New hospital

Saturday evening for the first time I went to the local new hospital. I went to visit Karin who has a back problem. The doctors still do not know exactly what it is, but she has to rest for a few days there.

Everything was so quiet. I guess there were not many patients. I have no idea how many beds the hospital has but I do not think there are many.

Everything looks neat and clean and new.

Visiting hours are 2 to 4 pm and 6 to 7.30 pm so we arrived around 6.45 pm.

Beautiful garden and parking lot, Nice paintings on the walls and kind employees at the entrance and information desk.

Karin told us that the food is good too. I hope the doctors are good too. We¨l see.

So far, no diagnose but they are giving her some pain killers and some kind of therapy to release the pain in the back muscles.

I had planned to visit her again before leaving the island but Karin discharged herself LOL.

I am back! :)

Yes, I am back. And really happy to visit J

Just for a few days but I had to bring again The Little Grand Turk at least to tell what I found on my little beautiful island J

I arrived Wednesday evening on the 5 pm flight from Provo and that was the first surprise. Schedule changed and, of course, price more expensive. USD 95 each way. However I have to say that the employee in Provo was very attentive and charged me only USD 5 for the extra bag with my diving gear.

I had come from Miami with AA 1653 where I found lovely Shannon Fleitas and we had both been upgraded to first class. We waited our ATC flight at Guilley’s where internet is still not working (since I left in December I guess…) but it was great to talk there and just watch around.

Phyllis told me that the weather had been unusually hot and humid in May but these last 10 days had changed to cloudy and a little cooler. Still is. But today I went diving anyway. I went with Smitty, always a beautiful experience and I will dive with Daniel hopefully this week.

The Deli is no longer working and I miss it. Really miss it since my vegetarian options has been reduced dramatically. However I had the chance of enjoying vegetarian wrap at Salt Café last Thursday, vegetarian plate at Salt Raker last night and hoping to have vegetarian quesadillas prepared by Mariam tomorrow at Sand Bar J

I also noticed that the Dominican grocerie store has become bigger and nicer with lots of good and new things. In general, the prices on the island are higher than last December though…

I have been doing my daily walks mainly in the North of the island but I will start walking the South as I used to do when I lived here to see what it is new up there. It is so nice to walk around again looking these beautiful waters around…

I found new buildings close to La Breeza and other places and I will investigate what they are or they are going to be. More to come tomorrow if internet works better. These days has been on and off…

There is always room for more...

Oh, yes.

Sometimes I wonder if they are coming to the island or going to the DR... But what is the difference? The biggest question here is: How do they manage to put so many things on the boat and sail with them between here and the DR?

Does everything arrive? Does anyone care?

Anyway, it was pretty interesting this morning trying to guess how many things there were on this boat. At least 3 cars, a couple of fridges, beds, mattresses....

I did not even try to estimate the number of kg. or lbs. that boat carried but the courage of the ones on that boat is really something to admire...or maybe the need of doing the job does not allow any other kind of thought.

Island life has these things... The price of living in paradise is sometimes like this.

Tomas on the island ... and after

Well. Tomas was here and his effects are still around... Friday afternoon and evening, the island looked so dead...

Everybody was at home or protecting windows, placing sandbags, etc.

All the stores closed (or almost all of them...). Cloudy sky, a little windy but the ocean on the west side calm as a pool.

I prepared my "emergency backpack" and went to my friend Phyllis' place to spend the night. I do not like to listen to the strong wind and the waves (I knew that calm would not last...) on my own.

Around 2 am we heard a big noise: one window had broken. It was the only one on the west side that was not protected and Phyllis brought this big panel from outside to cover the hole, since the screen was already gone.

For a few minutes both of us were holding it but realizing that we would not be able to hold it for hours, although it was certainly a very good arm workout...

So, clearly in those moments, creativity is really good and we built some kind of barricade to stop the big piece of wood from falling by using bottles of vinegar, boxes filled with dog food cans, bottles of water and everything that we were able to find ... and it worked.

Yesterday, the Atlantic side was completely calm again... Tomas had decided to go somewhere else.

However on the west side (...my side) the wind was still strong and the waves quite wild. I went home to see how things were and I found a couple of chairs that had flown around the deck but nothing too bad.

