Thanks for a good time 2011!

Happy New Years 2012!!!

2011  has been quite a year for me and Rob. We began our year still in Cairo, Egypt, where I was working for Dr. Zahi Hawass and the Supreme Council of Antiquities.  At first it seemed like it would be just another normal year, but no. Egypt, the most stable Middle Eastern country, decided to join in on the Arab Spring, and began a revolution. It was a bit scary at times, but we were lucky to live and work in Zamalek, an area of Cairo largely unaffected during the protests. Not that it mattered to me, I had to work right on through the revolution. I worked every single day in February. As a gift to myself, I plan on NOT working a single day in February 2012.  Rob and I even went down to Tahrir Square, ground zero of the Cairo protests, the night Mubarak stepped down. It was interesting to see how quickly the protesting turned into partying.  While I wouldn't want to do it again, it's kinda cool to say that you've lived through a revolution! As far as I know, Rob and I (and our friends Beth, Damian, Tom, Haisam, Kei, and Rania) are the only people I know who can say that! I really hope that 2012 will be the year that safe and positive change comes to Egypt.

In April Rob and I did some traveling before we left Egypt. Our first excursion was to Wadi el Hitan, a site out in the middle of the desert where you can find fossils of whales. WHALES WITH LEGS!!! We dragged all of our friends along and played in the desert all day. You used to be able to drive, but a couple years ago some jerk diplomats drove their fancy car over some fossils, so now you have to just wander through the sand looking for bones. It's awesome. The erosion patterns on the rocks are really cool, I think it's because they all used to be underwater, but hey, I'm not a geologist. If you think acting like idiots in the desert doesn't sound like fun, clearly you've never done it!

The second trip was to the White Desert. If you want to see the White Desert you have to camp, cause it is no where near any cities or towns. So, if you know anything about me, you know I am not interested in camping. However, I had heard that seeing the White Desert is a must, so I bit the bullet and booked a three day camping trip. I slept in a tent, yuck, and peed outside for the first time in my life. I was completely traumatized. However, the White Desert was in fact amazing. The best part was by far the Fennec Foxes! They are easily the cutest animals on the planet. I want to cuddle them. Hard. The real reason people go to the White Desert is to see the big white chalk formations, called Inselbergs. They look like icebergs floating in the desert. At sunrise and sunset they turn pink, orange, and yellow. It's beautiful. I'm really glad I did it, cause there is no way I want to do it again. I hate camping, no matter what the payoff!

Next we were off to the Sinai Peninsula and St. Catherine's Monastery. I have always wanted to go to St. Catherine and Mt. Sinai, it has a lot of great icons that survived the iconoclasts, and the site is holy to the three major religions. Hiking up Mt. Sinai to see the sunrise is a major thing. It is where Moses (allegedly) received the commandments from God. To get up to the top by sunrise, you need to start hiking at 3 am. Yay...  You can walk up or ride a camel (they don't go all the way to the top though). We walked up with our tiny, old, Bedouin guide. I don't know how he did it, but he practically ran up the mountain. After three hours, we made it to the top of the mountain, and watched the sun came up. It would have been perfect, except there was a group of Spanish tourist singing Kumbaya. Once we we had hiked back down, we toured the monastery and saw a bunch of cool icons (at least I thought they were cool), the Well of Moses, and the Burning Bush. Also, we saw a bunch of gnarly cats. Rob took lots of cat pictures. When I told him it was weird he told me it was weird that I love old dead mummies. Touche. 

Our last excursion before leaving the Middle East was a visit to Jordan. I have been dying to go to Jordan for a LONG time. We started in Jerash, an ancient Roman city. I do not know a whole lot about the site, but it was amazing. Next we headed to Petra, and spent two days there. My favorite movie is Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail, and in the movie the Holy Grail is located in a tomb in the city of Petra. I Loved Petra. I love everything about it, and I think everyone should go. I took about 1000 pictures. No lie. I whittled them down to my favorite 400. Click here and here if you want to see them. After Petra, we headed north to the Dead Sea. We slathered mud all over ourselves and floated in some super salty water. It was very therapeutic.

Finally in April, Rob and I moved home to the states. We came home in time for Easter and my friend Melissa's wedding. April was a big month.

We spent the rest of the summer in Georgia, mostly in Atlanta (my parents) and Athens (Rob's parents). We also visited NYC/NJ, and Washington state and VANCOUVER ISLAND (nyc/NJ to visit my family, and Washington state to visit with Rob's grandparents). I also had a girls weekend cruise with my mother, Aunt Patty, Aunt Diane, my cousin Nicole (and her friend Jackie), and my friend Mauri. We went to the Bahamas, and Mauri, Jackie, Nicole, and I got to go swimming with dolphins!

At the end of the summer, Rob and I moved to St. Kitts so that he could begin Vet School at Ross University.  Rob studied his butt off and made a 3.0 this semester! I relaxed my butt off by hanging out with my new VIP friends (VIPs are the spouses/loved ones of Ross students) at the beach!  

We've had a crazy year. We've lived in three different countries, traveled to some really amazing places in six different countries, lived through a revolution, and taken the next step to realizing Rob's dream of becoming a veterinarian.  We have made loads of amazing friends along the way, and we're pretty thankful for all the cool things and people we have in our lives. 

I hope that 2012 is just as much fun as 2011 (although, I really hope St. Kitts doesn't stage a revolution), and I can't wait to see what the future holds for me and Rob!

