Glover's

After spending 30 glorious days on the atoll, I’m now back on the mainland. Placencia has a huge Lobster Fest each year. I’m staying with my friend Mary from the island. We’ve had quite the bonding experience this past month living out there. It’s so funny to be a part of a “normal” society with plumbing, fixtures, electricity and actual stemware to drink your wine...as opposed to a bucket to pee in, a headlamp to see at night and coffee mugs with salt water stickiness to drink from. It is like everything is brand new! :)

I think both of us have gone a little batty on that island. It’s amazing and beautiful, but too much time out there and one can forget how to be civilized. We are staying in a condo right in the center of town with a balcony to people watch. We can hear the live music from our place. It’s perfect! I’ve run into some people that I met when I was here last month. I got called out for being “from the islands”. I said “Why, bc I have stains on my beater and my hair hasn’t seen a comb in days and my feet are callused from not wearing shoes?” Haha! Man, if my friends could see me now!!! But it’s all good. I spent Friday taking the longest shower, deep conditioned my hair and today getting a pedicure. Oh and I’m going to take my clothes to a laundry mat as opposed to beating my clothes against a rock with a scrub brush! Like I said, it’s rustic!

Last weekend we came back to the mainland for one day to get supplies and I decided I needed to get off for a few hours. It started out blue skies and sunny. We took an 80 ft pontoon boat. It takes 2 1/2 hours to get back to the mainland. It was full of a big group of women that came out with all of their gear, coolers, backpacks, propane tanks, luggage, etc. While we were riding back, I noticed a HUGE black storm cloud start to form. It was getting closer and closer. We are in the middle of the sea and it starts pouring! There was another boat riding along with us and for a bit, I couldn’t see him. The waves were so rough that all of the gear was falling over, propane tanks were leaking, people were falling, it was a bit scary. The captain had the boat under control, but it was quite the first “storm at sea” that I’ve experienced. For a moment, I thought, “Is this really it? Is this how it’s going to go down? On this boat with a bunch of screaming ladies!?” You realize that you have your whole life in the boat captain’s hands. It’s a weird thought! It stayed like that for about an hour. But we made it just fine.

I did learn how to catch lobster while I was there and make conch ceviche. I also made some sushi rolls with tuna and king mackerel - yum! There’s a research department on a nearby island that we were friends with. I learned how they are counting sharks and lion fish. There’s a big problem with lion fish taking over the seas. They are not supposed to be from this part of the world, however, eggs have been leaking in the water from people in Florida not cleaning their aquariums properly. Now the Caribbean is saturated with them. They are eating everything! It’s really hurting the underwater population. There are signs everywhere saying “Wanted, Lion Fish”. So when we were diving, we would spear the fish and eat them. At least they are tasty! But I would see at least 10 per dive. It’s amazing at how fast they multiply and take over.

Every night I would look at the stars! I’ve never seen so many! Being so far from any light, you can see everything. I saw Scorpio and Sagittarius, every cycle of the moon, the sun rise, the moon rise, the sun set, it was amazing! At night you can see out in the distance as the ships pass by. There’s a main channel that freight ships and drug ships use. Apparently, the Columbian’s pass by regularly carrying loads of cocaine to Mexico or Florida. They even build submarines so no one can see them! The island that I was on is protected by the atoll. It’s pretty cool. There are 4 islands in this coral reef circular atoll. There’s only a couple of ways in, but you can see out into the channel. It’s like a gated community! They all watch the other boats and know everyone who is coming in the atoll. One of the four islands had the fishery department on it. They are like the “rangers” for the atoll. We had to use them once to remove a guest from the island. She went crazy and took a bunch of pills and feel asleep in the toolshed with a suicide note next to her. We had to get her to the mainland to get some help. Hopefully, she’s going to go back to The States to get the help she needs. It was very disturbing.

The life lessons that I learned out there can relate to anything. It’s so simple, it makes me realize that life is not that complicated. And that fact makes life so stress free! Each day I appreciate how happy I am. I’m living in the present to the fullest extent.

I’m not sure where I’m heading off to next. I really like it here and the longer I stay, the more connections I make, which makes things a LOT cheaper! :) I met the owner of another island with a 5 star resort on it. He invited me and told me to bring friends and come stay for free. Come on down!!