not having a car sucks when you are in a foreign country. we were taking a taxi, but it costs $40-$60 EC's (caribbean dollars) each trip. there are buses, but there is no schedule and only 3 buses. the only other option are the vans. the vans are owned by the locals. they are pimped out with a name on the front and blast caribbean music. they are similar to 15 passenger vans but smaller and believe me, they will squeeze as many people as possible into them. the road into town is all turns and the two lanes are narrow. throw in the fact there are no speed limits here and people drive like madmen. we've been putting off taking the vans, but decided enough was enough. if we are living in a country, we want to experience the culture...so we decided to start taking the vans. the best ride so far was yesterday. the driver was crazy...passing cars and driving at crazy speeds. imagine my horror when some goats stepped onto the road. i thought for sure they would be road kill. thankfully, all vehicles stopped for them to cross.

my classmate and i could not stop laughing as she cursed the driver in greek. a few passengers were also smirking at us laughing. it is really quite an experience. the girls and i are amazed at some of the things we see, but all in all, it's been a wonderful experience so far.