We both hope that all of our friends and family have a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year in 2012! We love you all!

Monsters of the deep!

I love snorkeling. I love being in the ocean. However, I also tend to panic the first few minutes of snorkeling in the ocean (or sea). I'm positive I am going to touch the reef and destroy it as I swim over it, or that I am going to get poked by an urchin and immediately die, or that I'll spook a puffer fish and get poked and immediately die. Once I get over the reef, I'm fine. I stop panicking and have lots of fun.

When I go snorkeling with Trevor and he sees something cool, he usually yells out, "Holy Shit!" underwater (excuse the language).  Of course, this causes an immediate panic attack in me, cause I know I'm about to die. This was the case a couple weeks ago when he saw a big old spotted eagle ray flying through the water around us. Once I saw it, and realized it wasn't a giant squid, great white shark, or killer whale, I was just fine. Actually, I was super excited I got to see it! It was really big, and just cruising along looking for a snack. Of course I didn't have my camera (cause I hate swimming with it), and missed an awesome photo op.

I usually snorkel at Shipwreck, down along the beach, and then around these big huge rocks, and what is called the old dolphin enclosure. I have no idea if there were ever dolphins there, but whatever. Once you get out by the big rocks, the water gets much deeper and the water is more cloudy and murky. Anyone who has ever watched shark week knows that murky water is prime shark hunting ground. So, even though I have never seen a shark (while swimming) in St. Kitts, I am on high alert when I'm near the rocks.

This Wednesday I remembered my camera while snorkeling. There wasn't anything too spectacular to see, just the same fish in their usually hangouts.  We got all the way down to the big rocks, and I got a wicked foot cramp. The kind where you can't even move your foot or leg without crazy pain shooting through you. I slowed down to try to rub my foot through my fin, with my back towards the open ocean. Of course, this is the moment Trevor chooses to scream holy shit while back-peddling (is it still back back-peddling if you're swimming?). I think my life might have flashed before my goggle clad eyes.

Giant stingray. A terrible picture, cause it's hard to imagine how big he really was.

Before my heart rate could return to normal, I saw the cause of my near heart attack. A GIGANTIC stingray, just chilling on the ocean floor below us. Thank God the water is deep out by the rocks, and thank God stingrays are so lazy. There was no way I was diving down close to get a picture, and since it is sand colored, I couldn't get a good shot of it from the surface.  Trevor was brave enough to dive down a bit for the photo.  This picture does not do Stingy (that is what I've named him) justice. He looks small and not terrifying. He was enormous, maybe 6 feet across, or more, maybe 60. I can't be sure. Needless to say, I was ready to get the hell out of the water. I was pretty sure that with my foot cramp injury I could easily be eaten by a 60 foot stingray.

Clean up your beach!

As you know, St. Kitts is lucky to be home to several species of sea turtle. Ross students and VIPs try to help out the turtles as much as they can. Today, Rob and I, plus about 40 other people, participated in one of the many beach clean-ups held throughout the semester.

Sign at North Friar's Beach. Don't get in the water...

On beach clean-up days, everyone meets at the IGA parking lot at 7am. I usually say no, cause I am selfish and love sleeping late. Well, Rob went ahead and signed us (yep US), up anyway. He didn't bother telling me, I found out when I got a confirmation email. Being married is awesome :) Today, we got out butts out of bed at 6:30, I get dressed, go put my shoes on, and happen to glance out the window. It was POURING!!! Oy vey.

View down the beach with the the clean up in full swing.

When we got to IGA, there were so many people that we split in half to cover two beaches. Half of the group went to Keys beach, and our group went to North Friar's beach. NF Beach is not really a swimming beach; it is on the Atlantic side and has pretty rough surf, and (according to a sign) a terrible rip tide.  It is also a beach that turtles nest on. There were about 23-28 people on our beach, and we each got a bag and started picking up trash. There were tons of small bits of plastic- synthetic rope, bottles and bottle caps, wrappers, hair clips, broken toys... Rob and I even found 4 different shoes and 7 pieces of plywood (with rusty nails sticking out). Other people found shoes too, and huge pieces of plastic and foamy material. It was pretty disgusting. I think everyone filled up at least two bags. Plus, there was still tons of small bits of plastic that would take forever to completely clear. So, that's about 50 bags of trash, a bunch of wood pieces, plus any trash brought up from the beach after I left. Yuck! I felt pretty bad as I cleaned up. I wondered how many times I carelessly threw something away without making sure it landed in the trash... Humans are wasteful and dirty!

Just a portion of the trash we collected. 

Even though I hate waking up early, I would definitely go to another beach clean-up. I want the turtles to have a clean and safe place to nest. I don't want the mommy or baby turtles to get hurt or sick!

Only in St. Kitts... 

As a final bonus, on the way home from the beach, Kate and I passed a pretty ridiculous site. A broken light post, with power lines still attached, held up by a ladder. Not an A-frame ladder, a lean against the wall kind of ladder. Don't worry though, there were two cones, so it was totally safe!

For all the beach clean up pictures, click here.

Thanksgiving Surprise!

Last week my Aunt Patty flew me back to the states for Thanksgiving!  My parents, brother, and two dogs were planning on spending the holiday at her house in Florida, and Aunt Patty figured it would be a great surprise for them if I was there too!

