Smooth Riding

Things are moving even faster than before here in Arrecife, due primarily to my recent acquisition of a new bicycle. My morning commute has been cut from a 25 minute walk to a 15 minute bike ride, and the best part is the built-in air conditioning! Granted, the weather hasn't been as warm as one typically envisions for the Caribbean, but I guarantee it's better than what the US is managing to scrape together these days. Our weather is pretty consistently in the mid 80s during the day to the mid 70s at night, plus wind and humidity.

Today was a day off for me, so I went into town and got myself an Arrecife driver's license. It helps to have a local ID - I don't really like toting my passport around with me everywhere - and now I don't have to flash that spectacular picture of a 15-year-old me featured so prominently on my California driver's license! The whole process took about an hour, so that wasn't too bad. When I got back to my bike outside, however, I was somewhat dismayed to note that the front tire had managed to fully deflate itself during that time. The rest of my afternoon consisted of a walking tour of Jamestown, weaving between cruise ship passengers as they waddled their way through the many and sundry tourist traps lining our fair shores. I did eventually get my tire fixed, so I'm freewheeling once again.

Don't let the excitement of today mislead you, though. We're in the middle of the post-holiday slump in the CAOS department, so I've been working in other departments to make up for the lack of available hours. So far I've been a towel jockey at the pool, and done a bit of work in the audio/visual department (from midnight to 4am, no less!). Tomorrow I'll be an apprentice waitress at one of our restaurants, though it should be noted that this is not the same restaurant into which I may or may not have lost children during the New Year's Eve party. Coincidence? Yeah, probably. But I'll still let you draw your own conclusions.


In all honesty, I have no idea what these guys are. There are far too many juvenile fish that have this same nondescript look to them, so I'm not really going to bother trying. I just happen to like the lighting and how they all arranged themselves (for my benefit, no doubt).


This is a shot of a juvenile Longfin Damselfish. When it grows up it'll turn a boring, dusky grey, but in the meantime it has iridescent blue stripes running down its back. The coolest part of this shot, though? The fact that it was taken while my camera was in macro setting. I've been starting to see how close I can get to fish so I can use the macro. There are a few advantages to this, in my personal opinion. It seems to get more detail, and it gives me a little more control over what is the focus of the shot - if I had used the regular setting, my camera probably would've chosen the algae in the background because it's fun like that. You also get a little more of the subject's personality when you're that close, often because they get grandiose notions of being able to chase off the encroaching human (as pictured here). It typically doesn't work so well. Same with the chasing.