Ready? Set…Stop!

This picture, taken on the walk to breakfast, represents the entirety of my exploration and history finding for the day. 

This is a sugarcane grinder. If you read my Hawaii blog you will have seen a compact and modern version at work. 

In the very early 1500s (1507) the first one of these was constructed here on Spanish Hispaniola. 

What is now the Dominican Republic was in fact the beginning of all our Western American history. This is the place you hear about as a kid. In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue to here. The first New World town? Here. The first cathedral? Here. The first a ton of things. 

This all sort of glosses over the fact that there were already people and towns and places of worship here to begin with. 

This sugarcane grinder has behind it some heady and complex history and by 1507 it was in full swing. 

If you like history even a little give the Wikipedia article a glance and you will see what I mean. 

This is all by the way still a thing. In 2022 the US banned import of sugar from a major company here due to forced labor and abusive practices of Haitians. 

All that aside, today was to be a down day. I am terrible at a down day but I was focused and determined. 

I decided that since I wasn’t going anywhere I would entertain myself by identifying the plants and animals around me. 

Thatch screwpine

I also decided to try out the nonalcoholic drinks at the pool bars. 

This quest in hand we headed out for a day of relaxing poolside leisure.  

Behold a very nice decaf mocha. 

Beach spider lily 

Wonderful poolside husband in his element.

Appreciative poolside wife in the shade.

Fiery Mango margarita and orquídea 

Mexican plumeria 

Legs covered where shade could not reach. 

A flamboyant tree

Two giant loungers so that we could hang out with Chris and Pammy is complete comfort. 

A magnificent frigate bird

Seriously how the heck did seek even get this one?!?

Caribbean house gecko 

Jungle Flame

I also got palms and a hermit crab (thanks Pammy!) and other birds. 

The challenge was to get them without chasing them Pokémon style. Nearly all of these were found from the lounger by the pool. 

After a full day of doing pretty much nothing,but laying around and drinking fruity tropical beverages, we got up and showered and dressed. 

David had a work meeting in which all attendees wore Hawaiian shirts. 

Looks like Tom Selleck!

Not having a meeting myself, I wandered about again. 

Here is the sign I translated the day before.

And here is what that very plankton rich seaweed looks like in action. 

I scrolled around on instagram and found out that the woman who designed my tattoo had posted a picture of part of the design so I tried to get a picture of the application in action. 

It’s a decent enough picture of me but it’s stupid hard to take a picture of your own arm. Tomorrow David said he will get some good ones to send to her. 

I dodged two destination weddings and eventually met back up with David (wearing an entirely new Hawaiian shirt) for our dinner reservation. 

Off we went to teppanyaki!

The restaurant has some very pretty touches. 

I particularly loved the giant fish all over the ceilings. 

The show was good and the chef was very kind and made me my own separate vegetarian serving. 

I always feel bad asking people to do extra stuff for me. 

I appreciate the heck out of them for extending the effort. 

Of course the day was not only poolside drinking and personal inaturalist questing. 

We also ate and ate. 

Here are some of the things we tried. 

Tomorrow will be more active I think.