Que Paso?

Well I've been a little sick the last couple weeks so we haven't been up to our usual activities but still have done a lot of things. The last cave we were in was Cueva Cucaracha about 2 weeks ago. We had to crawl over 6 large Puerto Rican Boas to get into the cave.

Last weekend I was feeling really horrible but we decided to go to some rope practice anyway. I have been having trouble with my rappelling device (I don't weigh enough to make a micro-rack work) and I wanted to make sure it wasn't operator error and also wanted to try different rappelling devices to see what was best for me. The verdict is...a STOP. I got to borrow one and rappelled down this crack with it - I glided freely in a controlled way that was comfortable on my shoulder and in my mind. While we were there a TV crew was filming our group as we practiced a rescue. Jeff will be taking the cave rescue course in another month or so and needed to practice some different knots. There is a lot to learn and we need to learn it! We practiced at a park near San Juan at this crack.

Here are some guys securing an "injured" caver in a liter. The camera man filming the final end-of-rescue.

Big Red, my pet rooster (I guess) stabbed me in the calf and shin with his nail-like spurs. Ow!

Torch gingers started blooming in the yard. It is so strange to see a giant living tiki torch come up from the ground to about eye level!

We have the bathroom ready for workers (no one in sight yet though). I've got the seguro...

and all the supplies. The mano de Buddah (Citron) fruit is developing nicely.

Holy $#% - the cashew has the cashew at the end of a bright red fruit! I didn't know the fruit would be red!
There are several hanging on the tree and the birds have already gotten to them.

People supposedly eat the fruit but it is a weird texture and flavor. I planted it for the nuts which I will need to learn to process. This book is a pretty good one if you are into odd fruits. It is in Spanish but arranged like all other identification books so it is easy to understand. This week will be very busy. Our friend Rob is visiting and arriving tomorrow. We will be caving probably Thurs - Sun depending on the weather. So more cave photos soon and who knows what will be happening in the yard!