This meant that I had to lie to my parents, brother, and two dogs continuously for a month, and keep a big secret from the rest of my family. This is not easy. I am terrible at keeping exciting secrets, especially from my family. Actually, my entire family is terrible at keeping secrets from each other, so the fact that I was able to keep a secret is a big deal. So instead I told everyone here in St. Kitts about it.

My Aunt Patty and Uncle Bobby- Thanks for flying me up!

Last Tuesday (11/22) I flew into Miami and met my aunt. First order of business? Pizza. Pizza. Pizza. I freakin' love pizza, it's my favorite food, and I tend to move to countries that wouldn't know good pizza if I crammed it in their faces. Not that I would do that, it would be a waste of perfectly good pizza. So, we got to my aunt and uncle's local pizza joint RIGHT AFTER THEY CLOSED!!! I almost cried, luckily, I got my pizza anyway, cause they were all impressed with my adventurous international life style, especially the fact that I've lived through a revolution! After four slices of pizza, I pretty much passed out cold.

Wednesday morning I was all antsy for my family to arrive... I made the brine for the T-day turkey, read my book, and stared out the window. When my parents, brother, and two dogs finally pulled up outside, I couldn't wait for them to come inside, so I ran out to surprise them. They were shocked! My dad said at first he though, weird, Patty and Bobby have a friend that looks just like Stephanie. Then he asked my brother, "Is that Stephanie?!"  I think my mom hugged me for like 10 minutes straight. Roxy and Rhythm were ambivalent. They were mostly interested in peeing, pooping, and chasing lizards.

My brother, Zach, on his bike

After the excitement of the surprise, the guys decided to go for a ride (my dad and brother towed their Harley's down), and us ladies went shopping cause I needed some supplies to bring back home to St. Kitts. I had to go to a bunch of different stores, but I was so excited to see Target that I danced in the parking lot. Mom and Aunt Patty walked pretty far behind me. After a long day of getting everything I needed, we headed back home. We picked up the boys and went out and got Greek food for dinner. Yum yum yum!  I need to get my yiayia's avgolemono soup recipe (yiayia, if you are reading this, please send it to me!).

Thanksgiving day my aunt and uncle had over 32 people. My uncle has a big Italian family. We had a mess of appetizers, two turkeys, a huge honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted veg, sauteed broccoli with garlic, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed artichokes, some kind of eggplant dish, and my favorite part- stuffing. My mom and aunt make this insanely good stuffing (but only on holidays), and I realized for the first time this year, that I have no idea what they put in it or how it is so much more delicious then any other stuffing. I'm gonna have to figure that out in the very near future. I went overboard on the ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and stuffed mushrooms. I think I ate more on Thanksgiving then I have since I have been in St. Kitts... it was not pretty. But it was totally worth it.

Me and Zach on Thanksgiving

Friday the boys went for another ride, and my mom, aunt, and I poked around town, and tried to avoid  big shopping areas. Also, I was super excited, cause my aunt took us to a brick oven pizza parlor for lunch!! I had 5 slices of pizza with fresh slices of mozzarella and roasted plum tomatoes. Holy crap. So good. I didn't want to leave the place. All I could think of was the "pizza" I could get in St. Kitts- dominos (ew) or pizza boys (they don't even use pizza ovens!!!!) After lunch we met the boys at the new house my aunt and uncle just bought, and then ended the night eating leftovers and hanging out (at the house they still live in).

My dad on his bike

I was super sad that my family was leaving Saturday morning. Zach had to work Sunday morning, so they couldn't stay longer. Luckily, it would only be three weeks til we were home for Christmas. Aunt Patty kept me busy and not sad by helping me with a project. I found a super cute easy dress project online, so we made three cute dresses on Saturday. There were a few mishaps, but my aunt is a sewing genius, so there was no crisis she couldn't figure out!  Saturday night we ate super yummy Thai food. I went nuts on dumplings, wonton soup, and stir fry shrimp and veg with ginger. I also tend to move to countries that wouldn't know good Asian food from good pizza.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed to the airport... I was sad to leave the states, but even more excited to get back to Rob and the Caribbean beaches!  Also, if any of you talk to Rob in the next two weeks, be sure to wish him good luck on his finals!  Only two weeks til he is finished with his first semester of vet school- I am so proud of him!

Two weeks from tomorrow we will be on our way back to the states, and one month from tomorrow we will be moving into our new house in Half Moon Bay!

Help Sea Turtles this holiday season!

St. Kitts is lucky to be a nesting ground for Green, Hawksbill, and primarily Leatherback sea turtles. The Leatherback turtle is sadly a critically endangered species. Luckily, our local turtles have a great support system on the island- The St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network.

This is Olivia. She is an Olive Ridley sea turtle. She has lost both flippers on the right side of her body, and must spend the rest of her life in captivity. She would love to be adopted for Christmas or Hanukkah!

The primary objectives of the SKSTMN are :
-To implement a long standing sea turtle conservation management program
-To promote community awareness of the plight of sea turtles
-To provide non consumable sources of income to communities as an alternative to the sea turtle harvest in an effort to decrease pressure on SK turtle populations.

Baby Sea Turtle says please help us out!

