he said "hang on" and we went off-roading into the woods. He took us to another set of ruins where they do drum circles on a full moon and pointed out every mango and lime tree along the way. These were super nice folks and I am amazed by the warmth and hospitality of everyone here so far. I saw my first wild cows and donkeys rambling around this dirt road. And a flock of chickens.

Notice the ice scraper on his windshield. When I asked him what it was for, he said "its a reminder of why I am here....". Good thinking. I dont remember this fella's name, but I shall call him Wild Bill.

Today's song goes out to my surf shack guys Carl and John who have really been looking out for me. They are really living the surf life...rambling from island to island, boat to boat. They play the guitar and sleep on boats and beaches. "Let me Be (free)" by Xavier Rudd. Thanks guys :)

World inside a world

The tent on the outside
The tent on the INSIDE!


This will have to be fast...I'm on govt computer...

So I can't upload pics until the weekend, but have a bunch to add to illustrate this adventure.

There is a link on my blog page to the Friends of VI Park page...that is the blog that will have all of the information on the work we are doing here and you can read about the mapping of the Restonburg Ruins that we are doing this week. Will update Friday.

Living in a tent is interesting, especially in the virgin islands. On Sunday night, there was a huge storm and the nice little tree over my tarp decided it didn't feel like standing anymore, so in the middle of a downpour, at 1 am, CRASH. My tarp came down on top of the tent, not to mention that it scared the living daylights out of me! I put on the headlamp and shoes and went out to inspect. Removed the tree, made sure the tarp was draped over the tent to keep me dry that night, and went back to 'bed'.

Monday, I attempted to grill for myself. I thought (in my infinate optimism) that I could avoid spending the $8 that it costs for a bag of charcol and just use sticks and leaves that i found around my campsite. Do you know how hard it is to light damp sticks and leaves? Stop laughing, it was a good idea! So obviously everthing was too wet. I caved and bought the charcol. Okay, so then I refused to buy the lighter fluid because its just full of chemicals. Do you know how hard it is to light charcol in like 98% humidity? I caved and bought the lighter fluid. The damn thing, after about 1.5 hours of trying, would not light. I was so hungry I thought I'd eat the damp sticks and leaves. I set up the propane stove, boiled a potato (this is was supposed to be a much more elaborate meal for those of you who know i enjoy cooking...the potatoe was meant to be a side), braved a cold shower, and went down to the beach to watch the stars come out.

Me, cooking dinner. That is the damn potato.

This trip is interesting...its a mix of really zen moments and really frustrating ones. My yoga teacher, Margaret, always puts us into Shivasana (corpse pose, at the end of class) with this mantra: "imagine you are lying on a beach...let warm sun wash over you, feel soft sand support you, hear the waves crash around you and allow the weight of your body to relax into the earth as your mind becomes quiet..". Shivasana is very hard for me to find because for some reason, my mind is never, ever quiet. However, watching the stars come out I heard Margaret in my head, let the soft sand support me, and (ignoring the "no-see-ums", tiny little bugs that nip at whatever is not covered up at night) forgot the whole grill incident and felt so happy and at peace with this opportunity.

The next night, last night, I came back from work a little early and got a swim in before making dinner. I wasn't going to be so ambitious last night...crackers and carrots sounded awesome. I still needed to take the coolers out of the tent though. As I was taking them out, I tripped over the bottom zipper of the tent flap, totally bit it as my cooler opened and food went everywhere and the zipper completely ripped. As it is, I use bug spray like perfume here. I went to work on the zipper, attempting to re-thread it to no avail. It was useless..the door to my tent was wide open. Long story short, during this ordeal I'd called my co-worker Kourtney, whose phone was off, and left a message asking if there was another tent somewhere. She must have gotten the message because after I'd found duck tape from the surf-shop boys and had resigned myself to drinking no water so I could duck tape myself in for the night and was feeling tears well up while eating my carrots and crackers in the dark after two hours of trying to fix my stupid tent, Susanna and Ronnie (Kourtney had called them) strolled up to my tent with another tent!! They had brought me a beer!! They were going to help fix things!! This was a mini, little pop-up tent though. One that sleeps maybe two or three people. No worries. We set up that tent inside the big tent. It doesn't fit a cot though, so now I'm on the ground. But it's dry and without bugs and now I have a tent-apartment. I made Susanna and Ronnie a dinner of red beans and rice (in honor of Carnival, of course) and we had beer and rice and crackers and sat outside of my new tent apartment. Right now I'm wondering how many animals will have gotten into the bigger part of the tent where my clothes, food, etc are chilling since I've been gone today. There are lots of mongoose in the campground.

