Tomfoolery

Well, with at most 4 hours a day of work, there is a lot of free time. At first I wasn't planning on doing any Scuba Diving, since its 250$, and sortof expensive. However, hearing about how awesome it is here, and the fact its ONLY 250$ I'm going to sign up soon. I'll probably wait until next week, so I can schedule it with my volunteering. Its about 2-3 training sessions with some videos/books/etc. You get in the water on day one and start at a dock. Price also includes 2 free fun dives. After that, I'll be certified for awhile, and will probably make at least 2-3 more dives.

Most nights so far we've gone out to dinner and to a couple bars afterwards. The meals are not too expensive considering the quality of food, but since they cater to tourists and a lot of the diving groups here, they aren't cheap. Beer is decent (3 brands, take that Nicaragua!) and is almost always $1.50. Good rum is also pretty cheap. One dinner included a "Fish Talk" led by an eccentric Englishman; the topic was invertebrates, and it was very entertaining.
Scientific discussion+pretty undersea pictures+meat+rum=a pretty good time.

One of the bars, according to my guidebook was "Dr. Seussian", as it was up a spiral staircase and in the trees, with walkways to tables, and a main bar area in the middle.

While there I heard Jump Around on the radio; after struggling to explain the Camp Randall tradition, I think I further convinced everyone that Wisconsin is pretty strange (although I usually just say I'm from the US or Chicago, its much easier).

Yesterday we had most of the day off. The head honcho at the Iguana Station, Monica, organized a kickball game against some of the locals (bartenders, dive instructors). Only a couple people on my team had played before, and I told the others that it was just like baseball.
I just assumed baseball knowledge was universal, as a more in-depth explanation was needed. I left out the part about the infield fly rule. Despite barely grasping the rules and half of our players smoking while in the field we did pretty well and almost won.

After a short siesta/lunch, we made it to the beach and lounged around for a few hours. It was a really nice beach, but not great for swimming. We attempted to snorkel, but it was too shallow and the waves were too strong. It was a lot of fun, but I got destroyed by sandflies.


I'm headed off to do some grocery shopping and to jump in the ocean before some more work, adios!


(Note: I will do a better job of including photos later, but here's some from flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/44191281@N06/