october 30

Grant could barely drag himself out of bed this morning. Our first alarm went off at 6am, but since Kendra and Leche have today and tomorrow off, they slept in and so the kitchen was quieter than usual. I woke up more of less, but Grant went immediately back to sleep. This morning we had oatmeal again, but this time we added some brown sugar to the pot and let it melt in while it cooked, so we only needed a little white sugar at the end. We had it with half an apple and half a banana each. We started work cleaning the larger red eye leaf frog terrarium, then the strawberry dart frog tank. In both, the glass gets really humid and filmy, and mold grows on the screened sides. Mold grows everywhere here, really. In the strawberry tank I also had the honor of cleaning mold off of the plant leaves as well. Then we went into the greenhouses and started weeding and raking. Out primary job while Leche is off is to organize greenhouses 5 and 6. but, I got called to do a tour for an older couple from Arizona, which took slightly longer than usual because we chatted a bit. Grant met us in the frog habitat when it was time for lunch. I definitely prefer the tours to other work – it’s the most relaxing, and it beats shoveling any time. Lunch was leftover veggies from last night with rice and beans. When I got back to the reception to relieve Erika she gave me a few of the red spiny fruits that everyone here seems to eat all the time. You crack open the outer shell, which is softer than it looks (when you touch the spines they turn out more like hairs. The inside looks like a grape but it tastes much richer, and it has a giant seed you can’t bit into. Erika gave me 4, so I split them with Grant. We went home and spent the evening reading, and had dinner. We’re both at good parts in our books, plus we’re tired of working and always having to figure out how we’re going to make our next meal.