Day 9: January 19, 2012 - MORE rocks...and macheting...at the Blue Hole

Jennifer: Today we moved rocks to build a fire pit and created a path all the way around the blue hole. It was grueling and hot but chopping through all the poison wood and spiky thorn bushes gave me a feeling of satisfaction. I also made friends with a few hummingbirds and lizards. I really love the blue hole. It is a gorgeous area that I would never encounter in the states. I am sad to be leaving Andros tomorrow.

Taneeka: Today is our last day on Andros and the time I spent here has been really exciting! The AB team split up into groups of two at the blue hole today and I was assigned to pick up rocks for a fire pit. It was really tough, because all the rocks were huge and in poison wood!  Despite the heat and the back sores the group pulled together to get the job done! While we were at the blue hole we met some men from the navy base and it was fun to watch them do death defying jumps off the dock into the blue hole! After finishing up the work and a quick swim at the blue hole, the group went back home so that we can kayak in the creek that runs alongside the place we were staying. Although I can’t swim and I’m afraid of drowning, I participated and it was so much fun. Princess was in the kayak with me and neither one of us can swim so it’s a good thing we had lifeguard Lindsey watching over us in the creek!!!! Despite all the uncertainties that came along on the trip I had an amazing time with the most amazing people! GO TERPS!!!!

Day 8: January 18, 2012 - Campsite COMPLETE!

Kira: We finally finished building the fire wall today.  It was a great feeling being able to stand back and look at the finished project.  The rock wall was built to help prevent fires from spreading into the campsite.  Knowing that the project is finish provides me with hope that kids, and other members of the community, will have a nice place to take in the beauty of the island and learn about the environment.  After we completed the wall, Tevaras was kind enough to make us home-made conch fritters, which actually helped me visualize and imagine the camp getting used towards a good cause.  Now that we’ve finished our service at the site, we’ll be heading back to the blue hole tomorrow to build a fire pit.

Princess: We finally finished our project! I’m really excited because when we first started, I was talking about what type of service made me feel accomplished. In terms of doing service that is more labor- intensive-, I feel more accomplished when I the physical works strains my body. And, I am definitely sore, so, I definitely feel like we made a difference. Also, we have the finished wall as proof that we actually did something.  #yayBNT

Jennifer: We finished our service project today!!! I was excited to see all of our hard labor come together and form a finished project. Tevares was also kind enough to make us conch fritters which were delicious and something that is uniquely Bahamian. I had never tried conch before this trip. Although the service was grueling, I felt like I accomplished something and I especially liked seeing the group work together so well. I wouldn’t have been able to get through the project without everyone else working alongside me and motivating me to keep going.

Day 7: January 17, 2012 - Big Rocks Good, Little Rocks Bad

Melody: I had my first hot shower since Nassau today and it was fantastic. Service today was intense and longer than usual. It mostly consisted of heaving limestone and cementing the rocks into a wall. It felt great to be able to see our progress as the layers of wall slowly went up. At that point, most of us pretty much surrendered to the poisonwood. I can only hope that none of it got on my face.

I think one of my favorite parts of this trip is the isolation. It’s rather refreshing going a week without cell phones or internet access. It’s amazing how much free time we have without them. With all the manual labor we’re doing for service, I’m ready for bed by 9PM. While it’ll be really satisfying to finish the wall, there’s still a lot of work to do. Can’t wait for blue hole day!

Emily: I’m pretty sure I never want to lift another rock in my life after this trip. Day two of service today consisted of 7 grueling hours of lifting and digging rocks, mixing cement, and building our fire wall. I’m pretty sure we worked harder than any prisoners moving rocks. The brightside of today’s service was knowing that I’ll be back to PT next week with issue thanks to all this heavy lifting. The most exciting part of today was after we went grocery shopping and seeing the surprises of mini-vanilla wafers, frozen garlic bread, Bahamian goobay punch, and bagels. These treats were definitely a morale boost after such a tough and long day.

