I knew drivers-ed would come in handy!

As of tomorrow I am making the largest purchase (besides vet school loans) that I have ever made. I am buying a car. Yes, you read correctly. After all these years of having a license and no car to drive I have officially caved in and will be purchasing a Toyota Camry. She's hunter green colored. I have no idea how old she is though. She was made in the 90's at some point, but here on the island, it's a good deal if a car is made later then 1988.

She (and I have just in this moment while typing this have decided that it must be a a she) is a right hand drive automatic with amazing AC and and a bitchin' stereo. AC here in St Kitts is an amazing commodity, and I'm pretty psyched about it. I mean, I'm an open window kind of person, but sometimes it's just too humid for that.

The passenger door (left side) doesnt open from the outside, and she's got a few cosmetic issues, but all and all, she's not too bad. I can drive her easily up some of the biggest hills we have here (and we have quite a few of them lol) and I'll be able to get out to the other side of the pennisula with no problem (of course to and from school as well)

Pictures to come soon


(but for now some random pictures of life on the island)

poking at the beach



Dancing with Mike at the new club across from the Marriott


Now THIS is why I go to school in the Caribbean

The white coat makes it official!

I got my white coat today! I guess I dont have much to say about it besides it feels good to know that I'm on my way down a road I've always wanted to travel. Watch out world, in 3 years Dr Fuentes will be out on the streets!

It's always a vacation when you live in the Carribbean!

This is the first time in 2 weeks that my room is silent. I just dropped Eran off at the airport and my solitude has offically been regained. I did quite a bit of exploring with Nneka and Eran while they were here. Nneka and I found this tiny black sand beach just off of campus, while Eran and I trekked through Nevis, finding the botanical gardens and having some amazing lobster pizza! It was an adventure every day of the week.

During Nneka's visit we hung out a lot at the Marriott and Reggae beach. I was borrowing my friends car for the 2 week break, so we had some transportation (not to worry, after my first driving experience all went well) After showing her around campus and finding the Wandering Jew plant (yes that is the REAL name!) we went down to the stairway by the sea. We hopped off the dock and started wandering along the rocks. About 1/2 a mile down we could see a bare area, so we kept walking. After we hopped along the rocks a bit more, we came to (my very first) black sand beach. St Kitts and Nevis, along with the surrounding countries, are volcanicly active so thats where our black sand comes from. We hung out a bit and wished that we brought lunch with us. It was a very chill kind of afternoon and it was amazing to find this beautiful secluded area with my best friend.

One of the days, I took her through town and around the port. Downtown Basetterre is a bit of a culture shock so it took her a little bit to get used to it, but after just a short while all was well in the world.

On her last full day here, Nneka treated me to the most decadent gift I've ever recieved. A spa exerience. We got aroma body balm wraps, and face/neck/head massages. We also used the spa's steam room, sauna, and whirlpool. It was amazing... note to anyone reading this... if you dont know what to get me for some sort of occassion, spa anything will be juuuuussst fine! :)

After bidding Nneka a sad goodbye, I picked Eran up just a few hours later. After his enormous flight to St kitts (Israel to london. London to NYC. NYC to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico to St Kitts) we just smoked some hookah and went to bed. The next day I took him immediately to Reggae beach, which is my favorite beach, and he got to meet Wilbur the 300+ pound pig! Good thing he doesnt keep kosher!! lol

After a few more beach days, we decided to head over to Nevis which is St kitts sister island. We drove around absorbing as much culture as possible. We checked out the (obviously closed) slave market, a few churches and even a jewish cemetery. We also went to the botanical gardens which were beautiful! After a long day of exploring Nevis, we were starved. We decided on a small pizza place outside of town that sounded delicious. We decided on the lobster pizza. Yes, you read correctly, lobster pizza! I figured I would give it a shot, seeing as who knows when I'll eat lobster pizza again lol. It was actually quite good. Nice and mild and tasty!

Eran during his time here celebrated his 22nd birthday. I took him out to La Cucina at the Marriott. I'm not big on Italian, but it was wonderful! After those festivites, and for teh next night as well we hung mainly on timothy beach and the surrounding bars. I introuduced him all around and we all had celebratory birthday drinks.

And that brings me to where I am now. In my empty room wondering what to do with the remaining few days before school starts. I'm thinking I'll sleep ;)

When it hits, it hits hard...

