Flora & Fauna -- August 10

What a day it! 

As busy as my days have been ever since I started this course, toady almost felt like a day in a beautiful beach resort. Originally they gave us most of the day as a free-prep time for typing assignments and preparing for our teaching sessions. Being dedicated students and trying to be amazing teachers, we set out doing just that. But then everything just went haywire.

The copy machine tried to perform its job but failed miserably, the air-conditioner decided to cool by spitting water at us rather than blowing cold air, the printer ran out of ink, and when finally a power shortage made most late-comers lose their unsaved assignments, we decided to f*ck it all, and head to the beach. Crazy idea, in the middle of the day! It was hot, and the sun beat down on us without mercy, so we didn't stay for too long. At least it provided us with a little distraction from the stuffy classroom where nothing (hence nobody) was working.

On the way there I noticed how quickly nature is repairing the damages caused by hurricane Emily. Everything is starting to grow in. The trees are green again, and the empty lots, which have been filled up with ripped and broken vegetation from after the hurricane are turning into plots of jungle once again. Amazing how fast everything grows over here... and decays.

Last week I saw a piece of fresh roadkill on my way to the beach. I guess it must have been a rat of some sort. First I thought it was a dog, judging from its size, but the long tail gave it away. It was pretty flattened to begin with, but it didn't take more than three days for it to decompose. Now all that's left of it is a dark spot, one of the many.

Other interesting critters I haven't spotted yet. They've got some curious birds though. One similar to a blackbird, but with super shinny feathers, bright eyes and a long tail. They make a lot of noise, some sharp whistles, sounding a bit like police sirens, and loud laughing ones. I once saw a pelican fly pretty low over me while I was swimming. That was cool.

As far as trees go, there's all sorts of strange growth climbing over each other. I couldn't even go into explaining all of them. Lots of palm trees, which unlike the ones in Tucson belong here. At least they take care of themselves when a storm rips through them.

Supposedly the ocean is teaming with life as well. You can go snorkeling and see lots of colorful fish. Haven't gotten around to do much of that either. Plus, there is a place called Xel-Ha (pronounced Shell-A) where you can (for good money) swim with dolphins. How about that!? Just imagine: those lively sea-mammals have traveled here all the way from god knows where, just to take a swim with their human relatives. Yeah, right! And when finally they decided to go home, something just kept them from leaving...

So I'm not sure whether I really WANT to swim with dolphins. At least not in Xel-Ha.