Day 11 - Back Up Island

            Natural light woke us up in the morning as we rose from our tents situated on the beaches of an old Navy base. The sunlight was inviting, unlike the stench of the vans, and warm. Some of us dove right into the ocean, others welcomed the sunlight’s rays in hopes of achieving a tan. We went right into morning exercise at 7:10 AM.

            We started off our day playing games. The first game was called WAH! Which consisted of us pretended to be growing trees while our neighbors surrounding us in a circle tried to cut us down. Every time there was a movement, we screamed WAH! Needless to say, my reactions were subpar today....I lost. We then moved onto one of Scotty’s games. It did not have a name but it sort of went like this: Stand in a circle close to your buddy. Stare at someone’s feet. Look up. If the person you are looking at you is looking at you too, you scream. The first one to scream wins. Wahla! I’m sure if anyone was looking at us, they would be wondering “hm...why are a bunch of teenagers standing in a circle screaming...” And with the help of Jennie’s knowledge of camp games, we ended our AMX with Bear, Fish, Mosquito. This game is basically rock, paper, scissors, and an elementary version of West Side Story wrapped all into one harmonious and hilarious bundle. Each team would approach each other, finger snapping and all, to the middle designated area. We would scream our animal, and if we lost we would flee in hopes of not being captured by the other team. AMX today reminded me of the days my siblings and I would play on the beach, while trying to hide the fact that we take a simple of beach volleyball and term it into a life or death situation.

            We packed up all of our sandy gear and headed off the Governors Harbor! I think I would have to agree with of one our teachers, Scotty, that this settlement is by far my favorite. The buildings were right on the shore and beautifully painted, plus they had a fabulous bakery. We walked all around this settlement until it was time to head off to the Native Plant Preserve. The sun was out and the air was hot. Our tour guide made the heat seem more enjoyable by making jokes and taking us on tree covered paths that curved throughout the preserve. We climbed up above the tree tops and were taken away by the true beauty of Eleuthera. Brian told us all that the view “was very artsy”. We ended our tour and ate some PB & J’s at the preserve. Some people tried the tea that was made at the preserve, but as one of parents so eloquently pointed out, I have a small palette, so I didn’t try any. We packed up and kept on moving.

            We made one more stop before heading back to the Institute and it was worth it. We stopped halfway through our hour long journey back at the longest Banyan tree in Eleuthera. It was breathtaking. The roots of the tree cascaded down creating a barrier against the sun for us. We all tried climbing the tree and stood back every couple of minutes to realize the complexity of this tree. Needless to say, this tree was hard to climb. I was unsuccessful, but Rachel, Brian, Zack, and Ben did manage to get up pretty high. Once again, we walked through the over grown thorns back to our vans.

            Finally, we arrived at the Institute around 2 PM. We unpacked our bags and started to clean the vans in hopes of getting rid of the stench our wet shoes and clothes created. My van compared the smell to either hockey pads or, for me personally, leaving wet cleats on a hot summer day in the trunk of a car. Some of us cleaned the vans, while others tried to clean tents and put back food. After all this was done we headed off to the Marina to enjoy some ice cream and candy bars.

            We ended our night circling up as always. We went over our schedule for the rest of the week and celebrated the 3rd night of Hanukkah. Jennie and Anna have taught us the first couple lines of the first prayer and we try very hard to sing along in support of the holiday. The quote I chose goes along with the article that Scotty and Serena showed us about the importance of being stupid during research the first couple of days. The quote is “Imagination is just intelligence having fun”. I passed the leadership role off to Rachel. Our night successfully ended with us watching the newest Batman. In case you were wondering, it was fantastic.

            Thank you to everyone that made our Down Island Trip and Intensive possible!

Court.