Patronales y Padres

And yet another week completely zooms by at the Trust!

Our Manta summer program wrapped up last week as the kids had an overnight adventure on the main island and presented their final project on Friday. We had an awesome time with our Manta kids and are looking forward to Mantastic, which begins next week!

I have been busy with all of my usual tasks; Monday Mark, Melissa and I installed a weather station at Sun Bay to begin collecting weather data along with our weekly visit to do research at Puerto Mosquito.   Then, on Tuesday, my darling parents came to visit me for a full week here! So far, we have eaten lots of tasty food at the local restaurants and have visited some of the most amazing beaches in the National Wildlife Refuge here -- it has been awesome!

Me and José after our crazy 8k!

Then to top off all the fun I have been having with my work and family, this past Wednesday kicked off the local summer celebration called "Patronales, which is a tradition of celebrating a town's patron saint. The plaza of Isabel II has been completely packed with delicious food carts, fun rides and a stage that features a wide variety of musical performers. I have attended several nights thus far and have had a blast-- I have tried a local betting game involving miniature-wooden racing horses, tasted a local liqueur made from quenpa fruit that is called bili and ate lots of delicious food.

This afternoon, I participated in the 2012 Masué 8k run. It was probably one of the hottest running experiences of my entire life. The race kicked off at 5 pm as all of the runners completed a hilly course, complete with excessive sunshine and wonderful spectators who graciously sprayed us all with hoses as we pushed ourselves through the 5 mile course. It was so much fun, despite the heat and exhaustion! It was a fabulous experience to run with the owner of my guest house, José, who had urged me to register in the first place. I managed to get 5th place overall for the female runners, which was a big surprise for me!

So all in all, it has been a totally fun and fast paced week with everything ranging from Manta fun to the great cultural experience of Patronales. As always, I am falling more and more in love with Vieques and am so thankful to be a part of this beautiful place!