When I'm Not Working...

I have never done so much leisure reading in my life. This is by no means a bad thing, but I have been reading constantly to pass the time here, since it is too hot to really do anything else and since we do not have Internet in the flat.  So far I have read:

• ·      Watchmen by Alan Moore
  
• ·      Foreign Babes in Beijing by Rachel DeWoskin
  
• ·      Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
  
• ·      Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
  
• ·      My Horizontal Life – Chelsea Handler
  

This is in two weeks time. That is insane. I kind of like it, though. I have become a mini book lender in the research community, and I really enjoy the fact that I now have a running list of books to order on Amazon.  Next order will probably be in a few weeks, tops.

I am currently reading a book called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It sounds trite, I know, but in fact, it is turning out to be a nice little story and very engaging. Not terribly difficult, but interesting. It is told through a series of letters between the main characters and is about an authoress in 1946, post-WWII London, who is looking for a new story to start her post-war career. She stumbles upon it, when she receives a letter from a man on the island of Guernsey in the Channel. From there unravels the story of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which came into being as a cover for an illicit roast pig dinner during Guernsey’s occupation by Nazi forces but evolved into both a protective and literary community. So far, so good. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Today was Katie’s last day on the island. L She came out in the morning for photos and a last walk around, but didn’t run any subjects. Luckily in the 11^th hour subjects started responding to her methods properly, and I believe she took off with a suitable number of successful trials for her pilot. Unfortunately, when we attempted to go back to the mainland with her to see her off, the demand for seats on the lunch boat was so great that only those who had previously arranged for a seat could go. As a result, Brian and I had to give her brief hugs on the boat, disembark, and hunker down for another three hours in the lunch cage before we could head back. (This is standard, by the way. Technically, the lunch boat at 11:30 is only for CPRC staff. We, the researchers, can only get a seat if there is room. We are supposed to plan accordingly.) This was very upsetting, since our video camera battery had died, so we could no longer run trials.To kill time, I decided to take a long walk by myself around the shore of the islands. We spend so much time on the inland, since we go where the monkeys go, and I am always tempted by the clear water and pebbly intertidal. So around 12:30, I trudged off with my camera and began to trek around the pathless areas of the island.  I found some pretty cool stuff: jagged volcanic rock, black and raspberry red sea urchins, baby iguanas, rock slides, and even an eel.  It was very relaxing and fun to explore on my own. (It also helped that I learned how to use the macro function on my camera.)

When I finally got back, I had to rush through my usual routine of shower, lunch, data analysis, etc. I accidentally left my phone in Brian’s rental car yesterday, when he was nice enough to drive me to the supermarket so I could get some real produce.  He figured he was leaving on Friday, and that it would be nice to throw the undergrad a bone or carrot, as the case may be. And, I gotta tell ya, I had never been more excited to see a cucumber or a bag of baby carrots in my life. I must have looked deranged, since I was practically yipping and jumping for joy at the sight of the vegetables and fruits at Ralph’s Supermercado in Humacao. Consequently, I am claiming temporary insanity due to vegetable overload as the reason for my leaving the cell phone in the car. Alert the media.

Anyway, point is that Kelly, the grad student on the Yale team, has a rental car for her time down here, so she was nice enough to drive me back to the rental car place to pick up my phone. We nearly got lost on the way back and, thus, were compelled to explore a little of the southern side of Humacao and Palma del Mar, but all in all, pretty uneventful. When I got back, though, I was ushered into the Yale abode and got to hang out there for quite a while chatting about school and boyfriends and later old high school drama (with Adrienne, of course).  Very relaxing and a ton of fun. Their house is so much comfier and decorated than ours!!! Not fair.  (I will admit, I had a momentary lapse during which I may or may not have blurted out that the house was nice enough to make me want to go to Yale… I take it back, though. Don’t hurt me….)

Now that I’ve gotten to know the different people down here, many more things appear to be happening. Tara, Allison, and Sasha are renting a car this coming weekend and are planning to do some sightseeing, including going into Old San Juan, visiting the rainforest, going kayaking on a nearby bioluminescent bay, doing some hiking up to the fresh water swimming holes, and visiting some white sand beaches down the coast.  The Yale group also invited me along to into San Juan on Saturday evening for dinner, etc. There are also little get-togethers and movie excursions into Humacao popping up all over the place. I think this may have to do with the fact that more people make bigger excursions seem more worthwhile or worth the expense. Either way, I’m excited to get out and do things outside of Punta, and everyone is being extremely generous by inviting me to join in or tag along. Hooray for altruism!

Anyway, with luck by the next post, I’ll have more to share that is of interest both about the monkeys and me. As for now, though, I’m going to make myself a dinner with real vegetables and chicken and do some more reading. Remember let me know if you have questions. Also – recommendations for places and things to visit here in PR are most welcome.

Much love,

B