Week 1

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Well this is it!!

I have been here just over a week and SOOO much has happened!!

First of, the plane trip. It actually went better than what most people who I met here have experienced. No problems with connections or flights or anything. It was just a really long trip that I stayed awake for the entire time.

When I got here, I was met at the Airport which was what I expected and GVI took us to our respective hotels for the night. Mine was nice, cool and lots of room. I was just happy to get a nice bed. Little did I know it was going to be the most Comfy bed I would sleep in for a while.

The next day I went to Hotel Colorado where I met the rest of the staff and all of the people who I would be staying with. In total, you could not find a nicer bunch of people. There are 21 Volenteers in total, with 7 staff staying on the base at Pez Maya. Surpisisngly, most of them are English. We have 3 Americans, 1 French, 1 Austrailian, 4 Mexician and 1 Italian. The rest are either Eng, Scottish or Irish.

So we got the grand tour, shown everything there is to see on base, the HUts we stay in, the Kitchen, communal areas, all the store rooms and of course the bucket flush toilets. All of it is what you would expect from a basic camp, but you get used to it and its nice and cosy.

On day1 we didnt do much. We got to know each other a little better and the staff gave us a briefing about what we were hoping to accomplish over the 10 weeks. Ther next day we did our test swim, which I had been preparing for for about 6 months. I still struggled though as swiming in a current is alot harder. The base is right next to the ocean and it has been described as paradse. Hopefully some of the photos will be able to atleast show what this place is like. On sunday we got to go diving for the first time!! It was awesome to get the kit on, but the sea was so rough we couldnt get under the water so we just did some surface skills. All this time we are getting lectures on the wildlife and local culture whilst learning out duties around base and still getting to know each other.

On Monday we had to skip didving as again, the sea was too rough. Although Its a pain, I didnt mind too much as I could play some more vollyball and study my Coral. BVy this point I am being absoulutly coated in Mosquito bites. My leg looks like some kind of red coral. But you kind of get used to it and some spray and after bite helps the whole process along. On Tues we were going to go diving, but the first group of the day camne back and there was a problem with the Boat!! So for the next 4 days, we couldn't dive as we didn't have a boat. However, yesterday, "Frodo" our instructer, took us to a fresh water patch about an hour outside of base to do our confined water work, it was AMAZING! the water was crystal clear and amazingly calm. We zoomed through to skills and managed to go for a swim and it just confirmed the reason why I was out here. It was soooo amazing to be swiming along past or the wildlife, all the fishes.

Through out the rest of the time, I have been studying coral, playing vollyball, goinjg for snorkels (which is awesome too), and playing LOTS of cards lol. Trying to get a poker night sorted!!

Would love to write more, but I may run out of time so if I get a chance next week to post I will!!

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