Sasha: I am essentially entirely covered in bug bites and possibly infested with poisonwood, also newly and appropriately labeled the demon tree. The sounds of the crickets and the sight of the stars on Andros are unreal. This island is naturally beautiful, the population minor when compared to the people who attend our university itself. It’s strange to imagine living a life here, but the atmosphere is instantly calming—I have found my zen even though the manual labor I did today is literally the most work I have ever done. We managed to clear a whole area even when we were first assigned the task I wanted to convince myself it was a joke. It seemed as though clearing the land would take the whole time on the island, but as a group we can accomplish so much.
What I know I will always remember though is the blue hole. I could see the bottom of my feet when I looked down, but down below was the darkness of a great mysterious abyss. It was refreshing and isolated; is it something I would never have seen before if I had not had this opportunity. While I currently feel as though my arms will fall out of their sockets from being overworked, I am proud of myself which really makes it all worth it.
Nelson: This morning I woke up early to catch a gorgeous Bahamian sunrise over the eastern shore of Andros. It was absolutely worth sacrificing an hour of sleep. After waiting an hour for the truck to come pick up the second group of people, I finally met with Tavares, the Andros park manager with the Bahamas National Trust. He was a sincere pleasure to work with. He taught me a lot about the economy of the Bahamas and Andros specifically. After 6 hours of manual labor, I threw off my shoes and shirt and jumped in my first blue hole. The water was so light and clean that I felt like a tiny fly in a bowl of filtered water. On our way back home we drove through a bumpy dirt road for 15 minutes and stopped to pick up the antidote to poisonwood. I applied it everywhere as a precautionary measure because you don’t start itching until days after you get it. After a much needed shower I met Lyric, an adorable and extroverted local Bahamian 3 year old. I had an amazing day! One I will never forget.
Morgan: I and three others got up before the sun this morning to walk down to the beach and watch it rise a couple minutes before 7:00AM. Something about a sunrise sparks the desire to ponder life, so we quickly turned into “philosophizers” on the walk home – discussing our existence, death, and faith. Then it was off to Cousteau’s blue hole to finally begin service and start working on the pavilion! There is a lot of manual labor involved with this task, from clearing a portion of the brush to hauling out calcium carbonate stones in a wheelbarrow to mixing cement on the ground with big shovels. We made a lot of progress for the first day and I’m extremely impressed with the work ethic of the group. It was great to see Tavares again after working with him on last year’s rock wall project, and even though his crew is different this time they are still very cool guys. I am excited for what our service means for the Andros community. News of a nicely built gazebo at each of the blue holes can attract many more visitors to the area and aid the Bahamas tourism industry. Dinner this evening was provided by BNT and was an absolutely delicious feast at Cinderella’s Café. I am looking forward to our next couple days of service and continuing our hard work!
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