More pictures! and another update

In case you haven't already noticed, my Grand Cayman pictures are up!

And here's the next travel log entry:

Saturday, Feb. 17

Up early (7am) this morning and enjoyed a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel.

First stop for the day was Paraiso where we decided to work a partial day instead of going to Sabanitas. Little disappointed not to see the girls but it worked out better this way for everyone.

Worked from about 10:30am to 5pm. Got a lot done in a relatively short work day. The guys (have got to try harder to remember their names, so far only can remember Stan) managed to remove and replace about 1/3 of the roof! In Major Shirla’s quarters we (Julia, Catherine, Jessica, me) emptied her bedroom, kitchen and bathroom and also tore down the ceilings in the three rooms and cleaned the walls, top to bottom. We got covered in bat "guano" (now known as ceiling glitter). Phew! But now all ready to start with the painting on Monday (we were pretty much told that it would be frowned upon if we did any kind of work on Sunday).

Julia and I made lunch for the crowd. Ham and cheese, tuna, chips, apples, bananas, cookies. Made sure that all drank lots of water.

After dinner at TGIFriday’s we dropped a few of the crew back to the hotel and headed off to the area for the Carnaval parade (got a little bit lost, but a few quick questions at a gas station set us right again). Parked the van and then followed the crowd and the noise only to find a 1-hour wait just to go through security. We did wait for about 20 minutes but then after taking another vote some of the group decided to stay and others to leave, myself included. So a bunch of them stayed and the rest of us went back to the hotel. Julia, Keith and I were all set to hit the pool only to discover that it closed at 10pm (10:30 when we got there). Oh well. Julia and I hung in her Dad’s room for a chat and got to send off a few quick emails.

In bed now can hear the sounds of Carnaval! Drums, steel drums, even fireworks (possibly over the bay area?). The beat of the drums makes me want to dance - it’s awesome. Would’ve liked to stay out all night at Carnaval but with church ahead of me and what I’m sure will be an emotional afternoon with the girls in Sabanitas, I think it’s better for me to rest up.

8am wake up call tomorrow. Julia and I are going swimming before breakfast!