Poachers, pumps, and parades…

Yesterday was a really interesting and eventful day. After breakfast we went over to a lighthouse on the highest point on the island. The views were absolutely spectacular (sorry I can’t post pictures!) When we came down, several people were buying shells and Cokes from the lighthouse keeper who lived in a little house next door. I walked over toward the house and saw a big turtle shell (known as a carapace) on a table on their front porch. I asked the man sitting at the table whether that was a sea turtle shell and he proudly says, “Oh yes! I shot that turtle right here!” and points at his neck. I was stuck in a weird position. The teacher and environmentalist in me wanted to give him a long lesson about endangered species and how that adult turtle could have lived for another 75 years, easily, helping to make dramatic increases in the failing populations…But…the other part of me didn’t want to walk all over this man’s cultural traditions, of which he was obviously proud. I didn’t really do either. When he told another person the story about his turtle I said something along the lines of “Oh, don’t do that—they’re endangered!” I think he may have thought I was joking. How do you handle that type of a situation?? I would love suggestions.


After lunch we went snorkeling at Rocky Point, which is by far my favorite spot so far. The coral there was way closer to the surface and there was much more coral to see. I saw a Queen Angelfish, which is easily one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Anyway, we get back from snorkeling, change, shower, and head up to the cafeteria for dinner. As we’re waiting in line for the cafeteria we hear a loud whistle. The little man in charge of the center is standing at the front of the room looking alarmed with his arms up in the air saying, “No showers, sinks, flushed toilets, laundry, NOTHING. The water pump is out on our rainwater filtration tank. If we can’t get it back going we’re going to have to go on water rations until our parts come in next Tuesday.” At the dinner table the other teachers and I joked about flying home to our husbands a messy, smelly mess after not having showered in three days, but later the conversation turned more serious when we started thinking about how much we had in our water bottles and whether we had enough to get us through everything we were going to do the next two days. It’s so easy to take clean, fresh, running water for granted. But when it’s not there, you really start to appreciate this basic necessity. The rest of the day, the center’s management and maintenance people were running all over looking very concerned…Hopefully it’ll start working. The center is currently housing three high school groups, a college level group of students, several groups of researchers, and us.


But the day didn’t end all bad. We caught wind of a neighborhood “Fish Fry” going on about a quarter mile away from us down at the pier. Several of us planned on going, and were looking forward to it. Then at dinner, a lady from Massachusetts in charge of a group of high school kids came over and told us that there was going to be a parade beforehand. Then she goes, “And do you know why they’re having this parade celebration?” (…dramatic pause…) “Because the LAKERS won the NBA finals!!” Why the people on this little island would be so excited about a basket ball team 5000 miles away is beyond me. Also, this news was especially funny coming from a lady from Boston. Anyway, we were excited about experiencing the culture and going to a party. After a visit to the computer lab, I hear boom, boom, ba-boom, boom from a subwoofer coming down the road. My thoughts immediately jump to my camera sitting on my bed, so I start running toward my room. On the way, I see my roommate and yell, “CHERYL! The parade’s starting!!” However, by the time I grab my camera and get back up the hill the parade was already over. Apparently, a “parade” on this island is just a line of about 5-6 cars driving about 20 miles an hour in a row down the road while honking and playing music. I’m sure the locals got a big kick out of me getting all excited and running across campus yelling about the parade for what was just a caravan of cars… I felt pretty silly.

At around eight o’clock, we walk down to the pier toward the music. The menu at the Fish Fry included fried chicken, coleslaw, and cinnamon buns. When we asked a nice man behind the counter who we should pay, he waived his hands and said, “Nothing! It’s a party!” Their generosity and hospitality was a very nice surprise. It’s not too often in the states that complete strangers can walk up to a party on the beach and be welcomed with open arms. We really enjoyed ourselves. The music was great too. They had a DJ who played everything from a knock-off of Usher’s “Yeah” to “YMCA” to “We are Family” to some traditional island sounding music. I’m sure the islanders thought we were pretty funny dancing around (well, more like hopping and waving our arms…They didn’t dance quite like that—haha).
By the way, since I wrote this, we’ve been giving the OK to flush toilets and take 2 minute showers. So we’re not completely out of the woods, but it seems like we will at least have enough drinking water. :)