Boyd Bear Tracks

Well, we made it there and back, and we survived the bus trip (it actually wasn't too bad, Lucas and I just got a little car sick). When we first got there we thought it was going to be a bad vacation because the kids were scared of the ocean, and Ellie hated the sand. Fortunately, the second day they kind of warmed up to the beach. What they really enjoyed was the pool (at the hotel). At least they would get in that water. Maybe the ocean waves were too scary. On the third day Lucas suddenly said "I'm not afraid of the waves because God is with me!" He did end up going in the ocean with Jon. Unfortunately, when he went in with me, a big wave dumped him, and he did a somersault under water (not too fun, especially when you don't expect it). I quickly grabbed him, and I thought he would never go in the ocean again, but he eventually did. What made him the most mad was that the waves were sandy, and he got all dirty.

We went on a mangrove tour (it's a type of tree). When the tide is up you go through the mangroves in a boat and you can see lots of animals. We saw several anteaters (they were all sleeping because they're nocturnal), a boa, monkeys, pelicans, and other birds. The monkeys came right up and climbed on the boat. Lucas really enjoyed that! Ellie liked looking at them, but she didn't enjoy when they banged on the boat canopy.

The water is brackish (that's what the guide said, I think it means salty) and the trees actually drink the water and then get rid of the salt. The black mangrove tree gets rid of the salt through the leaves (like sweating). We licked a leaf and it was pretty salty! What's interesting is that the leaves all die because of the salt so the tree doesn't use its leaves for photosynthesis; instead it uses these little sticks that poke out of the ground (kind of like roots). Now how did that evolve!! It's amazing to see God's creativity in His creation!

Lucas and I went beach combing the last day, and he found some coral. I found a sand dollar. Unfortunately, from the beach to the hotel it broke. So I put it together as best I could and took a picture. We saw lots of crabs and even hermit crabs. We could have had a pet hermit crab very easily (not that we need another pet!). We all had fun, but I was glad to get home again (except that I had loads of laundry to do!!). Classes start on Tuesday, and I think Jon is glad. We really haven't spoken much Spanish since we're not in classes. My intesive Spanish course with the kids starts on Tuesday too (I'm going to try to speak Spanish to them all morning while Jon is at class--hopefully we don't all get frustrated!).