It's flying by!

I can't believe how quickly the time is going here, already it's week 4!
It has been a good week, although it's been extra windy so we have had three non-diving days which is sad. we've been studying a lot and snorkling a lot, but its just not the same. we're now learning coral diseases and predation and commpetition, rescue diving manual, and BTEC course work. it's a lot of studying, but i have to say i have found a new favorite study spot - swaying in a hammock on a beach. yes. lovely

we also had an EFR (emergency first responder) practice senario after beach clean yesterday. haha we walked back with our bags full of rubbish and heard mad screaming so we ran over and there was ketchup everywhere with a fake car crash and a person who had fallen down stairs. i am proud to say that i followed perfect EFR protocol and effectively saved Arturo. yay. however, not everyone was aware that it was a practice senario. one of the groundskeeper ladies and a visiting person from the GVI boston office saw it and started screaming until someone explained that it was only ketchup. lol it was funny.

This week cynthia and Olly from the mexico office came to visit and my wonderful family sent me a package of goodies with PECANS!! oh, so exciting. the people at my table during dinner said taht it was the most exciting thing that had happened all week and we had fun passing around sweethearts. then i had the best (used loosely here) porridge ever with pecans and honey and peanut butter. mmm.... it will definitely help the morning ritual.

what else....the weather is gorgeous and live is wonderful. today i had incredible homeade strawberry and bananna helado (ice cream for you gringos). great.

i will put some more pictures up soon.
right now i need to pass the computadora on to un otra persona, por eso hasta luego mis amigos.

Tori

Picture time! (now sing da da da da, da da, da da, can't touch this!)

This is my hut - Tiburon (also known as the penthouse)

I live here with 7 other people - a south aftrican girl, an australian girl, an american girl, a brittish girl, a brittish guy, and a welsh guy. it's a good group.

This is my bed! cozy huh? i love living under a mosquito net. and, notice my lovely blue mexican blanket and there is another grey one folded at the bottom in case of a sudden cold spell.

i love living here! what you can't see is that the floor is the beach. haha and yet we have a door mat. just so that the beach sand doesn't mingle with our special hut sand. haha. and you can see the lovely two inch wide gaps in all of the boards on the walls as well as the like foot wide gap between the roof and the walls, but with a mosquito net it doens't really matter and it lets in really nice breezes, so all is good. it also lets in nice creatures. i have made a pact with the geckos already and we have a crab living under tasha's bed, and i found a teeny little crab when i was getting dressed the other day...
it's a good time. i like it lots.

This is one of our cute little dive boats! one is named hul-kiin (ray of sun?) and the other is named kaliim-ha (coral sea) both in mayan. they're so adorable and small, we have to walk them out deep enough before we can get in, and there is only room for six divers and one captain. getting back in after diving we have to pass everything up to the captain while holding onto the side so we don't get crushed or swept away and then all get in on (or try to get in) on the count of three. haha. i'm not very graceful about it i have to admit.


That has to be all for today, sadly. except to tell you that i sawe my second turtle today!! wahoo! it was incredible. He swam over and was only like i don't know, 5-10 meters away from us and was just looking at us and checking us out for awhile before swiming away. we all just froze and forgot all about coral spotting for several minutes watching. it was just incredible. i love love love turtles. they keep their back legs tucked under and are so amazingly graceful with thier huge shells and just two front fins. also, they're like always surrounded by other fish which i think is funny.

i love it here. i love diving. i love the sand and the beach and the different accents. love it.

More soon,
love to all!
Tori

Semana Dos

I am officially an advanced open water diver! and i have passed my coral exam!! woot!
there are only three of us that have passed the coral exam so far, but i'm sure more will be joining our club tomorrow. Next step is spot dives, basically in-water coral tests. i've done two so far and they've gone well...i have yet to get a 100% though. tomorrow? perhaps. i get to dive twice tomorrow!! woohooo

oooooohhh!! speaking of diving, i'm so excited because yesterday i saw my first seahorse and my first lionfish underwater and today i saw my first RICORDEA FLORIDA!! yippee. awesome.
also, i swam in a rashie and shorts today, and the water was perfect. it'll be nice to not have to pull on a wet wetsuit every day.

on another happy note, my laundry dried! haha i did tons of laundry yesterday and as soon as i hung it up to dry it started raining and didn't stop until dark. luckly, today was sunny and it dried nicely, so i have clothes once again (not quite clean, but who really cares?)

tomorrow we also start our practicals for our emergency first responder training (fancy first aid). we've already watched parts one and two (primary and secondary care) of the video (top notch film by the way, you should all rent it and marvel at the realism and superb acting skills.) It should be fun, bandaging each other up and getting out the recusitation dolls. i enjoy those things.