Loads of Ross students and VIPs volunteer their time to help out our local turtle friends. There is a tagging program to track turtles, a rehabilitation center, an adoption program (for nesting turtles and turtles in rehab), and a recycled and sea glass jewelry workshop on island (staffed on a voluntary basis by many of my VIP friends); the beautiful jewelry is sold on the website and locally around St. Kitts. For the eco-tourists out there, SKSTMN even offers eco-tours during Leatherback nesting season (April-June).  Of course, they are always accepting donations to help in the conservation and protection of turtles. If you are interested in adopting or donating please visit the SKSTMN website here.

Olivia says thank you for any help you can give the sea turtles of St. Kitts!

This holiday season, it would be great if you would consider helping out the turtles! If you aren't interested in adopting a turtle or making a donation, there are loads of American stores (Amazon, Best Buy, LL Bean, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Gap, iTunes- to name a few) that will make a donation to the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitor Network when you shop online through goodseach.com! It is free to join, and it will make a HUGE difference! Please join today and add SKSTMN as your charity!  Click here to start Christmas shopping for a great cause!

Even if one person who reads my blog donates to this cause I will consider it a victory towards the protection of the turtles! Of course, I hope you all donate, and thank you so much for all of you who decide to help!

Paradise Found

Shipwreck beach, on South Friars Bay, is quickly becoming my favorite beach on St. Kitts. It has great views, a reef to snorkel, and some tasty drinks! Yesterday and today were beautiful here in the Caribbean, and I had two spectacular Shipwreck days!

Shipwreck beach on South Friars Bay on Tuesday
The water was like glass

Tuesday I met Catherine and Diana at the beach for some snorkeling. We could not have picked a better day. The water was so calm that waves were barely breaking on the shore- the water was lapping up on the shore like a lake. The calm water plus the sunny sky made for sparkly clear conditions underwater.  We saw puffer fish, octopus, squid, trumpet fish, big fat starfish, and a baby conch! There was also about a billion minnows swimming around in huge schools. It was by far the best snorkeling I have done since arriving. Everything was so colorful and beautiful! The best part was that I actually remembered to take my camera with me, so I was able to capture some great pictures of the reef and fish; I also got shots of how calm the water was and some of the resident monkeys!  Click here if you want to see them all! Oh, and the pictures are in the same album as Rob's football pictures that I posted last time, so the new ones start after them!

Me with a big fat starfish!

Puffer Fish

Today was another beach day. On Wednesdays, Trevor and I head to the beach to relax and talk about how awesome our life is here in St. Kitts. Today was no exception. What made today even better was the sweet 5 mast pirate ship anchored in South Friars Bay!  Ok, it wasn't a pirate ship, it was the Royal Clipper, part of a swanky cruise company that sails the Mediterranean Sea in the summer and the Caribbean Sea in the winter. I hope that the crew speaks in pirate slang... and that passengers have to walk the plank... I want to get on that ship so bad. This evening, after the ship left and the sun had set, we saw it off the coast all lit up. It was amazing!  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera today when we went to the beach, so I did not get any close up shots of it. However, my friend Candace got a picture from campus with it's sails up. It was really amazing! I can't wait til it comes to port again so I can get a better picture!

The Royal Clipper leaving port with sails up

I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but I am really thankful to be living in St. Kitts. I know I don't have a job, and I'm giving up a career or pursuing my PhD to be down here, but I am really glad to be able to spend part of my life in St. Kitts! Paradise suits me!

Volcanos and Football!

Rob had quite the weekend. Saturday he hiked up to the summit of Mt. Liamuiga and today his football team played in the playoffs!


Yesterday Rob woke up super early for the hike.  The summit hike is different from the hike to the crater of the volcano that I did in October. When I went, we hiked up Liamuiga to the edge of the crater, but not the highest point. Rob, and some VIPs and students, went ALL the way to the top of the volcano. He was gone for 12 hours. I asked Rob if he would write a blog post about the hike up, and this is what I got:

Rob on the Mt. Liamuiga Summit Hike. In the rain/cloud forest.

I went with about 10 others on a St. Kitts VOLCANO hike yesterday! We left school at 6:15am and came back at 6:00pm. It stared with a 15 min drive through the sugar cane field, then about 1 hour through loose understory, about a half-hour on an elevated land bridge (2 ft wide mt. ridge) that led into a denser understory. THEN about 30 min on a washed out rocky-mud path before we left the canopy and spent 2 hours on a STEADY HAND-over-FOOT scramble up the steepest slopes with thin foot paths, some 70 degree inclines (many with ropes up the muddy/slimy rocks), but mostly about 50 degree inclines. We finally made it to the top but the cloud layers were so dense that we only caught 2 seconds of the view as the sun burst through the clouds (out of a 45 min lunch break)! I guess I'll have to go again and get that view! The was down took about as long due to the rain, mud, and poor conditions of the trail. YES! IT rains in the rain forest!... Who knew?


Rob also told me there is no way I would be able to do the hike- to intense for my wimpy arms!  He took tons of pictures, and you can see them here. 

Playing in the football playoffs. Rob is in the red shirt.

Today was playoffs for flag football.  I haven't been to any games, and since Rob's team was playing the VIP team I went along to cheer on my hubs and my friends. During the regular season, the VIPs won by a single point! This game was just as close, and pretty intense.  In the end the VIPs won by just a touchdown or two (I can't remember exactly).  The Red Rockets (Rob's team) were bummed out, but in January we have semester Olympics again and then a new football season. They can kick more butt soon enough. Pictures from the football game, as well as some recent pictures around the island, can be found here!

