Some random thoughts:

It's just about perfect here as far as weather is concerned. At night and in the morning it's a little chilly, you need a sweatshirt. But as soon as the sun hits, it's nice and toasty, even a little too warm; but in the shade, with the breeze it's just lovely. Sort of like how Arizona should be around this time of year. If it wasn't snowing and freezing all the flowers.

There are a lot of pregnant women on this island. I mean, the population of this place is tiny, and there seem to be many women who are preggers. Helena (I have mentioned her before, she's the Portuguese teacher who took us to Joao Galego) is pregnant and just thrilled about it. Last week, an OBGyn arrived on the island and created quite the crowd. I believe he may have been here on vacation, he was staying at the hotel Leland and I stayed at when we first arrived. Or maybe his coming to treat the women here was an excuse for him to come to this island when the weather is just perfect. Helena informed me after class one day that she had to hurry and get to the pensão (hotel) so she could wait with all the other pregnant women to see the doctor. I walked in front of the hotel the next day where there were swarms of pregnant women waiting to see the doctor. Maybe if they lined up this eagerly for some sort of birth control method, they all wouldn't be as uncomfortable (ie waiting on the street for who knows how long while pregnant). But who knows, I'm sure a small percentage of those women may have actually planned to be pregnant.

Leland and I went to a town called Estância do Baixo (literally translated as 'lower state') on Saturday. A woman (Elizabeth) who teaches at the high school with me is dating a guy (Shon) who works at the Youth Center with Leland. So they invited us to their house on Saturday. We packed up food and drinks and headed out to the desert just outside their town. Shon dug a small hole in the ground, filled it with coal and lighter fluid and we had ourselves one of the best bar-b-ques I've ever been to. We ate and then we rolled around in the desert the whole day (don't worry, pictures will follow). The desert there is beautiful. It looks like the Sahara (although in all fairness I don't actually know what the Sahara looks like in person); it is filled with just sand dune after sand dune, with the occasional rock formation and random tree. We picnicked right under a huge tree and hung hammocks, talked and just chilled all day. It was all around a great time. It almost made up for the fact that we came home to no water.

Sunday, since there was no water, I spent the entire day on the beach in a hammock, and Leland windsurfed. It was a perfect day for lounging around. And in the evening I got to speak to my parents! That made me very happy. Luckily the water came back today, which is good because I still have sand caked in my scalp. But if you ever get the chance to barrel-roll down a sand dune, I highly recommend it.

So randomness, and fun. And the countdown has begun until we go to Mindelo for Carnaval (sort of the Cape Verde version of Mardi Gras). Leland and I are leaving in less than three weeks to take a vacation on the island of Sao Vicente. The second largest city, Mindelo, is famous for its Carnaval: a three day festival of craziness. We can't wait.