I made it

Hi all. I just thought I'd let you all know that I'm in Puerto Rico now, at the observatory. I arrived this evening after a semi-uneventful trip. I didn't realize I needed to get a paper stamped, and probably my visa too, as I left Mexico. The woman at the desk didn't explain very well what I had to do, but had I not been totally exhausted from spending the night up with Julio and Gerardo and feeling pretty glum about leaving Mexico, I probably would have paid more attention to my surroundings and seen the migration desk, or to the form and seen that it needed a stamp or thought about the fact that you have to get your visa and passport stamped when you leave a country. The delta people didn't know what happens if you don't get the form stamped and so far I haven't had to pay for it, but I imagine if I go back to Mexico they're going to fine me. I think I may call the Mexican consulate in Boston to see if there's any way to take care of the problem before I go back or at least to see how much it's going to cost me next time I go. Other than them dumping out my water (I thought the liquids rule had changed) and confiscating my toothpaste (some of their rules are really stupid these days), the trip went about as can be expected. I read Harry Potter on my first flight to keep myself from feeling miserable about leaving, being tired, and screwing up with the form. It was an effective method. On my second flight, which was delayed about an hour, I managed to sleep a little bit.

A friendly Arecibo security gaurd met me at the airport. It was nice to chat in Spanish with him on the way to the observatory. He was extremely friendly and took me to get groceries, which cost me the incredibly expensive American price of $40!! I'm going to have to get used to the prices outside of Mexico. I couldn't stop thinking in pesos and how ridiculously expensive the food was, and of the comparative low-looking quality of the vegetables. I'm hoping at least the quality will improve as I figure out where to buy. I couldn't find the chiles I wanted to make salsa, so I'm glad I brought my favorite comercial salsa from Mexico. That will have to do until I find a market that sells chiles or until I learn how to make Puerto Rican food. I think that's going to be the most effective method to successful shopping.

I'm staying, at least for now, in a small cabin on stilts with two other girls: Amanda, a 20 year old from Purdue in IL, and Kat, whose 26th birthday was today and who's studying a masters at NM state. We had a little get together in the boys' family suite (into which we're hoping the girls are going to be able to move because it's larger and there are more of us) to celebrate Kat's birthday. Everyone is here now except one other girl who arrives on the 28th. One girl's already been here a month. Everyone seems really nice. They've been going on trips each weekend and they really seem to have bonded well. There's lots of joking going on.

Now I'm ready for bed. I'm exhausted. Tomorrow I'm going to start figuring things out around here. I have to find my professor, get a key for our cabin, and fill out paper work with human relations. I'm hoping someone will also show me around the grounds. The only not so great thing I see so far about being here is that they're painting the telescope. That means we won't be able to use it directly and that they are sand blasting randomly during the night, which is loud.