Things are still very busy.

All week I worked hard, then Friday I cut out to do some hiking. Not the way I would normally choose to reward myself for hard work. Sarah, a volunteer from my group in Antigua, was in town to do a training for another group. She expressed a keen desire to hike the Piton while she was here, so I though that now was my chance. As much as I L-O-V-E hiking, I wanted to do the Piton just to say I had done it. Also I had heard that it wasn’t so long. But I’ll tell you… standing at the bottom and looking up was scary.

So our group was Me, Sarah, Elizabeth, from the new group, and Dan and Jill. Dan is here consulting on the national swimming program, and Jill is his wife. They’re from the US. Merle was our guide. She’s Lucian and looked so bored climbing up that thing from doing it all the time. But I guess the thighs and buns of steel pay off.

The hike was about four hours. The first half or so was uphill, but ok. The last half was straight up and quite strenuous. Luckily it went pretty quickly. Coming down was tricky also. At the top, everything was really slippery and mossy, so the going was treacherous. But it was MUCH easier than the boiling lake; partly that it wasn’t 40 degrees, rainy and windy, and also about half the length. Nonetheless, I probably won’t do it again.

All weekend was a swim meet. It’s qualifying for the OECS regional meet in November. There is still a chance I’ll swim in that. There are very few 18 and over girls, so even warm bodies in the water will win points for St. Lucia. I’m qualified to swim since I’ve been here over a year. Brian, another coach (and father to my favorite little guy, Alexi) is also swimming. The trick will be finding time to train now that I’m busy, and I don’t want to skip classes at the gym. Also I want to convince Joanna to swim so I’m not out there alone making a fool of myself. With her, we’d possibly have a relay.