There's an interesting dichotomy

Today there were a mad rush of e-mails as the day started to come to a close after lunch.  There were storms coming in from the east and due to the increased traffic, those traveling east were allowed to leave early.  Other teachers should try to help cover and supervise the classes where teachers were leaving.  Parents were coming in early to pick up their kids to try to beat the traffic.

We've had a lot of rain lately.  Normally the skies open up and it pours down rain for about 10-15 minutes and then it's done.  But the last 4-5 days, it's been rain like it is up in the states.  A long steady rain over an hour or two.  So the ground is very saturated, the roads are already crappy and we live on a very hilly/mountainous island.  So there is a lot of flooding in homes, on roads, and with rivers.  Even a bridge has collapsed and was washed away.

So while those of you back in the states battle the cold and soon the snow as well, and longingly await a snow day (especially the teachers up there), we down in the caribbean await the rain day.  Seems so odd, doesn't it?

Take a hike

This week I was invited to go on a short hike with one of the other teachers at my school, Anthony, and his daughters.  Anthony has talked about this hike a couple of times and it really piqued my interest. 

It's a hike up in the hills north of an area called Diego Marten (here it's pronounced Dago Marten).  The hike has two paths, one for the old men and one for the real men, as Anthony has put it.  And the paths are continually watched by "Claws".  Claws is the guy who lives in these hills and maintains these little shrines along the paths and also does various carvings in the trees along the path.  Claws is named as such due to his extremely long fingernails.

We decided for an early Saturday morning hike and Nick and his girls also joined in on the fun.  the day was overcast and filled with sprinkles.  We met up around 9:30 and drove off the the entrance of the path.  Of course, not being men to back down from a challenge, we took the path for real men, which essentially was hiking up a river, climbing on rocks, occasionally the bank of the river, and often through the river.  The most challenging part of hiking up this river, which really was mostly rocks and some knee (sometimes waist) deep water was making sure the girls stayed dry and didn't freak out.  Fortunately, all 4 of these girls were very adventurous and didn't mind getting their shoes wet or slipping and stumbling here and there.

We began the trek and it quickly opened to this small clearing where all these painted, wooden statues stood.  I have no idea what they mean, if anything, but it was very cool to see these things in the middle of the rain forest, which can be a very tranquil place.  After taking a handful of pictures and looking for Claws, looking at us, we decided to venture on.  Unfortunately we did not get to see Claws, so we'll have to continue to imagine what he might look like.

Shortly after the little shrine, we came across this thin path, covered with wet leaves.  It was getting kind of slick, but what caught our attention more than the wet and slippery path was the many butterflies flying about.  There is one particular butterfly that always catches my eye.  I believe it is called the Blue Monarch.  On the top side of it's wings, it is almost an electric blue color.  On the bottom side is it's camouflage to protect it from it's predators.  We found one giant Blue Monarch attached to the side of a tree, obviously a little scared of us because it's wings were closed and all we saw was it's camouflage.  These wings had to be a little bigger than the palm of my hand.

After the photo op, we continued down the slick path to the first of many river crossings.  Here we climbed on wet rocks, covered with moss.  It was extremely slippery.  And blocking our path was the largest spider I've ever seen in the wild.  This thing had to be about 2-3 inches long.  Fortunately, the web was kind of high and we were able to duck under it.  However, it was low enough that if we didn't see it, it would have been

 right in one of the adult's faces.  It was a little creepy, but that's what you get in the wild.

Shortly after the spider, I had a slightly scarier moment.  We were crossing this relatively shallow part of the river and walking across rocks that were slightly bigger than our feet.  Sometime when crossing wet rocks you have to be quick, sometimes you have to take your time.  The trick is to know when to do what.  This time, I didn't choose properly.  I lost my balance, fell on my butt and into the water.  Now I can take bumps and scrapes - not a big deal.  But the scary thing was my camera was in my pocket.  Fortunately, it was in another pouch inside my pocket, which absorbed most of the water and it didn't get in or on the camera.  That would have sucked big time.  So the next time we had a challenging rock to cross, I tossed my camera to Nick and he took some pictures of me trying to get across the rocks/river. 

We continued down the river and finally came across our final destination.  There was this big waterfall pouring into this pond.  The water was a little dirtier than usual because the night before we had a lot of rain, so there was a lot of sediment in the pond.  But Anthony said that usually the water is a clear blue.  We stayed at the waterfall for a bit while behind us three Shouter Baptists were doing some kind of baptism or spiritual cleansing.  Contrary to what you might think, they were a very quiet trio.

After our stay at the waterfall, we took the old man path back to our cars, which took us barely a 1/4 of the time as the river route.  But it definitely would not have been as exciting or adventurous if we took that path up to the waterfall.  Then we went to the northern coast of the island, which was only a short 10 minute drive.  Here all you could see was the vast ocean.  Apparently there is a great path that it about 3 miles long and goes to Chagaramas, an area that we frequent quite a bit for other small hikes.  We didn't go along to trail because Nick and I were starting to run late for an Ultimate Frisbee game.  

For quite possibly the first time...

...in my life, I can say that I am proud to be an American.  Now don't get me wrong, I have always felt very privileged to be a US citizen, more so now than ever as I have started to travel to new countries and see how other people live and other governments govern.  But there is a quote from a song from one of my favorite bands, Endpoint, which probably most people reading this have never heard of before.  The quote goes "I love my country but I won't close my eyes."  And that is how I have felt for most of my life.  I'm not going to ignore the faults and injustices that I see every day.

The United States of America is a great nation, but it far, far from perfect.  But now, with the election of our new president, I, like millions of other US citizens, have hope that we can chip away at those imperfections.  That we can rebuild our reputation and status across the globe, that we can come together as a people, as a nation, and do what is right.

People don't like to believe it, but there is still a considerable amount of racism in the US, both on an individual level and on a systemic level.  Think about if you clutch your purse a little tighter when a black man passes you on the street.  Think about if your heart beats a little faster if you approach a group of black male youths when you are out alone.  Visit an inner city school and look at the conditions of the school vs. the conditions of a suburban school, or talk to the students and families and see if they truly get the same opportunities and are treated the same way as you are treated as a white person.  

I'm not necessarily that if you feel different in these situations if I replace the word "black" with "white" that you are a racist.  But I am saying that our society has not created this equal state that we are lead to believe it has.  There are things, images, ideas, that are so ingrained in our subconscious by our upbringing and current media, that we still do treat people differently based on the color of their skin, what religion they adhere to, or their family heritage.  However, this election is one step in the right direction to close that gap.

As I was typing this and trying to post it, still glowing in the election of president-elect Obama, I saw the results of a handful of propositions that were being voted on across the US, banning gay marriage and banning adoption of children by gay individuals and couples.  All of these propositions passed, thus restricting the rights of citizens of the United States who want equal rights to love and care for each other and for children in dire need of a home.  So while we have progressed to the point where we are not trying to intentionally discriminate against people with different color skin than our own, we as a nation still find it OK to publicly discriminate against gay people.

Well at least I was proud for about 20 minutes.