what else....
friday night fiesta was a blast. great meats and cheeses, and of course salsa!! haha we have three mexican staff members and two mexican expedition members, plus an odd fisherman or two so we had a great time.
Saturday we went into actual mahahual, instead of casitas (a kind of sub-town??) and it was really nice. the damage from hurricane dean was really obvious because most of the land next to the pretty little sidewalk is empty, but it is still nice. Tasha and I had great authentic tacos and pina coladas on the beach. wonderful end of a weekend.

it's weird starting the week on sunday, and i keep messing up in my head what day it is...lol

but life is great. my feet are bare, my hair is salty, the water is warm and the tropical breezes are blowing. who could ask for more?
i made a pact with the geckos this afternoon. i explained to one who was on our wall about symbiotic relationships and asked if he and his friends would like to have a mutualistic relationshp with us, and he chirped at me, so i think that was affirmative.

i'm also learning lots of nice brittish words. jumper, fringe, sunnies, rashies, mozzies, loo, knackered, chips, crisps, tuck, vest, peg, and they have funny names for zucchini and french presses...but i can't remember them. we've been teaching them american as well. things like suds, bangs, scootch, hoodie, zucchini, milky way...
it's fun.

it's now 8:30 and i'm pretty "knackered", so i think i'll go brush my teeth, take off my "jumper", maybe put on a "vest" and get under my mozzie net to to go bed. :)

entonces, abrezos y besos (hugs and kisses),
Tori.

One week has blown by already!

i can't belive that i have been living in mexico for over a week now.
last thursday i arrived in sunny Cancun and took a taxi down to Playa del Carmen - a fun town that i look forward to exploring more. i walked along the beach and "fifth avenue", got some marriage proposals and a free henna tatoo before grabbing a tamale and heading back to my hotel (where a little towel elephant was waiting for me!). The next morning i woke up early, checked out, and then walked around the corner to meet everyone at the adorable Hotel Colorado. then we grabbed some banannas for breakfast and walked down to the bus station where we hopped on a first class bus to Mahahual. 4.5 hours later we arrived and got in taxis for the last 45 minutes of the journey to lovely Punta Gruesa base.
it's so lovely living in a sand bottomed hut next to the ocean and i really enjoy sleeping under a mosquito net.

Everyone is from all over the place. the brits definitely outnumber us, and the mexicans come in second! some are from australia, wales, south africa, england, and scotland. they're all really friendly and nice, and we all get along well, something that is sooo important in a situation like this.

Food is generally okay. porridge for breakfast is getting old, and i've never eaten this much pasta before in my life. haha but it's good. we take turns cooking every four days and everyone has done well so far.

i love living here and i'm soooo excited about things to come.
more later,
tori

Hola a todos!

Hey everyone! i'm at the end of my internet time for the day, so i just want to say that everything is going superbly well here at Punta Gruesa. It has been freakishly cold all week, but today the sun finally peeked out and the weather is turning, so all is well.
the diving is fabulous.
the people are wonderful.

and, i'm on blog duty for the expedition, so if you check out the GVI mexico blogspot you'll get to see my blogging skills.

well, i have to go, but i'll be on again saturday from Mahahual's internet cafe!
adios!

the final day.

this is my last day in America for 3 months. and i'm still in my pajamas. :P

but i'm all packed and ready to go finally! i have two fifty pound bags and i don't think i could squeeze anything else in. seriously, a fly would have a tough time finding enough room to wiggle in. I'm feeling over packed because of this, but at the same time i'm afraid of not having everything! it's a weird experience packing up to go LIVE overseas in a place you've never been.

I have to admit i'm nervy about getting there and speaking spanish and meeting everyone. i know it's going to be an incredibly amazing experience, but the not knowing is sending my stomach into anxious twitters. as Chelsea would say, the dragons are moving in! :)

It's going to be a crazy day tomorrow. my flight leaves at 6:30, which means getting there by 5 or 5:30, which getting up around 4. yikes. but i'll sleep all the way to Houston and arrive in Cancun before noon, so it's worth it. by 1:00 i should be walking the streets of Playa del Carmen!

so until then, ¡Feliz andanzas!

now...i want to figure out this photo posting thing. bear with me.

Feliz ano nuevo a todo!

well with two weeks to go until my departure, we jetted off to Key West for a lovely bit of end of the year warmth.

some pictures perhaps?
well, in order to see those your going to have to go to facebook. i will figure out later how to do this photo upload thing on blogger.

a wonderful trip. and now....REPACKING!! 3 days to go. whoo.

hope everyone is having a lovely break and had an excellent christmas and new years!

Much love! :)