sunday: arrival, sean's 22nd bday!
monday: day up north - cabrits national park, walking through the woods chasing land crabs, hermit crabs, snakes, and lizards to an abandoned army quarter that looked like the monkey house from the jungle book. it was raining (first rain we've had in months!) and beautiful, so green. after, we had a creole lunch in portsmouth and took a boat ride down the indian river which was a little touristy (they drop you off at the end to a bar in the middle of the woods) but the river was very pretty with mangroves and emily spotted a huge iguana for us high up in the trees - first time i've seen an iguana here. that night, we went for a hot bath over in the natural sulphur pools in wotten waven. pics from cabrits:
tuesday: day out east. we picked up michelle and judy in town and headed for judy's house in riviere cyrique, a very rural village on the east coast. we stopped at her friend, simon's, farm on the way. i've been in dominica a year, but have never been on a real farm like that. it was a lot of land and he had so many great things for us to try. we drank jellies (young coconuts) in the shade in the humid afternoon and chewed on sugar cane under the carambola tree. he showed us around, all the different things he was growing, everything mixed together, natural. it was so great. we stopped quickly at the rosalie beach where a few sea turtles had come ashore and made tracks the night before. the leatherbacks are HUGE, you can tell just from the circle prints they make in the sand. emily and sean, the bio people they are, really loved seeing this. then we headed to wavine cyrique. i'd been there once before with judy when rob visited, this rope and tree root descent down a cliff to a beach where a freshwater waterfall shoots into the atlantic ocean. it was less intimidating this time around. the beach itself was so different, much bigger, much more sand. the current was so strong, reminding us why people here have such intense respect for the ocean. we went to twa basins next, a series of cold pools and waterfalls up the mountainside. we swam and climbed up the rocks through about six pools. it was refreshing and so green and serene. that night we came back and emily cooked dinner for sean, my neighbor casey, and me. the first night of delicious food. pics stolen from michelle:
wednesday: day in town - went to the market, peace corps office, ruins for some rum drinks, operation youth quake, trafalgar primary school, and trafalgar falls. we bathed in the cold and hot pools. we hung out with some neighbors. emily and i had our hair braided.
thursday: the boiling lake hike. austin (fellow volunteer), sean, emily, and i met allegra (another PCV) at the trail head and headed out for the day. this hike kicked my butt last time and it took us 8 hours. this time, because my memory of it had me so scared, was much more pleasant. it only took 6 hours and we had a great time. i thought i was going to die on a few of the uphills, but it was not nearly as bad as i remembered. our group was great, too, and i really enjoyed everyone's company. after, sean, emily, and i went to town to get a few things for dinner and got into a fender bender which was unfortunate but not that bad. we played apples to apples and drank rum and wine. more delicious food courtesy of emily.
friday: scuba diving. michelle joined us. they let sean dive! we went to labym (creole for the best, they told us) and champagne. diving again was like getting back on a bike. i can't believe i'd let myself go so long without diving! it was so beautiful. we saw a turtle! lots of lobsters, eels, parrot fish, etc. the feeling of weightlessness was just as great as i remembered. i liked swimming behind sean and emily 'cause they'd point out all this cool stuff i wouldn't have noticed. had lunch at cornerhouse with other PCVs and then had to deal with a bunch of car accident stuff. at night we went to fort young happy hour on the bayfront and finished it off with a late night trip to kfc - a truly cultural experience.
saturday: sean and emily drove to the airport. i was sad and not ready for the week to end at all! i forget what my normal life was like before though the vacation was only a few days. i guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow when i have to wake up to go to work...
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