Whoa! Today was amazing! We had our first research meeting, which went absolutely fantastic. We met the native Palauans that we will be working with. We also got to tour the bigger island (Balbo-dob...?) and go to some cultural hotspots with a local tour guide. We saw a lot of wreckage from world war II that is all over these islands. Mostly Japanese bases that were destroyed. We also saw the monolithes, similar to the eastern island heads, but much more ambiguous. The native plants are incredible. Lots of habiscus and plumeria flowers. Plus millions of tropical flowers I could not name. Beautiful views of the ocean.... It is unreal here. We took a long walk this morning, as we are still getting used to the time difference. It is so weird just to wander down a tiny, unfinished road and find a lagoon with a coral reef booming with life. Many of the locals are very nice!! On our tour we saw old world fruit bats. They are not like the ones from home. They are amazing. They look like little foxes with wings. We also saw a crocodile and cockatoos. I can't wait to get in the water. It looks like we will be snorkeling off of a boat at a coral reef tomorrow. I am crossing my fingers that it goes well - no reason why it shouldn't! The heat and humidity are killing me though; if you aren't in air conditioning, you are covered in sweat. Anyways, more tomorrow. Look to facebook for pictures.