First days in-country

This afternoon was our first significant free time since we arrived in Jamaica. There was a nice breeze, a cricket match on the pitch, and there was time to enjoy the day and relish in the fact that we are actually here. Our location right now is beautiful and mountains surround the campus. During the long days of training it's important to remember to take in the view while we are bustling around.

There is promise of a trip or two off campus this weekend, which will be the next step in our acclimation. PC is doing a pretty impressive and subtle job of introducing us to the culture, food, and environment. Each meal seems to get a little more spicy. All the food is wonderful, especially callaloo, which is kind of a cross between collard greens, spinach and celery and is served up spicy for breakfast. We had a sampling of various Jamaican fruits and goodies the other day. It's amazing what a tasty treat fresh tropical fruit makes on a hot afternoon. The bananas just taste a little more like bananas, the pineapple is so sweet and good, and the mangoes are unbelievable.

The weather has been good. The highs are 92-94 with humidity, but there is always a nice breeze, and sometimes a good wind, to cool everything down. The lows are in the mid 80's, but it feels cooler than that which makes sleeping comfortable.

Many other PCTs have blogs and we will try to set up links to those pages soon. A lot of people here have been taking pictures already and have posted them. We haven't got around to that just yet.

Peace!