Day 7 - It's raining, it's pouring... Brian is snoring.

Today it rained. A lot. It was one of the first days of downpour in the last few months on Eleuthera. However, this rain brought lots of fun!

We started off the day with a sleep in, which entails us skipping morning exercise and waking up at 8:15 am for breakfast. When I woke up around 7 am, I stepped outside to see a double rainbow! I quickly ran inside to get Alix, another early riser, and we stood in awe, admiring the beauty around us.

With the Island School students gone the campus is empty and quiet. However this means there is more delicious food for us to eat and less dishes to clean afterwards.

Next we had one of our first real days of class as we went to the Octagon to learn about Human Ecology. We watched a film entitled “Power of Community: How Cuba survived the oil crisis” which talked about the Cuba Peak Oil problem and the new sustainable ways they have, that changed their lifestyle. Next we gathered outside during one of the few dry periods of the day to discuss what we learned and how Cleveland could have a more sustainable future.

Some insane statistics:

-          Cuba uses only 1/8 the energy that the United States uses however they have the same Life Span and Infant mortality as we do

-          Cuba has fewer cases of diabetes and cancer

-          The ratio between the amount of oil used compared to the amount of oil being discovered (in barrels) is 5:1

-          Due to the Peak Oil crisis, the average Cuban lost 20 pounds over the first few years of the Special period

Next the group took an Eco-footprint Quiz to learn how many hectares (2 ½ football fields) each person uses in a day. The average American footprint is around 24 hectares while the global average is only 4.5. This quiz assigns points to the 7 categories of Water, Food, Shelter, Transportation, Energy, Clothing and Stuff. My footprint was 21 hectares. The largest footprints came from Brian, with a shocking 41 hectares – mostly due to the amount of food that he consumes on a daily basis. The lowest footprint came from Alix, whose footprint was 16. She found that her footprint was low, due to her being a vegetarian. Wes had a footprint of 18 the second lowest.

After lunch, we learned about the old Cape Eleuthera Resort and Marina built in the 1970s. This resort went bankrupt in the late 1970s leaving behind the ruins of the many buildings for us to explore. We ventured outside with a partly sunny sky. However, as we walked further and further into the jungles of the resort it began to rain. Serena, one of the many interns working with us, took us to a great Banyan tree in the middle of the forest. As we started to walk there, it began to downpour and many of us did not bring a rain jacket, so we became quickly soaked. However our trek towards the tree brought out the most wonderful scents in the leaves and bushes around us, making the trip worth it. The Banyan tree was one of the most magnificent things I have seen, and the warm rain just made it more spectacular. A Banyan tree expands by the roots growing down from the branches into the ground. As we all huddled around the tree, people began to drink the water spilling off of these roots. One of the many jokes on this trip has been that Max has yet to take a shower. However, he believes that the rain counts as a shower, and that he now no longer needs to shower the rest of the trip.

Venturing back out from under the Banyan tree to return to campus caused everyone to get wetter, taking away any hopes of being dry. As we returned to campus we shed all of our wet clothes, hoping they’d dry in time for tomorrow.

Leaving for dinner was an interesting task as it was extremely dark and wet. However, the trip was well worth it because dinner was excellent. We had homemade pizza that tops any pizza I’ve ever had.

So, our crazy adventurous day ends in the rain. However, as we went around the circle sharing our “happys and crappys” for the day, everyone remarked that the rain made the whole day better.

Tomorrow’s plan is still iffy. If the rain decides to stop, we will be going on a 3-day Down Island Trip. If not, we will stay on campus for another day, and take off on Saturday.

The next leader will be Alix.
-Kate