WHY IS MY INTERNET IN SPANISH

But seriously. I hope that this will help me learn some Spanish, but at some point I would just like to understand what I'm clicking on :P

Today we ran to the kitchen when we got up to check if the fridge was still broken. Yup.

We had our first day at the actual plot, but not before learning even more plant ID's. So far we are doing alright, and Jill is very impressed with our progress :) I think she's being nice. I'm definitely trying hard, and slowly but surely I'm getting past the point where they all look like tall brown things will littler green things on them! Sad, huh?

Once we made it to the entrance to the plot, we started on a trek through the plot itself. The plot is about 500m North to South, and we walked the entire length. Along the way we learned more plant IDs, getting our total to about 55 or 60 by the end of the day. Once at the end of the plot, we snaked our way around to a pit that was dug a little outside of the plot for the purpose of carbon analysis. The perfect place for a lunch! We ate and discussed what we could do on our first weekend. We then headed back, and what had taken us 4 1/2 hours to get to the top of the plot took us about a half hour. Jill had so much to tell us about the trees, we hadn't even noticed how long it had taken us to get there. The walk back wasn't so bad, just a little muddy and slippery. That might take some getting used to, but I think I'll be ok. Thank god I brought my hiking boots!

After we got back, we had a quick break and then started looking at samples of leaves that Alejandro and Chris had brought back for us to identify. More practice! This part I really enjoyed, as it's right up my alley--puzzles :) We all sat around a picnic table and used our ID sheets to identify the branch samples in front of us. And we succeeded! 54 samples, and only 4 wrong ones! 3 of them we didn't know yet (tricksy hobbitsess...) and one was a dried leaf that we should have looked at more carefully. Success!

And our first real trip to urbanization was today! We went as a group to a bar in Luquillo, where Chris lives. We had dinner, and some people has some drinks. I myself lucked out with DELICIOUS pineapple juice, which is always amazing. Also, fish tacos are something I could definitely get used to. Delectable! After dinner, Tuber, Ed, Rachel, Seth (another grad student), Alejandro and I walked down by the kiosks on the beach, poking our heads in every so often to see if we could get down to the beach. Finally there was one open, and there was sand between my toes once more. The water here is crystal clear, even in the nighttime. We walked and talked along the shore, and dipped our feet in. The water was lukewarm and wonderful, and just what I needed after a long day of work. We then headed back, ready for the weekend to really start tomorrow.

PS, we also bottomed-out Seth's car on the hill up to the station. We're fat.

PPS, sorry these two posts aren't as eloquent as the first, I am half asleep right now and have practically no idea what I'm writing :P

PPPS, hi :)