Iguana Drama

There is a site with iguanas native to the island of Hispaniola here so we took a field trip to observe their behavior. They are huge compared to the typical bright green iguana one usually imagines. Each pair of us was assigned a male to watch and note his actions towards the other males. Everyone agreed we should name then Spanish names, so my partner, Casey (my usual snorkeling partner also), named ours Jose Cuervo. Jose was quite inactive and lame compared to the other males who would defend their area. We deduced Jose was in fact just a large female, so we appropriately changed her name to Josefina.

Some of the others in my group got a little daring and walked farther into the walled habitat. They had a lot of action to follow, as their iguanas, Alfonso, Ignacio and Chollo, chased each other back and forth. At one point, an iguana went a little loco and ran around the side towards a couple students as another was coming from the other direction. Stuck between the oncoming iguanas, the students were little nervous, to say the least, and leapt onto a nearby bench where they stood for the rest of the 30-minute exercise. (The iguana is at the bottom..)

Another interaction that occurred a few minutes later left a particular impression on me. Ignacio got a little more daring than usual and ventured across the little dried-up creek. Alpha-male Alfonso had a little something to say about another dude entering his quarters. As soon as he noticed, he moved his little legs so fast to attack Ignacio. Alfonso chased Ignacio (over the dried leaves noisily cracking beneath them) back towards the creek. Just as Alfonso was about to take a bite out of Ignacio’s tail, Ignacio leapt for the other side of the creek. I watched in awe, then…THUD. Ignacio slammed his thick scaly neck right into the slightly elevated stonewall of the other side. He then quickly picked himself up and continued scurrying away. I had truly believed in Ignacio’s ability to clear the wall and make it back safely. In my shock, I swallowed my gum as I died laughing/choking at what I had just witnessed.

[Incidental] Road trip!

The following day some of us went on this awesome tour. We took our bus to the drop off spot, well not directly there. Apparently we missed the stop somewhere along the way. The bus driver, David, unknowingly turned down a seriously rural and hilly dirt/mud road and we drove at least two miles before a girl from the hotel in the bus with us recognized we were not supposed to be on that road. Without a place to turn around on the narrow, David resorted to a newfound skill. He put the bus in reverse, and with the annoying beeping, we drove backwards almost the whole two miles. A few residents walked or rode horses by, clearly wondering what the heck we were doing. While some people were getting a little queasy up by the driver as we rumbled back through the puddles, I was in the back, er front now, quietly dying of laughter at the entire scenario. We finally came up to a little gated drive, so Lisa, our TA, boldly got out and opened it for us to turn around. Take in the entire scene:

Despite making another wrong turn and traveling 20 minutes in the wrong direction, we were back driving through the town we passed an hour earlier, where a man from the tour company was looking for us. Finally positive we were on the right track, we gladly followed him and his motorcycle back in the direction of that muddy road. No worries though, our safari-like jeep was waiting for us before we reached that road. Quite a humorous introduction to the next six hours of enjoyment.

^ Herding cows across the road.

I'd take a Corona with that

After the snorkeling, I thought we were done for the day, but we continued around the next rocky cliff to the picturesque Caribbean beach. Supposedly Corona shot commercials here in the 1980s. Despite being summoned to pay to use the chairs on which we threw our towels and bags before heading to the water (so we moved our stuff to the sand), we had the most relaxing time swimming there and enjoying the soft sand.