Sunset from campus, over the Caribbean Sea. One of Rob's classmates took this picture.

As a side note, Rob had heard that there was a place to smoke shisha on the island. Even though we aren't smokers, we really enjoyed shisha while we were living in Egypt. Last night we found the place! Kate, Trevor, Rob, and I smoked strawberry shisha, which wasn't so bad. I would have preferred rose or peach, but hey, I'll take what I can get here! I got pretty nostalgic for Egypt, and think that koshary and bird tongue soup will be on the menu this week! YUM!!!

Island life is the life for me

I initially thought being a housewife was going to be boring and tedious.  I was wrong. Although, to be fair, I try to stay out of the house! I have had some big adventures and small adventures since my last blog post. I figured it was time to share.

Last Tuesday our trivia team, Ting Country, won first place! We got a (terrible) bottle of rum, and some weird plastic frog. I freaking love winning.  Wednesday was packed with events. As always, Trevor and I started the day going to the local market here on campus, then spent most of the day at the beach.  Wednesday evening was the best though! Trevor and I went to a baby sea turtle release party! 30-40 baby sea turtles were found in a damaged nest, and we got to help release them back into the ocean. I named mine Stormy (cause there was a storm blowing in while we were on the beach, and the lightening was putting on quite a show). Trevor named his Ghost Ship (cause there is an abandoned ship off the coast, and we decided it's haunted). After a lot of encouragement, Ghost Ship made it to the water. Stormy... Stormy would not go to the water! I was devastated! However, the lady in charge (can't remember her name), took Stormy and three other babies back to her lab. Hopefully they will get stronger and be ready to go next release day. I got to help another baby though, Trevor named him Percy. Percy got into the water pretty quick, I was very proud. The babies were Hawksbills, which I have mentioned in earlier posts.  They were adorable and really tiny- about two inches long. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures. Bright lights can seriously disorient sea turtles (that's why at the beach, some resorts or condo communities have orange or red lights facing the sea), so I didn't bother to bring my camera.  Next time I'll try to take some photos without my flash with one of the red flash lights.

After the turtle release, Trevor and I headed to Bobsy's (a restaurant that has karaoke) for Sarah's going away party. Sarah is a fellow VIP who is heading back to the States. We had a late dinner and then "enjoyed" the music!

Thursday was fun too! The VIPs had been talking about swapping recipes, so we turned it into a pot luck dinner/recipe exchange.  I made my cucumber and vinegar salad, and the pineapple cheese ball I stole from Elaine DiMaggio years ago. I stuffed myself full of the yummy foods my friends made, and met some new people. The best part is that Kim, yet another VIP, is going to collect all the recipes and email out a cookbook of everything!  It can be difficult to find ingredients sometimes, so I am looking forward to having island friendly meals to make!

On Friday, Rob and his classmates had their second anatomy test- 3 hours of hell (according to them). To celebrate the test being over, and a belated birthday celebration for me, Sarah, Vanessa, Candice, Kate, Trevor, Rob, and I headed to Bamboo for drinking and dancing! I enjoyed a few libations, and danced the whole time we were there! I LOVE dancing!

Saturday and Sunday were beach days. The students only get to hang at the beach on weekends, so they try to go as much as they can, as long as they don't have a test to study for.

Trevor enjoying our homemade peanut butter cups!

Today, I decided to make homemade reese's peanut butter cups! I enlisted Trevor's help and we were very successful. We made 18 cups, and used the rest of the peanut butter mixture and chocolate to make chocolate peanut butter balls! I also went to yoga for the first time today! One of the students teaches the class every Monday. The floor is REALLY hard, so my wrists are killing me, but otherwise I feel great. I freakin' love yoga!

So, life goes on here in St. Kitts. Only 39 days til we head home from Christmas and New Years!

Mauri and Lia's visit

Last week two of my friends came to St. Kitts for a visit: my cousin Lia, and my friend Mauri. The arrived last Tuesday and stayed through Sunday. We had tons of fun, but the time flew by!