This has been a week of instense ups and downs. I am broken inside about Elliot. (for those of you that dont know, I lost a good friend of mine last week in a unfortunate accident. I am not okay with it) I am estatic that I make it through my semester. I was nervous about nneka's visit, and wanting everything to be perfect. I'm now sad that she's gone, and glad that she knows how to handle my crazy, and deals with my sometimes bipolar nature. I'm excited to see Eran, but tired emotionally from this week... which leads me to be stressed about wanting things to be nice for him seeing as he is flying from Israel to see me.

I'm not quite sure how to handle it all besides push it to the back of my head and pray that it doesnt surface at an in-oppertune moment.

I am staying positive for the most part and trying to keep my head up in the face of all things evil and unplesant right now. I assume it's all I can do at this point...

He's got Island Fever, shes got Island Fever...

Life here in St Kitts has become a bit nutty. At this point, the semester is rapidly coming to an end, and people have begun to catch what we call "Island Fever" It's nothing bad, but it seems like the world is out of whack. Admin installed a projector in our room that messes with our chi. People are getting together with people that they normally wouldnt. There was a minor earthquake. Staff is getting looney. There have been a huge number of cane field fires. Everyones biorythyms are crazy. I'm talking biblical stuff. Any more craziness and the lion is going to sleep with the lamb! The whole island is an LSD tab away from being clinically insane!!

The VECCS conference has only fueled the insanity. Though the lectures were great, and it was wonderful to meet new people in the field, the vets I met at the conference were just as out of their minds! One Dr leaned over to me and told me to guess what was in her conference bag. I had no idea, so she opened it, and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels! During the lectures!

Madness, madness I tell you!



These are some pics of the cane field fires... and how close they are to the street!










It was actually quite amazing to see... but thats for another post :)

Stay off the road, Rachel is driving!

Stay off the streets... Rachel is getting behind the wheel...

So drove on St kitts for the first time. It was quite possibly one of the most nerve wracking experiences ive had in the recent past. i have to say though, i only almost killed us once :)

to be completely honest, I had no intention of driving that night night. I was handed the keys and told to go. Not that it really makes a difference I guess. I'm thinking I may have been better off driving during the day though, not at 9pm in a place where there are very few lights.

Mistake #1 i tried getting in on the wrong side of the car. Here, the drivers side is on the right. note to self, getting into a car on the wrong sign doesnt look good... especially when your sober.

Mistake #2 I tried to put the car in reverse and reached out with my right hand. Note to self, center console is in the center, not outside the door.

So Now I'm off and running, so to speak. I'm doing my best to stay on the left side of the narrow road without falling into the huge ghauts that drain the water. for a while I get the hang of it. things were twisty and turny and dark, but not too bad.

Mistake #3 I attempt to put on my directional/blinker and I promtly turn on the windshield wipers instead. Note to self - have we noticed a trend here yet, everything is reversed!

Mistake #4 I go to make an easy right, and slip into NY mode. I make my right without looking.... bad move. Oncoming traffic is on the right side of the road, and for just a moment I blanked on it and reverted (again) back to driving in the US. Luckily I hit the gas and sped out of the way.

All and all, we got to the Marriott safe and sound. I was fully convinced that I wuld never be allowed to drive again. My friend said that she'll change the oil before she lends the car to me next week. Sweet deal!

I blew on what?

I have made a stunning development in Carribbean living over the past few days.. I have learned how to sound/blow a conch. It really is as simple as putting your lips together and blowing.... but is actually pretty difficult to master. I liken it to playing the trumpet (not that I ever have) or possibly a zerbert (or razzberry)on someones belly. It was kind cool to finally get it to make some noise other then what sounded like a dying giraffe (insert southpark joke here). My bud Jason taught me how. I promptly went out this weekend and found a (already empty) conch to bring home. Just so you know, this whole bringing big shells home is much more gross than you would think. My whole apt smells like dying algea and bleach. It's pretty grody, but in a day or two I will have a clean conch! I dont know if I'll cut off the end or not (so that people can make sounds out of it) but I'm pretty happy I have one, even if it is just for show.

In addition to my conch blowing (ha ha make you your jokes now, this is my last reference to conchs and my blowing of them...) I finally got a few pictures with Wilbur. He is the friendly pig that lives on the beach. When i say friendly pig, I mean friendly 300 pound beast that is bacon-olicious.






mmmmmmm I <3 ham




:)