5/25

Today, we drove to Cabo Rojo, which was 30 minutes away. Before we went, I saw a centipede right in front of Dr. Steichen’s door and took a really cool POV video. We hiked today and it was so hot because the sun was really bright. I was wearing a rash guard and hiking pants with tennis shoes, a hat, and buff. I accidentally left my sunglasses at the house, but I was glad I had everything else. I had bug spray underneath my clothes and over my clothes so I wouldn’t get bit since I am already covered in bites. I brought my dry bag on the hike to the lighthouse and I brought extra bug spray and sunscreen, as well as an itch stick and water. I also had Band-Aids to reduce the friction of my bites. Matthew was nice and gave me Tylenol to help reduce the itching. The hike was beautiful and we were high on a cliff with beautiful blue water underneath. There were also a lot of plants like white, black, and red mangroves and silver buttonwood. I am glad I wore pants because the plants and hard jagged rocks kept brushing up against my leg. We even took an adventurous path down through an area with bees that led down to the rocks on the ocean. I saw three large chitons while the waves were crashing high up. A crab even jumped onto my leg and was climbing up! We climbed back down and back around the path and back down to the car to get delicious coconut ice cream (helado) made from coconut milk, meat, and some husk. It was so nice to sit in the car with the AC for a bit! We next went to the area with the red salt ponds, but it was a more pink-white color that sparkled in the sun. The area was covered in thick crystals of salt from evaporation. After we visited that area, we ate sandwiches as we drove back to the grocery store. We stopped to buy pineapples on the way back that smell very sweet! We went to Mr. Special again to get some more groceries and I got a flavor of Lay’s chips called ‘all dressed’, and apparently it's a mix of flavors of sour cream and onion, salt and vinegar, and barbeque. I have not tried it yet but it looks interesting. When we got back to the house, I changed into my swimsuit to take a dip in the pool. I am happy today is a rest day because that was well needed. This is good for my future career because I got to practice identifying plants.