After picking them up at the airport, we dropped off their luggage at home, and went into town for some lunch at the Circus Grille. Tuesday night we headed to trivia (Rob had a test Friday and the following Monday, so we were trying to stay out of his hair). Most of our team was MIA, and we lost pretty badly! Wednesday we headed to the market here on campus, and then to Shipwreck Beach. The weather was perfect, and we were able to get in about 2 hours of snorkeling. I even saw a hawksbill sea turtle! That was by far the best part for me! Of course, I forgot to grab our camera before getting in the water, so I do not have any pictures to share.  There was a whole lot of monkeys hanging out too; usually you see one or two, but we saw around 8 or 9! They were swinging in the trees, sitting at the restaurant tables, lounging on the grass. They are super cute! Later that night we all headed to the casino at the Marriott for some gambling.  We all lost at the slots (such a waste of money), and then we did reasonably well at roulette for a while!  I am not so good at the whole casino thing, but it was still fun. Thursday we went to the Marriott beach- we just sat our buts on the beach for 6 hours. It was delightful. That evening we went to see the movie In Time.  It was a bit to unbelievable for my tastes, but it was alright. Friday we had an adventure day of sorts. First we went into Port Zante, this is where all the cruise ships dock, and has tons of duty free shopping and a local craft market. Then we headed to Romney Manor at Wingfield Estates. First we went to the Caribelle Batik store, then went ziplining. So much fun! Friday evening Rob, Lia, Mauri, and I went to La Belle Vie for dinner. It is a little French restaurant here on the island, and it was delicious! Saturday was my birthday and another beach day- this time we went down to Reggae and Cockleshell beach. We hung out at Reggae most of the day, then walked over to the Spice Mill, another restaurant. I hadn't been there before, but had wanted to try it, and I was not disappointed! I really liked the atmosphere of Spice Mill too- I plan on going again. When we walked back to our stuff at Reggae after lunch, we noticed the sand had been all rooted through, and our bag of apples, bananas, and cookies were missing. Wilbur the pig ate all of our stuff! Jerk! The best part was all the other people on the beach- they were clearly staring at us to see what our reaction would be! Jerks! They could have shooed Wilbur away, or given us a heads up, "Oh, hey, the giant pig ate your food... we tried to stop him but couldn't." Nope- nothing. Oh well!  Saturday night, Mauri, Lia, Trevor, Candice, Brayton, Leann, and I went out to celebrate my birthday at Nirvana. It is at an old plantation house, and it was another tasty meal! Our waitress was a bit weird, she seemed confused a lot, and none of us could figure out why! It was a really nice night, and I am so glad I had friends to spend it with since my family (besides Rob), is far away. Sunday I dropped Lia and Mauri back at the airport, and just like that it was back to me and Rob and a quiet apartment!

I haven't been able to download pictures to add to this post, but if you click here, you can see all the pictures that Lia took.

I had so much fun with Lia and Mauri; I hope they are able to come back and visit again! Hopefully we will be lucky, and have lots more of our friends and family visit while Rob and I are in St. Kitts!

A Tale of Two Hikes

Today was Ross's mid-semester break, which means all the students had the day off. Since Monday is Mad-Hikers day, us VIPs decided to bring our over-worked spouses on our hike up to the Bat Cave.  As I was uploading my pictures from today, I realized I hadn't updated since early last week, and I have been on TWO hikes since then!

A shot I took while on the hike today, I can't believe how amazing it turned out!

Last Monday was a pretty easy hike.  We went out to Wingfield Estates (where we went zip-lining), and hiked west to some more old sugar plantation ruins. I have no idea to whom they once belonged to, or when they fell out of use. BJ, a fellow VIP who leads some of the hikes, said that the main house was allegedly being restored and turned into a hotel. It was easy to see all the modern masonry from the outside, and Trevor said it was even wired already. Lame. So instead of checking out the house, I focused on the old sugar processing area. This area was pretty well preserved. I liked the windmill ruins and the smoke stack best. There is even a passage that takes you into the bottom of the smoke stack, so you can look up toward the sky. I think the building near them is called a Boiling House, but I am not sure. I really should study up on the old sugar plantations in my free time.  We wandered around the ruins for a while, waited out a brief rainstorm in the windmill, and then headed back towards the car. We walked through field of what is either sugar cane or guinea grass... I should look those up too!  I just found this website, and it has really interesting and helpful information about St. Kitt's old plantations. It has some wonderful pictures of various estates (not the one we hiked unfortunately), and the essay sheds some light on the sugar plantations and their history. Click here to check out my entire album from this hike.

Part of the windmill, smokestack, and what I think might be part of the boiling house

Windmill (just the base, the wooden top part is gone) and the smokestack.

Back to today's hike.  Rob was very excited to go hiking. It has been driving him batty (ha) because I pretty much hate hiking, and he loves it. I go because I don't want to sit at home all day, I like the people that go hiking, and St. Kitts is really beautiful! The destination today was the Bat Cave. Getting to the trail head is... interesting. You have to turn down what looks like a driveway, turn at what looks like the end of the driveway, and finally come to a dead end in a sugar cane field (or guinea grass, I really need to figure out the difference). Next you dive into the cane field (with stalks about 9 or 10 feet tall), and just walk until you come to a dry creek bed. Yep, you just walk blind through the field. Ok, it is possible there there was a trail, and I just couldn't see it.  Once you are in the creek bed, the hike is pretty easy; it's fairly flat, you just have to watch your footing, cause the rocks are uneven and loose in places, and some are slippery with moss. There are a couple tricky parts though- including a huge boulder you have to climb over. I hate that stupid boulder, it doesn't even have the decency to be easy to climb over. There is a rope that you can use to pull yourself up, but precious few footholds. The guys made it up easy enough, the other ladies and I required some help... Courtney's husband, Lance, was kind enough to give the girls a boost (basically he let us step in his hand) as we grabbed the rope. Once Lance had boosted us up a bit, and we pulled ourselves up a little ways, BJ grabbed our hands, and helped to pull us the rest of the way.  The creek bed past the boulder had puddles and pools along the final leg to the Bat Cave, but again was pretty flat. The closer you get to the cave the more high pitched squeaky sounds you hear- it's the bats using their super sweet echo location! Inside the cave, which is relatively small (it looked like another giant boulder leaning against a bend in the rock wall), there are bats EVERYWHERE!!! Hanging from the ceiling, flying through the air, pooping on the ground, squeaking adorably, BATS GALORE! i have posted a video of the inside of the Bat Cave towards the bottom of this post

The giant boulder you have to climb over

When you hike the the Bat Cave, you have the option of continuing on past the cave to a waterfall. You have to climb over another impasse. I was actually able to get my big bum up and over without too much help! I made Trevor stand behind me just in case I fell to my death (it was only like 7-8 feet, but it was very rocky...). The way to the waterfall was also pretty easy once you got pass the climb. The falls are pretty small, and the water comes from one small pool up top, down to the pool underneath. Rob went up to the top pool, apparently it was home to some craw fish.

