If I am being completely honest, the last few days working on Cayo Santiago have been incredibly tough. While I hope to cover the changes in the landscape in more detail soon, it is enough to say for now that with hardly any shade on the island, the working conditions for both us (and the monkeys) are completely different from last year.

To cheer us up, Astrid and I have been coming back from the island and heading straight to the CPRC office, where we have been assisting wherever needed on the current reconstruction project.

Project Monkey Island, headed by Dr. Steve Shapiro, is an organization dedicated to rebuilding the Cayo Santiago Field Station following the damages caused by Hurricane Maria. The group has also been dedicated to projects all across Punta Santiago, the small community we live in while working at Cayo Santiago. These projects have included the construction of a small computer lab for use by the community, fixing up homes of some of the locals who lost everything, and rebuilding a preschool that was washed away in the storm. For details and tons of photos, you can check out the facebook page for Cayo Santiago and for Project Monkey Island.

We have been trying to help every day on a small scale project. On Tuesday, we helped peel old latex paint from the walls, and today, we put up a fresh coat of new paint on a  different set of walls (and the ceiling). I am now covered in gray paint, but am happy I got the opportunity to help out at the center today.

More on the current state of Cayo Santiago, Punta Santiago, and my summer research projects coming up this week. Thanks for following along!