Dejavue: First day of school, all over again..

Wednesday, August 2nd

This morning we had classes starting at 8:15AM. Our instructor, Melia is going to go over the schedule of classes and we will take our tests. After leaving our laundry (we badly needed it) at the laundry lady down the beach, we have breakfast at the Boulangerie, owned by this German speaking guy. He is pretty cool and everyone in town seems to know he makes the best bread in the island. Perhaps he is the only bakery around. But no, certainly, his bread and sandwiches are great. Also, he gives free internet if you buy something which is great here!! The reason why we have not posted blog entries in the island is due to the incredible price of internet here.. it´s $10US per hour!! By far, the highest we have seen so far including Belize.

The night was not too good for us since the blackout did happen. It was about 4AM when the energy failed. This meant, of course, that the only fan in the room stopped working. The stupid fan did not swing in the first place so Alexey and Greg were mad because the fan was stucked pointed towards my bed! They both woke up after 4AM and tried to sleep outside to take advantage of the limited breeze coming from the beach. However, the sand flies and other bugs made sure they came back to the room before 6AM.

So we are ready to start our class, a bit sleepy still, but ready. Melia gets us started with a review of Modules 1, 2 and 3 and after each review, we each took a test. Of course, we all passed with flying colors (were are MIT students after all). And now, it was time for the true test.. the confined water skills lesson. We all put on our diving gear and headed for the water near the hotel. At first, I had problems breathing. I almost freaked out since you kind of have to pull air from the tank and it does not feel normal. However, we all got used to this. Alexey got reprimanded for not doing the exercises right but quickly recovered.

After the Melia was convinced that we had what it took to be divers, she took us to the opèn water in the 2PM boat!!! This was going to be skills under 15 feet of water! It was extremely exciting to say the least. We were enchanted by the coral reef and the myriad lifeforms under the sea. I know now why these guys are spending their lifes here doing diving and living on a budget. It´s really an amazing feeling of weighlessness and just humility.

We are all pumped up after we came back to the beach. We cleaned our equipment and went out for a celebratory drink at Sundowners once again. Alexey met these Danish girls, Hella and Meia, at the bar and we all kind of said hi and left. They were pretty cool though. So we came back to the hotel hoping to get in the water once again soon and that the blackouts don´t continue. Alexey bought some ice and a small bottle of Nicaraguan rum called Flor De Cana (really good and cheap). We ended up coming home and drinking at the hotel/diving school´s porch. Then, these divers we had met earlier today arrived and we all shared a drink of our rum and their rum (a much cheaper kind, think $1 a bottle). The Danish girls (also staying at the hotel) also got there unexpectedly and also shared a drink. In general, we drank enough to be pretty happy and still look under control of the situation. We get back to the room, it´s almost midnight.. once again, it´s an oven inside here.