Waterfall

The hike back to the car was harder than coming up because it started to rain, making the rocks very slick (I not so gracefully fell twice). I was really nervous about using the rope to get down from the boulder. It was less scary then I anticipated. It's just tricky because you have to edge out on your belly, while trying to curl your legs under the ledge to find the foothold! Again, Lance assisted by pretty much grabbing my flailing foot and sticking it in the right spot. After you have footing, you basically scooch over the edge, backwards, while shimmy-ing down the rope. Moments like that remind my why I am not wildery.  Oy vey.

To see the pictures from today's hike, click here!  Oh, and we signed our lease for next semester, so be sure to book a room in the Dolphin House soon!

T-Minus 1 week til BFF invasion!

In Egypt, Rob and I waited four months for our first visitors: Rob's best man, Zack (and his two bros), his cousin Kate (and her friend Jessie). They came to visit us around Thanksgiving, and Rob and I were indeed very thankful. I was so excited to see people from home I cried when Zack walked into our apartment. Seriously.

Lia and Mauri at my bachelorette party

Luckily, we have waited only 2 months for our first St. Kitts guests! My cousin Lia, and my sorority sister Mauri, are arriving next Tuesday! I cannot wait to see them! The best part is that they will be here for my birthday!

Mauri and Lia at my wedding

I consider myself really lucky to have family and friends like Lia and Mauri. Lia and I have grown up together, gotten in trouble together, traveled together, and had several international adventures together! In fact, this is Lia's second international trip this year- she visited Egypt in March. While I have only known Mauri since college, she is maybe the best friend anyone could ask for. She is selfless, generous, caring, and she is so damn pretty! I couldn't ask for two better friends! Only 7 days til they get here! YAY!!!

Room with a view $

Our new house overlooking Half Moon Bay.

After three weeks of searching, I think we have found our new home here in St. Kitts!  Initially, I was searching for a one bedroom place for Rob and I to live in starting in January.  After a fruitless search, we decided to team up with Trevor and Kate and find a bigger place. Trevor and I engaged in some more fruitless searching, but finally found a great place Wednesday morning. We dragged out butts out of bed at 8:30 AM to meet with our realtor, Jo. She took us to the "Dolphin House" in Half Moon Bay. Totally worth getting up before 10 AM!
The house has three bedrooms (perfect if anyone wants to come visit!), 2.5 baths, garage/car port, papaya and coconut trees, a pool, and an INCREDIBLE view!!!

This is the view from the back patio toward the pool, golf course, and Atlantic Ocean!

Hopefully we will sign the lease early next week, and we'll only be 10 weeks from our rad beach pad! I am mostly excited to have a real kitchen again. I am also pretty excited about the view... ok, and the pool. Alright, I admit it, I am excited about the whole place!

One more thing. You might be wondering why it's called the Dolphin House. Well, the property slopes down toward the back, so the rear of the pool is above ground. What to do with a blank wall? I know, paint a huge underwater themed mural! Also, no dolphins are present in the mural- just orcas (which I think are in the dolphin family, but it's still a stretch). The paint is fading at the top where the pool water spills over. I can't decide if I hate it or if it is so outlandish that I love it. Either way, you can only see it from the very end of the backyard... or if you are playing golf on the course behind our house. :) From now on I will be calling it a fresco, cause it sounds fancy.

If cement counts as plaster, it's totally an a secco fresco. There, rationalized.

No Coddling Zone

First: Happy Birthday to my amazing brother Zachary! 

I miss you like crazy!

Today was a pretty routine day, but tonight I did something pretty fun!  Our friends Brayton and Leann volunteer for the turtle research program here. On Monday nights they feed and check up on the baby turtles in rehab. Guess who invited herself along! The sign outside the door said in bold letters: THIS IS A NO CODDLING ZONE. It also had useful information about not changing the temperature and sea turtle safety... Seriously though, how do you coddle a sea turtle?

One of the babies

There are three babies right now- all three washed up, dehydrated, on the beaches. Sad day.  They are Hawksbill sea turtles.  They can grow to about 3 feet in length, and on average weigh 180lbs. According to wikipedia, the largest was 280 lbs. That is roughly 2.25 Stephanies. Hawksbills are listed as Critically Endangered, which is only one step above Extinct in the Wild, and two above Extinct! That is why they need our help!

In their "feeding bins" waiting for dinner of pellets and fish. Yum!

The babies are named Marine, Gibbs, and Munchkin (in descending size order). They get feed three times a day, and they get some outside play time in the sun as well. Once they are healthy enough, they will be returned to the wild. Brayton and Leann also help out at the larger turtle facility on St. Kitts.  That's where the more grown up turtles are rehabilitated. I hope next Monday I can meet the big boy turtles! I think next semester I might volunteer my time to help the sea turtles that need saving.

Mt. Liamuiga

Tuesday morning I had to wake up at 6am. I HATE waking up early, but it was worth it- along with some other VIPs, I hiked up to the crater summit of Mt. Liamuiga, a volcano on St. Kitts.

