Acclimating

Thankfully the hospital is airconditioned! I spent today in the operating room and was actually rubbing my arms to stay warm by the end of it. Stepping out into the hot breeze almost seemed nice after that, for the first 10 minutes. Apparently I have an amazing schedule here and most days will be at the hospital from 730 til early afternoon - leaving the rest of the afternoon and evening free to explore!

After finishing at the hospital I unlocked my phone - felt pretty cool knowing how to do that - to purchase a local sim card. Wandering through the downtown of Castries I was then stopped by a guy who had given me directions this morning and wanted to make sure I had reached my destination alright. Castries has a population of 10,000 and 60,000 if surrounding areas are included. That officially makes it a smalltown city and I hope to become friends with a few people en route.

They say pride goes before a fall, but in my case it goes before a free "bus" ride. Becoming proficient with local buses I began the last leg of my journey home in the blazing sun - on the lookout for passing buses. My experience so far has been that every other car will offer me a lift, but I've also received enough warnings on safety to not venture into any of said cars. After only 3 minutes of walking a bus drove past me and after verifying that there were passengers on board I flagged it down. The driver asked me if I was going to the airport and I told him just a little further past. He drove me to where I wanted to go and as I got off I tried to pay him. At that point I discovered (thanks to his rejection of my measly bus fare) that I had jumped into a taxi hired by other people who were going to the airport, and who had graciously picked me up and taken me past their destination to mine: AMAZING.