Today the ocean is still wild (not as bad as after hurricane Earl) and windy/noisy but I am back home hoping to be able to dive again in a couple of days.

Tomas is far from us but his effect is still over here, at least on this side of the island. Of course, it also affected the supermarkets that have not much to buy so I am anxiously waiting to see if anything comes tomorrow...

It also had an impact on the cruises. Tomorrow's cruises had been already cancelled and we'll see what will happen on Tuesday.

But, we have to look at the good part. No big damages.Nobody hurt.

Nature is being nice with us. So, let's be thankful.

See you soon.

PS: Here's the pic of our barricade for the western window, built in the middle of the night :)

Still here... well not here but I'll be back soon ...

Yes, I know. It's been a while... But I have been super busy with my IDC (Instructor Development Course) here in Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras...
And it was totally worth it because now I am a PADI Open Water Instructor, something that I have been dreaming of for a couple of years :)

Now I am training to be instructor in some specialty courses (I already have the Emergency First Response specialty and Oxygen Emergency Provider done)

And yes, I miss my little Grand Turk, the turquoise water, the unbelievable visibility and the sunny days mainly because it has been raining in Utila since before I arrived and it never stopped. Well, it stopped for about half an hour a couple of days but now we are currently waiting hurricane Richard.

It is now at 130 miles of Utila, estimating that will hit the island Sunday morning or noon. Everything almost prepared: food in the fridge, candles around the house, movies to watch (if there is power) and lot of water and other things. Of course, as in any Caribbean island, many people prepared their stock of rum, vodka and beer just in case LOL

Utila is a small island too (7 miles by 2.5 miles), with about but totally bilingual Spanish-English, full of foreigners that are allowed to work with almost no restrictions and and amazing and intense diving activity. Many people come here for training in all levels, so there are divers everywhere.

But yes, there are things of my little Grand Turk that I miss a lot and I want to come back since this time I will not be there for long and I want to enjoy the island as much as possible.

However there is something I do not miss at all: the prices. Living in Utila is waaaaaaaaaay cheaper. Just to give an example, today I went to a small supermarket to buy a few things I needed: 2 litres of orange juice, 4 candles, 5 avocados, a huge packet of Oreos (the one that has 3 dozens of them...), 1 lb of very good cheese and 1 litre of soy milk: USD 8. Clearly is more expensive than other cities in Honduras but much cheaper than our island. And yes, everything is brought from the cities "in the continent" to here too, however the prices don't double or triple. Different policies I guess.

Well, now I go to watch a movie (if the satellite works...or in my laptop) and then to bed since tomorrow Richard's winds will wake me up really early I guess.

And I will see you all really soon. One week more of training, then a bit of Miami and I will be back in Grand Turk.

xoxo

Dog's life ... in good hands

These last days Erika and I have been busy with my guardian dogs like real moms. We have been checking up on Steve, Tipsy, Princess,Chiquito, Chiquita and even Crazy Mojo, since they started to cough too much. Steven actually was the first one with this problem, so he was the one to be taken to the vet. We wanted to take with us also Princess, since she had this weird tumor/cyst full of blood attached to her leg that made her walk in a very uncomfortable way and made everybody think that she was a Prince more than a Princess...

Katya and Tonya helped us by giving us a ride with the truck. Impossible to convince Princess to get into it. She tried to bite Erika so we let her go. Not easy to take Steven either, who is not very used to car/truck rides, so while the girls were in the front of the truck, I was in the back trying to stop Steven from jumping to the street every time we turn. A real struggle... End of the ride at Clinic Road with an exhausted and pissed off Steven and an Estela with the hair like after a street fight.

It was not easy to take him to the very nice big motor home where the vets Gavin and Lance, provide with efficency and care and with no charge all the treatments for the pets. Once we thought we had Steven in it...he ran away and it took a leash, a rope and the strenght of Erika to carry Steve and his 52 pounds in her arms inside the vet's office.

Dr. Lance was extremely efficent and lovely with Steven. He took his temperature, cleaned his eyes, gave him some shots for the cough, antibiotic,

antibacterial and cleaned and cured a couple of wounds in his ear (he has been fighting a lot lately. I mean Steven not the vet...).