Mt. Liamuiga is 3,792 ft high, and the crater is just over half a mile wide. It is the tallest peak in St. Kitts, and one of the highest in the Caribbean archipelago. It is a stratovolcano, and the last verified eruption was about 1,800 years ago. Two alleged eruptions took place in 1692 AND 1843. I am unsure how they are uncertain about whether or not it erupted, but Hey I'm no vulcanologist.

View of Mt. Liamuiga from the trailhead.

We started out at the trail head, at the end of some old sugar cane fields (a new resort is being built in the area), and entered the rain forest. It's my kind of rain forest too, no scary animals or bugs. In fact, I only saw one bug the whole time and I heard a few birds here and there. It was super lush and green, and VERY humid. Luckily the tree canopy kept us shaded, and it wasn't that hot.  The scenery was indescribable. It was beautiful, creepy, breathtaking, and weird all at once. The Banyan Trees were by far the coolest plant I have ever seen. At least I think that's what they were! Their trunks split apart near the bottom in all different directions. The climb up was easy-moderate for the most part. Although, there were some steep areas and we had to climb up some dry rocky river beds. My legs were killing me half way up... I'm such a wuss!

View into the summit crater.

At around 3,000 feet the rain forest turns into a cloud forest. It wasn't too cloudy while we were hiking though. Almost at the top, we had one last major obstacle- fairly large rocks (in my opinion) that needed to be scaled. Side note-if you have met me, you know I am not very outdoorsy. I am trying very hard for the sake of my very outdoorsy husband. So, I did manage to get to the top of the rocks... with some help from Matt (who pulled) and Trevor (who pushed). I also earned two scraped knees, a cut up shin, and a skinned elbow. It took two hours to get from the trailhead to the top.

The view down into the crater is magnificent. When the clouds near the rim, they are sucked down into the bowl. It's really amazing to see. The walls of the crater are completely green and near vertical, and at the bottom is a small lake. It is possible to hike down into the crater, but the guys said it's pretty challenging. We hung out on the rim for a while, eating lunch and enjoying the view. We didn't make it to the tippy top of the rim; the actual highest point was opposite us. We were behind a jagged peak, and were facing toward the island, so I couldn't see the ocean. I hear the view from the opposite side is even better. On a clear day you can see Saba, Statia, St. Maarten, St Barths, and Nevis. Next time volcano... next time!

The hike down was nearly as hard as going up. It had rained a bit when we started our hike, and the humid nature of the rain forest made the rocks and trees slippery. We took another two hours to get back to the cars. It was totally worth all the effort. I would really like  to hike it again, I just need to forget how hard it was first!

For my entire album click here.

Here are some more interesting links about Mt. Liamuiga:
Global Volcanism Program
Peakware.com

Weekend Recap

What a great weekend! Rob and I are really enjoying our time in St. Kitts, and this past weekend was a great example of that. Friday night we had a couples night with two other first semester couples. Brayton and Leann are from upstate NY, and Trevor and Kate are from Massachusetts. Friday afternoons are when intramural volleyball games are played, and Leann, Trevor, and Rob are all on different teams, so after everyone was clean and fresh we headed to Ciao- an Italian restaurant in Frigate Bay. Our date night was really nice, I felt like a grown-up!  After dinner we went over to the Marriott Casino where some of our friends were trying their hand at the slots and roulette. Jessica even won $70 bucks at roulette, which is awesome considering she had no idea what she was doing! If I was better at gambling (or had a job and money to waste) I would have given it a whirl. Unfortunately, I do not have a job nor money to waste! It was still fun to hang out and socialize with my vet school friends who I don't get to see much.

Saturday morning Rob took me to get my driver's license! I was very excited, I couldn't wait to get behind the wheel again... just on the right side of the car, and the left side of the road!  Saturday afternoon Leann, Rob, and I went to a fundraising 5k (or 2k walk) to support the St. Christopher Children's Home. The home is a safe place for children to live if they have been orphaned, neglected, abandoned, or abused. Over $150,000 was raised. Leann and I opted to walk the 2k path, and Rob ran the 5k. He ran it in 16:43 (ish) minutes. He beat me and Leann to the finish line. In fact, he beat all but one other guy! Rob placed 2nd overall!  Leann and I were approaching the 2k side of the finish, and we saw Rob run across, stagger, flop down on the ground, stand back up and rip off his shirt, sunglasses, ipod... He was pretty hot, and dehydrated when he finished. He said the final minutes of the race he had tunnel vision and was really out of it. After the race, the Marriott held a bbq and gave prizes to the people who raised the most money, and to the winners of the race! Yep, Rob won himself a super sweet trophy! Yay Rob!

Cooling down after the race!

Rob's cool trophy!

Post race bbq

On Sunday I went to the beach with Jessica while Rob played intramural football. Rob missed last Sunday's game because he was really dizzy (turns out my crazy husband partially tore his ear drum while snorkeling...). Rob's team not only won, but Rob made several interceptions! Next week Rob plays against Trevor's team, so I am going to tear myself away from the beach to watch them. Rob spent the remainder of the day studying for his physiology test on Wednesday. I headed to Kori's apartment pool (she's a VIP), because she was hosting water aerobics! It was great, I had fun and felt the burn!

Today, Rob headed back to class and I went to scope out some possible apartments. I found a place I love, but it's expensive. I plan on doing some more searching later in the week. Hopefully we find something perfect for the rest of our time here!