Javier: Today was round two of service! It was exhausting because we, unintentionally, received over an hour break. It was so difficult to get back into exerting effort. Bah. Thankfully, we finished today’s task and tomorrow (Wednesday) will be interesting. Dinner was swell. Garlic food was delicious! Nom nom nom. I feel itchy spots on my neck and right leg. I know my fate once we return to the U.S.

Danielle:  Being here reminds me of visiting my family in the country. The locals are so hospitable and welcoming. Everyone waves hello and honks when you pass by.  I look forward to learning more about ecotourism and tasting Conch fish tomorrow. I have learned so much about how Bahamians perceive the environment, and I really hope that the campsite we are building encourages natives to learn more about how to live sustainably.

Melinda: My arms are tired. Rocks rocks rocks…….. so many rocks.

Kira: So much sunburn.

Morgan: Lesson learned – big rocks good. Little rocks bad.

Day 6: January 16, 2012 - Beginning service with Bahamas National Trust!

Melinda: Today, we finally got to our service project! Woohoo! After waiting anxiously for days, we finally got down and dirty—literally. We drove to the ‘to-be’ campsite and my group started hacking at shrubs and plants with machetes! I felt badass. Our goal was to clear a path for a trail of boulders and rocks in order to have controlled forest fires. After I hacked at the dreaded poison wood for what felt like hours (probably really only 20-30 minutes), I could already feel my arm tightening-up. Within my group, we also switched jobs. Some people were “diggers”, aka people who dug up the rocks; some people were part of the “rock chain”, people who transferred rocks from the diggers to the wheel barrows; along with some other un-named jobs. The overall project called for much more manual labor than I expected, but playing games while working helped passed the time. I’m a little nervous for tomorrow because I know I will be so sore, but what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger. I just hope that somehow, magically, I will be immune to the poison wood; Not a good look for the first day of spring semester. -___-

Day 5: January 15, 2012 - Blue Holes!

Kira: Today we moved to our new location.  We were all pretty excited to get to our villas, located on a remote, ~2 acre property backing up to Fresh Creek.  After we settled in, we walked a few miles to our first blue hole.  Blue holes are like freshwater lakes formed by underground caves.  The water was so clear and warm, walking up the trail to the blue hole was surreal.  There was also a deck roughly 20 feet above the water to jump off of.  Gathering the courage to jump off the deck was certainly a team building experience (half support, half pressure).  This was my first time jumping from any elevated platform into a body of water, and while I screamed the whole way down, I am incredibly happy I was “encouraged” to take the jump.  After the blue holes, we came back to the villas and a few people decided to take a shower.  The water here, unfortunately, smells like sewage, making us question whether we’d be cleaner before or after the shower.  Regardless, even questionable water can’t bring us down.

Jennifer: Today we moved to these villas that are in a more isolated location than the apartments. The environment is different than how most people think of the typical Bahamas; for example, we are surrounded by pine trees instead of palm trees. We took a hike to a blue hole, which I had never seen before. We jumped off a dock into the water and swam around which was a really cool experience. It was interesting because we ran into two people who were actually from New York which led me to believe that perhaps Andros is more of a tourist location than I previously thought. Maybe people go to Andros for the “true” Bahamas experience rather than the manufactured one that occurs on Nassau.

Day 4: January 14, 2012 - Snorkeling Adventures and Beach Cleanup!

Lindsey: This morning was very exciting as we ventured into the sea to go snorkeling.  Sebastian was right - it is better down where it’s wetter.  It was the first snorkeling experience for many of our participants’, but they were troopers and fought through the choppy waves.  Considering how calm the ocean was yesterday, we were surprised to see how high the surf was today.  Our community partner from the Bahamas National Trust, Tavares, took us out on his boat and dropped off us over several areas of the reef.  Andros is surrounded by the third largest barrier reef in the world so I was excited to have the opportunity to snorkel in the area.  We saw a lot of blue tangs, parrot fish, Nassau grouper, and some butterfly fish, pipe fish, and angel fish.  None of the fish were overly big, but they were plentiful!  Even though it was a little chilly, it was still a great snorkeling experience and I’m glad we were able to add it into our agenda for this year’s trip.

