On an island in the sun

Alright.  I have been told it was like 40 degrees in Chicago the other day, so I sort of apologize for this, but here is what I did today:

Yep.  That's an actual picture that I took while the rest of you were likely sleeping.  We went on the office outing today.  Island hopping.  Wonderful.  My index fingers hurt from eating crab.  But first, on the way there, I took another yellow and red photo that I think I like a lot.

And then one at the dock.

The place we were leaving from was an area with a community of people who opportunistically set up shop to sell an array of things to tourists during the day.  I love everything I have seen here because it is all so bright and colorful.  One such product sold by some of these folks was hats.  We totally beat this little girl up and stole the hats.

But, first I gave her my money and then didn't cause her any harm.  How cute is that little girl?? And such a savvy business woman, or at least her parents are.  This is why I don't wear hats:

I look like a Sun Chip or something.  They looked so cute on the other ladies.  Bastards.  This is the boat we hung out in all day:

The guy on it is Darwin, the driver for OPS.  His name is Darwin.  Do you know how awesome that is to someone here for a research project having to do with evolution??  We made that kid in the foreground cry about how we had beaten up and stolen all that money from the other girl.  Get over it, kid.  Life's rough.


Some boat we didn't ride on all day:

The Loove Booooat promises something for everyone.
Set a course of adventure; your mind a new romance. 

So we boated around some islands.  So, so awesome!!

The first island we came to, I am going to have to ask someone the name of, but it is home to a few women involved in the study, so the other women from the office went off to conduct pregnancy interviews.  These are interviews conducted in the last trimester of pregnancy, to gain some health info and such.  This island is populated by some indigenous folks, but it was purchased a few years back by a Japanese man, who allowed all of the residents to stay on the island, minus any women who marry.  Men can bring back wives they marry from other islands.  Something about population control.  The guy sounds like a dick head.  Lots of pretty greenery there.

The women are known for their quilts.

Unfortunately, at around $235 each, I will not be known for having one.  They said it takes 3 months per quilt.  I bet they outsource all the labor (kidding.  they were working fastidiously while we were there).

When you dock on the island, there are a whole bunch of people selling shell crafts, which is sort of a problem because it is a threat to the various sea life, and fishermen selling catches of the day, including scallops, abalone, some seahorses to make products to sell tourists, conchs, lobsters, crab and other non-identifiable things whose English names made no sense to me.

Those guys are blue crabs!  Some of the ladies bought some and had the guys cook them.  It was soooooooo good!!  Oh man.  Lunch.  Oh god it was good.  (I had millions of servings, and somehow, the ladies don't like crab claw because they think it is too much work.  More for Tory!!)  I think I had four whole crabs and probably ten claws from others.

Candid lunch shots:

Rice cooked in banana leaves.  Served with everything here.  Seems to make the rice cook to perfection.  

They grilled these right on the boat.  Sooo tasty.  

We also had a whole bunch of other amazing food, including lechon finally.  I ate it.  I ate pork, and it was worth it.  I am telling myself that they are given an awesome life in the Philippines, where they get to swim and go tanning and play soccer and make ceramics and hang out all they want before they are killed.

Then, we took to the water.  The water looks like this!  Teal!  Amazing.

I went swimming and snorkeling!!  I asked the ladies to take pictures of me in the water, and apparently that doesn't imply that you want them to look good (haha).

Least insightful thing I thought today:  Man, these are the kinds of fish they have at Walmart and my dentist's office.  Oooooh.  Truly, it was quite spectacular.  So many different kinds of awesome fish.  There were so many star fish too.  I saw a huge sea urchin, kind of like this one:

And some of these guys (this is the source of the Walmart thought):

There were so many others I can't find pictures of.  So sad that I didn't have an underwater camera.  It was so wonderful.

Then we went back.

The area right by where we docked.  

I made a successful dinner tonight, you guys!!

I used the red snapper with some salt, pepper and a little balsamic vinegar on each side.  Thanks, Beez!  It was so good.  Those nice folks at OPS gave me a rice cooker to use.  In cooking or something, this happened:

On my new shorts!  I have no idea what it is exactly.  Tragically, I think it involves the balsamic vinegar.  Please tell me someone has an idea for getting it out.  I ran it under cold water and agitated it a bit, and that picture is the result.  I really hope they are recoverable; I enjoy them quite a might.

Acquired from an earlier trip to Country Mall, this is the sweet garbage can that will be in my bathroom come August:

Haha.  Incredible.

So, don't tell the ladies at the office, who kept telling me I was going to burn, but this is the result of the day:

Oops.  I kept saying that although it wasn't the highest SPF, I would just keep reapplying and be fine.  I was wrong.  Still totally happy with the trip.  It was laced with so many moments of, "I can't believe I'm here doing this now, and that these people are giving me so much awesome food."

Some pictures I found while Google Imaging:

 Now, it is time to rest again.  Swimming and eating all day really takes a toll on you.