I live in a tent inside a tent. How many people can really say that?

Today's song is called "Quilombo" by Gilbert Gil and it goes out to Joy. A quilombo is my favorite argentine word, and it basically refers to a situation that is a whole, big mess. I think sometimes we all get into a quilombo out of our control.

Then, this morning I was dying for a cup of coffee and had no cash left to buy it at the little store in the campground. A cup of coffe is $2. As I was walking back to the tent from the lab this morning, I found $2 on the ground on the walking path. So, I had my coffee and set out for another day of mapping sugar mill ruins (c. 1718). It all works out in the end my loves. This is where I go to work every morning. The building there on the right is the lab. Accross the way is the surfshop, and the beach is all around! My tent is about a three minute walk into the woods from here.

Lots of love,
jilly

"Free World Jam"

Alright friends... I apoligize at the outset of this posting that there will be no pics for awhile. As with many things on the island, the internet is really, really slow and it won't even load my gmail, much less upload photos from my camera. I will add them though as soon as I find faster internet.

This is a pic from the hike that I took the first day, straight up the hill from Cinnamon bay, which is behind me.

I'm sitting in 'quiet, mon' pub in Cruz bay, sipping a Virgin Islands Pale Ale and enjoying watching all of my ex-pat commerades prep for super bowl, islands style. This is an easy lifestyle to get used to. Will give the play-by-play (since its super bowl sunday. PS: I am jaded since the Bills were creamed three times in a row during elementary school days...don't care who wins. Sorry.)

Travel was very smooth and my favorite part of yesterday was seeing turquoise blue water for the first time, from the plane. I was 25,000 feet and in awe of how crystal clear and blue the water was...I could see the undulations of the sand underneath. Stunning. After successfully not dying during the up and down cab ride through the middle of the crazy, spiraling hills of St. Thomas to the ferry, I turned on my ipod for some Allison Hinds (the SoCa Queen...'southern caribbean' if you didn't catch that) while we sped for St. John while the sun was setting. I was so happy that I actually laughed out loud to myself. Susanna, the musem curator had planned to meet me at the ferry and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had a whole welcoming team: Susanna and her b/f Ronnie, Kourtney (as I was the 'new Sasha' at GW for awhile, I am now the 'new Kourtney', a former intern with a CRM position for NPS now) and our supervisor Ken. Kourtney, Susanna and I headed to "The Beach Bar" for some dinner, literally on the beach. Hehehehe...I like this. I already love my new team...super chilled out people with a fondness for all things archaic that tell a story, and beer. What else do you need? The plan was to have dinner and get me out to the campsight while daylight was just waning, but several drinks into the evening the "Free World Jam" band started. Uh, we can't leve now. I personally believed that it would be unethical to leave the band and thankfully (and perhaps with a little chuckle) my new friends indulged my island-virgin-ism and we listened for awhile.

Sub-note...I searched everywhere for a blog that allowed you to upload a song because I there is always a soundtrack going on in my head anyways, so I thought it would add a fun element to this story. A blog with music doesn't seem to exist (entrepreneurs..get on that!) so you'll have to entertain my song dedications with every posting. Last night, the band played a song I grew up with, and after a few beers and the glow of new friends, I happily danced on the beach to
"St. Thomas" off the old Maynard Ferguson album. So Papa, that goes out to you :)

That is Susanna on the right, me in the middle, Kourtney on the left.