While Erika and Katya were looking in other direction, I was paying attention to the details (yes, I would have liked to be a vet :) and the patience and how caring the vet was with our Steven. No charge for any of the services. We just had to buy some cough medicine.

He told us to take him back next week for a follow up and wrote down all the info such as name, weight, owner's name. Of course, we tried to take Steven back to the truck but he ran away. A few hours later he was back at Salt Raker but he kept some prudent distance from me during the following days every time he saw me with the cough medicine bottle...

Something similar when we took Tipsy and Princess a few days later to treat their cough and to have Princess checked for the cyst. This time, instead of the truck, we went by walking. As Princess follows me everywhere, we assumed she would go with us...and she did. When I tried to convince them to enter the motor home Tipsy was Ok about it, but Princess tried to leave the premises.

After I sat for a while outside the building she sat beside me and in segments of 3 meters each, I went approaching the place and finally the vet (this time Gavin) went out and checked her outside. Tipsy was a total lady. She received her medicines without problem. Princess allowed him to check the cyst and an appointment was made for the surgery.

Today morning we took Princess by walking and she received some sedative to be able to get her into the OR (or something like that) and once there, some anaesthesia. Erika waited outside and I stayed with Princess and the two vets watching the surgery that did not take longer than one hour. Actually the longest part were the stitches. Princess stayed for a few hours there because she was asleep and late in the afternoon I went to pick her up.

She was kind of stoned still and she walked really slowly. However every time we found other dogs on our way... she barked at them and tried to fight.

We also found Dale on our way and she offered to take Princess in her car but Princess refused to get into the car... so she continued by walking.

Anyway, we arrived home, she drank water, she ate and now she is resting a bit. I have to cure her every day with Peroxide and antibiotic ointment until some of the stitches are remove.

We are so glad she is free of that cyst and we hope she feels better soon.

We are also really happy about the way the vets treated the dogs. They are so dedicated and efficient and they are so lovely with the pets. They provide an excellent service, every day, morning and afternoon and with no charge.

It was one of the rare and nice surprises on the island and I think it was necessary to write about it.

See you all soon again.

At Water's Edge ... edge??

Well, last Tuesday night, since Earl had been in the neighbourhood, it was understandable that the waves were kind of crazy, the surfers happy, we (divers) understood that we had to wait a few days to go back to the underwater life ...

Thankful because the winds were not so strong, no damages at sight, Fiona decided to go far to the East and Gaston disappeared into the ocean, I took my time to contemplate the ocean every evening, and morning... and afternoon... waiting for the waves to calm down and start the cleaning process (there was sand almost everywhere...) .At least a little bit.

But no. That never happened. Every night I went to bed with my iPod because the noise was too loud for my taste and every time I went out to check the proximity of the waves, they were kind of closer... yes, even leaving some kind of memorabilia on the deck.

When finally Thursday evening, all the dogs decided to go to sleep somewhere else I realized that probably the deck had become a bit dangerous.

So I asked Kirk what was going on with the waves and everything and he explained stuff to me about the winds and things like that but suddently he interrupted his own explanation to ask me: - Why? Are you spending the night still at Water's Edge with this weather?

I said: - Yes, why?

And he replied: - You should go somewhere else when hurricanes are around.

I felt in his tone that it was kind of obvious but what do I know about hurricanes? Nothing. Except that they have people's names in alphabetical order, they form when there is a low pressure system, and some other scientific stuff that for prevention, safety and common sense are not very useful...

So I promised I would go somewhere else for next hurricane, hoping the waves will go back to their normal behaviour today but no. Still our usual calm turquoise waters are only in my memories but not in front of Water's Edge that now more that "edge" is almost "in".

When I came home this afternoon, the waves were breaking against the deck and the water sometimes reached the street on both sides of the house. Weird. Really weird.

Before sunset, the dogs one by one disappeared. Probably trying to find a dryer place to stay...

Only Tipsy, Paws and Chiquito stayed. Tipsy looking at me with those 'May I come in?'eyes, Paws trying to find a corner where to sleep and Chiquito hiding his attempts to open the kitchen door, unsuccessfully.

Now it is 8.30 pm and nothing changed so I do not think it will improve tonight. Let's see what happens tomorrow....