Halfway

So yesterday marked my halfway point, and things are going swimmingly here in balmy Trinidad. We've been working extra hard the past couple of weeks (hence the lack of blogging activity) in order that we get an extra day off to make a trip to beautiful Tobago! Work has been going well, we did indeed gain an extra day off, and thank God we were ahead of schedule because Hurricane Tomas passed right by our little island, and showered us with a steady rain that would have certainly put us at least a day behind schedule had we not been working in the lab instead of in the field like we were previously scheduled to do. So Tobago is on. Except not how we had anticipated. We actually are sticking around an extra couple of days in order to participate in a celebration with our neighbors. We live in a Hindu village of about 50 people, and this week marks the end of their holiday, Divali. So we'll stick around and participate in the lighting of candles, busting of bamboo and fireworks. Which is really exciting, I think it will be great. The preparations look amazing so far. Pictures will follow.

We have also on our couple of days off done some great stuff. We went to Caroni swamp and saw some great birds, mostly the Scarlet Ibis, of which I have a few pictures. This bird is really quite striking.

Also I have been spending some time up at our other house, called "The Duchess's" (it is owned by a supposed wife of some duke in Norway... no one really knows...). It was a very relaxing time, as there is no electricity, and very few people. It is nestled up in the Northern Range of Trinidad, and is very hard to get to, seriously the SUV we have could not make it up the hill carrying four people, so half of us had to get out and walk.

                                           

Internet time is at a premium so I am finding it harder to and harder to make posts here, which is unfortunate, because I really do like blogging. I will make more of an effort to write posts (I swear this time. Really.)