So Susanna and Ronnie drove me out to Cinnamon Bay, my new home for the next two months, after a little while. I got the headlamp out of my bag, found the tent, and crashed. My internet time is running out, so the run-down:

Took several pics of the tent because I know people are intrigued by this. It's on a wooden pallet. It's a regular pop-up tent, but huge. I rigged nylon rope through it today, hung my orange scarf from Rachel, unpacked everything, and made it home. Not the most comfortable place in the world (the cot is just that, a fold out cot with a mini inflatable pad on top. Small, not so comfy, but it will do.) I see this situation as a sign that I must thoroughly tire myself out having fun and working hard every day so I don't have time to think of how small the cot is before falling asleep. Someone just yelled "GOOOO PATS!!!!!" and referred to their beer as "a bruski". Reminds me I'm still in a US territory.

My legs and toes enjoying the water last sunday :)

Went directly to the beach a 6:45 am to see the sunrise. Will talk about the awesome beauty of this beach when I upload the pics. Sat there for several hours this afternoon. Saw a group of people playing vollyball and really wanted to join. Instead, finished Eat, Pray, Love which I have loved up until the end. After all that, she falls is love with a freaking brazilian and GETS MARRIED???? How original. Brazilians are so difficult to fall in love with. Took away from her dedication in the Ashram. Ugh. Still, great book. But, seriously?? The world is so very ironic.

Worked further on sprucing my tent. Ate a granold bar and boiled water on the coleman stove for a cup of tea. Went on an awesome 2 hour hike. Came back and went to the beach. Ate another granola bar. That will get old fast. Showered (the showering experience will get its own entry as the poor little girl in the shower next to me with her mom was screaming "NooooooOOOO MAMA!!! NOooooOO Shower!!!" which gives a clue about how cold it really is). Got ready to go into town.

Now, to go into town: you can take a taxi (maybe $12?) You can walk (about 6 miles up and down very dangerous, narrow, hilly roads). Or, you can hitch. Hitching is apparently very normal here. So, I'm really sorry mom, but I can't spend $12 every time I need food or have to use a computer. And I'd promised Kourtney I'd meet her. So. I started walking....a car came....I pointed in the direction I needed to go (you point, no thumbs)..aaaaaand...they drove by. This happened about 4 times before a pickup truck stopped and picked me up. Perfect! Just like Uruguay! The girl in the back, an Ex-pat from Maine is my first new non-NPS friend and she had been playing vollyball on the beach today. It's an every sunday date, so next week I am in. Awesome, a free ride into town and new volly-ball friends.

I'm happy here. Can tell so much more but time is up.

Sending peace, love and island vibes. Salud!!

Trial Run

Three days out from moving myself to a tropical island for two months and I've barely had time to stop and breathe and think about the fact that crystal clear water, white sand, and returning to real archaeology will be my reality by this time next week. Should I pack or something? My friends want to know if my cell phone will work (good question!) and if I can get mail (no clue!) and if there will be regular internet access (that would be a good thing to know...since I am starting a blog). Oddly, I don't feel worried. For the first time ever I'm completely surrendering to whatever may come, happily and excitedly.

This is Cinnamon Bay beach, the one from which I will live only a few hundred yards away in a tent....

I'm a little nervous about the fact that life will go on in the rest of the world while I am away, you know? But maybe sometimes we all need a little mental vacation from all that life. I'll let you know how long it takes me to acclimate to what they are calling "island time".. big hugs and kisses. I'll miss you DC, but I promise to be back soon! Thanks for an incredible send off friends!!!

Mom just wrote to ask if I like rum. Do I like rum? Does the pope wear a funny hat?