I quit smoking last Monday. It's painfully difficult. I'm still sick with the gripe (a mild flu), it doesn't get better or worse, it's just annoying. My mom came and left. She felt isolated here, though she adjusted after a few days. We went to the waterfall, horseback riding up the mountain and to the beach, walked around to the beach...just the usual in Uvita. We saw (and heard) howler monkeys, a sloth, some morpho butterflies. My cousin Dani, Aunt Deb, and Uncle John will be here in less than a week, I can't wait. I found what I thought to be a dead scorpion spider in my cabina. I was scared of what would possibly kill it, and then I got in last night, closed the door, and saw a 5-inch scorpion waiting to stab me. That was the first scorpion I've seen. And then today I realized the scorpion spider wasn't dead at all, it's simply larger now. It had molted.

The local waterfall

My mom, homesick the first day

Aw, such pretty flowers

Obligatory hammocking

Boys on the mountain

Cabeza de Canela

Bruno at the Bambu

A smile on my mom's face

Jamie, this one's for you. Steve sucks. Steve is my jefe. He is always miserable, pessimistic, and never kindhearted. His sole pleasure is derived from bitching about everything and everyone.