Melinda: After the amazing snorkeling trip, we decided to go back to the beach we went to yesterday and clean up some trash. It was odd how the previous day, almost nobody from our group saw any of the trash on the beach; we all concentrated on the beautiful parts like the green and blue water, warm sun, and sandy areas. When we returned, I was astounded at how much trash accumulated, including large and unexpected containers of motor oil or construction hats. When we finished, I felt like the beach looked so much nicer and was somewhat proud of what we had accomplished. However, an overwhelming feeling came over me when I saw the things that we were unable to pick up. I am looking forward to the next couple of service days we have left so I can feel like we made more of a difference while on Andros.

Jennifer: Today was very exciting and eventful. In the morning we headed out to go snorkeling. It was my first time snorkeling so I was a bit nervous, and the big choppy waves didn’t help. My fear went away as soon as I got in the water though and I was ecstatic to be swimming around with the fish. I got to see tons of different kinds of fish and coral, which was really cool and a great learning experience. After snorkeling we went to clean up a beach we had been at previously. The first time we had been there I didn’t notice much trash and was too busy enjoying the beautiful, clear water and scenery to realize that tons of junk littered the beach. Although we could not even hope to clean up every piece of trash along the entire beach, I was happy that we could at least clean up what we could. It also made me consider our system of cleaning up the environment. Who should be cleaning these places up? Should it be paid or volunteer work? Where does all this trash come from?

Day 3: January 13, 2012 - Welcome to Andros!

Javier: Today, we rode the ferry to Andros, Bahamas. Andros has a completely different atmosphere compared to Nassau. Nassau is oriented towards tourists unlike Andros. Andros’s population is far smaller, and the landscape reflects it. There are fewer homes and less people in the streets.
                Our rooms are above a grocery store. Surprisingly, that is the town‘s grocery store. It’s not large, so it demonstrates the size of the area’s population.  We went a small adventure to find the beach, which we successfully found. The beach was great, and the experience was fantastic.

Kira: Andros’ environment is noticeably different.  The smaller population and smaller reliance on tourism allows the people to live with minimal amenities.  We (refreshingly) cannot walk around the corner to find a Starbucks or McDonalds.  I can only imagine that this creates a closer community.  The small general store below our apartments appears to be the life-source for the town.  Shipments of food, water, and other supplies come in once a week, which makes me wonder what happens if they run out of necessities.  There is a strong reliance on Nassau, yet the ferry costs $60, which could make it difficult for locals to move back and forth between the islands easily.
After our visit to the beach, and considering the larger size compared to Nassau, I’m surprised that the island has not become a largely developed hotspot for tourists.

Morgan: After the long ferry ride early in the morning and basically watching the sunrise with the other ABers, we arrived on the large but sparsely populated Andros island of the Bahamas. The island is not as “tourist-friendly” as Nassau; there is debris along the side of the road and beach access is hard to come by and find. However, we arrived in our apartment-style living arrangement around noon and ventured off to find a beach. Half an hour later we were swimming in the beautiful, clear blue ocean and soaking up the Caribbean sun!

Jennifer: So far this trip has been exciting and eye-opening. Nassau was similar to other tourist/vacation-y/resort-filled places I’ve been like Miami, with a few differences. We could tell that tourism was a huge priority and source of income and livelihood for the Bahamians of Nassau. They were all friendly but I noticed a bit of tension between the rich tourists visiting and the people who live in some of the more economically challenged or modest places that surround the huge million dollar resorts and hotels. We arrived at Andros today and this island is very different. It is less populated and less focused on tourism. The people who live here seem to be shocked by our appearance on the island. Our privilege as college students at a school like UMD is becoming apparent as we get used to showering in a cold, trickling stream of water and shopping at a small market that feeds many of the people in the area.