Atlantis, Day 3: Ardastra

This was without a doubt my favorite day! We started out at a nature park/zoo/arboretum that houses a ton of native plants and animal life along with some others. We walked in and immediately were greeted by the bird and pot bellied pig pictured above. The amazing difference we found here versus at home was that everything was so available and open. In some ways its scarry, especially when all you have is a chain link fence between yourself and 2 huge jaguars. But, it was also amazing to be so close to everything. The flamingos were just hanging out. One particular ring tailed lemur was just as interested in me as I was in him and he walked up to me and sat no more than a foot away from me for a while. It was super neat. I felt like we connected somehow as we looked at each other. After being here for a few hours, we walked about 1/2 mile to Arawak Cay where all the locals we'd talked to suggested we go for some good local food. It's a place called the fish fry-- a ton of restuarants on a strip right by the ocean. We chose one and had a delicious meal of conch fritters, fish and some Bahamian beer. Then. we walked the amazingly LONG way back to Paradise Island. It was mostly nice. Along the shore where we took pictures of the lighthouse. Through downtown Nassau and some local shops, and then over tha huge bridge back to the room. We were pretty exhausted at the end of today from the miles and miles we hiked!
A lizard on the tree.
Its spring there too, so everything was just blooming.
One of the few pictures of the 2 of us together!
A super cool picture Clayt took.

A jay from the Bahamas.
This is a Bahamian boa constrictor. It was super pretty-- its scales shone like the colors found in labradorite- all blues and greens and purples.
A squirrel.
This bird totally showed off for us. I have a video of it, but it seems to be refusing to load to youtube. Anyway, it said "hello" to us alot and once giggled exactly the same way I did. It was really neat to have him imitate you.

The flamingos.
Clayton ventured much closer than I was willing to.
I really wanted to touch a lemur, but I didn't.
The gorgeous jaguars.

This is what I was looking at. Just pretty sun through the leaves.
Kappybara

Capuchin monkey

My lemur friend.


A cerval.
Caiman

One of the many birds that dug Clayto that day.


An orchid tree with some pretty orchids.