It begins! It began like 2 days ago actually.
Anyway, I landed at 3:30 this morning. The airport was super nice and their floor was really comfortable. Stephen and I had McDonald's when he met me, and they have "chilli" and ketchup dispensers at a 2:1 ratio. The chili goes great with a sausage McMuffin. After a wait, we had a leisurely boat ride to the island and got through customs really quickly and easily. We took the long route to their house and saw a lot of the surrounding community. I sat in the driver's seat and Stephen drove from the passenger side. Their guesthouse is great.
Tonight we broke ground on a greenhouse in Stephen and Carree's backyard. It's a project that they and some student interns have been planning for a while, and today it went into action. I didn't know when I first planned to come that this would be the main activity the first few days here, but it turns out to be a great way to overcome jet lag - just stay busy, and keep moving. I'm going to be plenty tired when "night" comes (I've always called this time "day" on the other side of the world).
We carried a bunch of banana trees up a hill, macheted them to bits (they are being worked into the soil to add minerals), hauled a bunch of dirt up the hill to level the ground, measured and cut pipe and rebar to provide a foundation and structure for the greenhouse. More of it will go together tomorrow. This is a great group of folks to be around and work with, and I'm glad there's a fair amount I can help with even though I wasn't around for the planning.
-- I broke to visit, sleep and have breakfast and take a motorcycle ride. --
My efforts to adjust to the time difference in advance are working beautifully so far. I stayed awake until 9:45 and slept till 6:30 with no sleep aid. I had slept about 10 hours total in the previous three days, so it was welcome. I'm sure I'll feel tired at some inconvenient times today, but it almost feels like morning right now, which is good since it is morning here.
I had my first motorcycle ride in going with Stephen to retrieve the one bag that didn't make it here on the same flight as me. The airline arranged for it to be brought to the entry port here, and we needed to bring it the last few km to home. The trip out was an adventure since it was my first ride period, and I the trip back would be an adventure for me even if I were seasoned. I had the 50 lb bag across my lap, separating Stephen and me by a full English foot, and my fingertips barely reached over the top of his shoulders. World travel!
More greenhouse work going today, which started during our ride. I'm going to help. You all have a good night.
