Dominica

The MV Explorer docked on Roseau, Dominica (pronounced like DominICA to separate it from the Dominican Republic) yesterday, giving us two days on the island.  This island is so beautiful; it's so lush and seems really unspoiled by tourism, unlike some other countries. 

After getting off the ship, me and some people I'd just met from the ship walked around the city.  We found a taxi driver/tourguide who offered to give us a ride around for only $15 a person.  We drove all around, taking in the scenery of Dominica and learning a little about the island.  A former British colony, Dominica is mostly Roman Catholic, and very friendly.  The kids go to school from 8-1 starting at 2 1/2 years old.  Dominicans are friendly, tolerant, and seem to be very environmentally conscious.  Our driver, Stewart, did a good job of keeping us informed and telling jokes to keep us entertained.  He drove us to Trafalgar (sp?) Falls at Trafalgar Park.  It was only a seven minute hike to the Falls, though Dominican trails are a lot less paved/marked/maintained than American hiking trails.  Once we reached the falls, we tried to get up closer, which is what everyone else was doing.  It was a pretty challenging climb up all these rock scrambles.  The rocks were really slippery.  Going up is always OK, but getting down is so much harder; it's pretty miserable.  After getting down, and only slipping a couple times, we made it out of the falls.  We drove around for a little while longer, I got to take a picture of me holding a boa from a guy on the side of the road for only a dollar, we drove through the Botanical Gardens and our guide dropped us off near the ship for lunch.

Later that day, I went to the D-Smart Organic Farm for my Food and Culture class (for SAS classes, 20% of your grade is based on what you do in ports.   Classes involve a mix of independent activities related to your class and structured activities lead by your teacher).  I was pretty interesting to see how much work really went into growing the food.  Our tour guide quit her banking job last year because she was more passionate about agriculture (Dominica's number one source of income) and now she works on the farm with her family.  The chickens and pigs have room to live and they have found uses for the plants beyond just food.  We got a little tour of the medicinal uses for the plants, like high blood pressure, intestinal issues, and cuts.  The farm has a deal with Subway to sell them organic eggs and lettuce.  I helped her and her family plant some peppers and she let us sample some fruits.  She had a whole bunch of fruit juices, fruits, vegetables, and homemade fruit rums (big fan of the banana and passionfruit flavors) for us to try.  While her husband made us a salad, she showed us a homemade drum made of goat skin used to help tell stories.  The fruits I tried were so fresh and juicy.  It's going to make fruits and vegetables harder to eat at home.  Later that night, everyone went out to a couple of bars really close to the pier.

This morning, I hiked up to Middleham Falls, the largest waterfall in Dominica.  The trip was only four miles round trip, but was really hard.  It poured the whole time, making the rocks really slippery.  Plus, there were branches, holes in the ground, and logs everywhere.  It was more of a strenuous hike than I expected,  but it was still really great even if the water was too rough for swimming.  My friend sold me his spot for a 4x4 jeep ride around Dominica for real cheap, which made for a great afternoon.  We got to see all the sights of Roseau, and the more natural landmarks of Dominica.  We stopped off at Tutu Gorge, where part of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was filmed.  I learned more about Dominica: only sixty percent of the country is inhabited, and a good portion of the uninhabited land is protected by the government and UNESCO.  Showing how environmentally conscious Dominica is, their litter laws are a &2000 USD ($5000 EC) fine and a month in jail, yet driving drunk is not illegal   Their roads are really windy and they don't use stop lights, but their record for fatal accidents in a single year is only 10.  There's also a section of Roseau called Charlottesville, named when One of the Kings of England gave a piece of land to his wife, Queen Charlotte as a birthday present.

One of the things that I really like about this trip is how open everyone is.  It's really easy to talk to someone new on the ship on your trip, in class, in the dining room, or anywhere.  It's the same if that person is a student, faculty or staff member or a life long learner.  Everyone really just wants to make friends.  One of the LLLs even offered me a free trip ticket.  In my Stress Management class, people went around and said what back home is stressing them out, and in my Altruism class, people went around and talked about what groups they identified with.  I was very impressed how open everyone was in front of a room full of people who are essentially strangers.   I really like openness of the community, and it is something you don't see back at home.   

Until Brazil... 

Downtown Roseau

Me at Trafalgar Falls

Me with a python a guy had on the side the road.

Panoramic view of Roseau

Roseau from the ship