The next day, we rented some waverunners and set our appointment with the snorkeling tour. We redeemed the vouchers that Richard and Barbara gave us. The snorkeling trip was set for the next morning. On our way to do this, we were hit up for another timeshare. We decided that we could fit the timeshare presentation in for the next morning before our snorkeling trip. What's another timeshare for another cheap fishing trip? For dinner, we finally ate our Tuna. The Giggling Marlin prepared it quite nice and cooked it 4 different ways for us to eat. It was a huge [View Full Entry]

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The second day, we had the timeshare presentation in the morning. We were stuck there for 3 hours. Of course we did not buy, but it looked like a really beautiful place. We were anxious to get out of there and relax on the beach. Today was a relaxing day. We walked over to see where the main dock was. On the way over, we met the owner of JC Sportfishing. We stopped by his booth because he had a lot of fish on display. We started talking to him a bit, and he asked me what ethnicity I was. I [View Full Entry]

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The ride to Cabo from San Francisco was only three hours, so we were in paradise before we knew it. I made reservations for a shuttle before we arrived, so while we while were waiting for our luggage, we went to the "Cabo Express" shuttle desk and checked in. The people at the desk were very nice, and warned us not to speak to anyone who didn't have their "Cabo Express" logo on their shirt. He told us that people can be pushy and coerce us into going with them. So after we got our luggage, we were very soon surrounded [View Full Entry]

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I got home on Monday. Jeff picked me up from the airport =) It was so cute cuz he was waiting for me with a sign that read "Poopie" (our nickname for eachother). It was a very long flight, and I was so glad to land. I was starting to feel a bit nauseous again (I've been feeling that way for the past week!) Got home and was soooo tired. I couldn't really sleep much on the plane. The guy next to me was practically on my seat! And he spilled orange juice all over me as we were landing. I [View Full Entry]

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It is the end of our trip. We had a great end! We stayed in a real hotel, with hot water and comfortable beds and air conditioning! That was a really nice treat. And we were able to stay there for 2 nights! While we were in Colombo, we met a Sri Lankan lady who was actually of dutch decent but she spoke full Sinhalese. She talked us into going out in the town and she recommended a great place to eat! This place was really chic, I believe it was called The Gallery. It was a place straight out of [View Full Entry]

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It is time for us to go to the place we have been dreading- Sinharaja Rainforest! Not because we don't want to go there, but because we are scared to death of leeches! The only thing that kept me optimistic about going there was because it is a strict natural reserve, and the area we will be in is only for researchers.. deep in the rainforest. When we got there, we got out of the bus to go unpack. I have to admit, it was beautiful there. We stayed in a bungalow with a porch that overlooked a river. The river [View Full Entry]

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On Sunday January 15th, we packed our bags for another overnight trip. This time, we travelled the furthest north, where it is the most dangerous and where there are many more security checkpoints. Our destination is Anuradhapura, which was once the capital of the country. Our guide this time was one of the chief archeologist of the current excavation site. You can't ask for a more expert guy to give you the tour of this ancient city. He showed us cave dwellings where hundreds of monks lived. You can see where there were beds carved out of the stone, and the [View Full Entry]

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It has been difficult to find time to write in my journal lately. We were on the road a couple of days ago and did not have too much time for internet access. For those of you who are waiting for pictures, I'm afraid you will just have to wait until I get back because the file sizes are too large for me to post on this website without some manipulation of the photos. Since a couple of days have passed, I will just summarize the exciting stuff =) On Monday Jan. 9th, we visited the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage where approximately [View Full Entry]

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I can't express what an honor and a privilege it has been to participate in this program. Not only are we here in one of the most beautiful and naturally diverse areas on the planet, but our hosts and lecturers have been the top well known experts of each field we study. On Friday, we had an excellent lecture on Theravada Buddhism. It was disappointing that the lecture was so short. Afterward, we had a lecture on Botany by the Director of the Botanical Garden and then he personally took us on a tour of the Garden. It was beautiful and [View Full Entry]

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We started classes two days ago. Since starting class, it has kept me very busy and it is difficult to find time to write.. especially with all the interesting things that have been happening! Yesterday, we had an interesting lecture on herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles) followed by a lab demonstration and a field trip. The assistant guided us along the stream on the University Campus in search of reptiles. While on the field trip, we got attacked by leeches! It was the first time I ever saw a leech in my life. If you can imagine this: it was a wormy [View Full Entry]

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