The Island Tour of Dominica

Today I woke up at 7:40am gathered my things and off I ran to the library to be picked up for the island tour. On the way down I met Alex (whose name I forgot three time today). We made it to the library and I gave away my ticket and hopped on the bus. Our first stop was Trafalgor Falls. The drive was nice and easy with lots of winding turns and bumps and fast curves... But our driver Fabien was fantastic. He let us take many pictures on the route to the falls; one was a giant yacht  with a helicopter which was cool.  We arrived at the station where locals sold the average touristy stuff like shot glasses and t-shirts, but I found something nice for Sarah so I bought it. I then walked through the just opened concession stand and bought 2 candy bars pictured here. I couldn't not buy them... and they were very tasty. People from home understand why I bought these... it's one of my nick-names.

My group then proceeded  to the trail with the falls, which was the easiest hike ever. Seriously ever. Here are some pictures of the Trafalgar Falls:

After the falls my journey continued the glorious sulfur springs. On the walk up to the springs I found a heat vent and nearly burnt my hand in the process. (I'm fine, it was no worse than steam from boiling water). The Sulfur springs are shown here:

After returning to the van, I asked the driver about a card with a woman's picture on it near his sun visor. He pulled it out and said that the lady in the picture was the oldest woman to ever live her life on Dominica. She lived to be 125 years old and her name was Elizabeth ma Pampo. Here is her picture:

After this we went to a hilltop and took some nice pictures of the city of Roseau, the capital of Dominica. In the background on the sea was a German cruise ship. This is also the home of the Princess Margaret Hospital where I will be frequenting in later semesters. I snapped a couple quick shots as we passed it but nothing turned out. I also saw the office of the president of Dominica. See below. At this stop there were more touristy stands where I bought a sweet and sour Dominican fruit called Tamerindo or what they call Tambrinball. It was like drinking an entire can of red bull at once but the flavor was delicious. I'm saving the others for late night studying :-)

Our next stop was the Dominican botanical gardens which had nice array of trees and a nice historical artifact shown below. This is the remnants of I believe Hurricane David that struck Dominica some time ago. tree fell over, crushed the bus (nobody inside that I could tell :P) and remained growing.  Later in the gardens I found my favorite tree I have ever swung from. pictures below. I  had so much fun This tree was called fiscus bengalensis which is latin for "The tree of I have never had this much fun feeling like Tarzan" yes, that is a direct translation. I watched lots of people climb and have a ball.

We walked through to the end of the garden for lunch where I had passion fruit juice, fish, corn, rice and weeds to eat. The salad was far from a salad so it earns the name weeds. A little after I found the closest thing to Michigan since I arrived here in the bathroom...  It was a hand dryer! Way to go Michigan exports! After walking out I saw the Cricket stadium right behind the building I ate in.

An aside for now but I swear I have never seen so many feral dogs, loose cows, chickens, goats and you name it roaming the island. Here is a picture of billy.

and finally, I reach the pinnacle of the tour. Scott's Head. Scotts's head is a gorgeous land formation which extends out into the ocean and actually divides the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Guess which side is which! The pictures are fascinating. Here is a glimpse:

After completing the hike to the top, I  descended and took a swim in the Caribbean Sea which was gorgeous and refreshing (see right). After the swim I watched hermit crabs and zebra muscles move around and relaxed until we took a ride home.I slept in the car for an hour until Fabien took a sharp turn and I woke to my head smacking the window... Thanks man...  which reminds me. On my cruise with Sarah's family, the captain of the reef's and rays boat made everyone say "Yeah man!" in response to his jests. I realized that so many people here use that same phrase and I found it amusing. Another adventurous day behind me and I live to tell the tale (almost didn't because of that head slam...)  Thanks for reading. more updates to come!

Portsmouth Market 6am

Ahh, a fresh page and where to start? Yesterday was the final day of orientation and it went by smoothly. Afterward my group of friends ( Jose, Ruth, Kanwar, Shuo, Michelle and Carolyn) all went down the Hope Chinese restaurant. It was aptly named because you needed some hope just to find it, and others would say you needed hope to finish the meal (not everyone enjoyed it). I however, greatly enjoyed my chicken and mixed veggies with fried rice (pictured below). After this we all went to the computer lab where I printed out some of the powerpoints needed for this coming weeks lectures. Several of mine had printing errors and I was fed up with it ( on top of being tired) and started on my way home for a nap. On the way, Ruth and I stopped at the market and I bought bread, butter and milk for the next few days. I took a nap for 1.5 hours and felt completely rejuvenated. I then studied a powerpoint while taking notes for a few hours before bed. I went to bed at midnight to have enough sleep so I could rise early for the opening of the market ( similar to a farmer's market back home).

I woke up at 5:30am this morning and made a bowl of oatmeal with some local brown sugar ( the sugar here is extremely inexpensive). I met Jose and Shuo for the trip and Ruth followed later on. People were selling various colors and varieties of stock including bananas, plantains (looks like a banana but isn't), oranges, passion fruit, sugar cane, yams, potatoes, spinach, coco, cinnamon, coconuts and tomatoes. These were among the items that I recognized. There were other unique fruits and things that I am unfamiliar with, but I;ll leave those for another time. A lady gave us a seminar on which things to buy and what to watch out for. Some people like to price gouge newcomers, but I got some deals. (Thanks mom for teaching me to swindle). In Dominica, we use the Eastern Caribbean Dollar which equals about 37 cents US. Or $1 US equals $2.70 in EC. I got 6 bananas for 1EC, 3 tomatoes for 6 EC, 2 pounds of fresh tuna for 16EC, Large bag of spinach for 5 EC, cucumber for 1 EC, bag of cinnamon sticks for 3 EC and a few other things. I plan on cooking some fish tonight for my friends so I'll look up a tuna recipe. The pictures of the market are below:

 Bananas

 Vendors

 Opening up shop at 6am

 Sugar cane and coconuts

 Freshest Tuna Imaginable

Panorama of one street of the market in Portsmouth

After the market I went down the steps from hell (pictures to come) to go to the gym with Jose and did a decent workout and afterward went to IT to grab my "clicker" to answer questions in class. Afterward we came back and Jose made some HOME MADE hot cocoa with real cinnamon, sugar, milk, and "cocoa turds" (It's the name we gave the cocoa because it looks quite literally like dog poo). The milk here alway comes in a box which is nothing like home. It will take getting used to. Anyway, the cocoa was delicious, Thanks Jose! Then I did my dishes and started writing for today! These are my adventures and so long for now!

I have landed in Jurassic Park.

It is now January 2, 2013, and I have so much to talk about.

Shooting back to when I landed:
 The plane ride in was fascinating! The island looks like a giant green mountain range form above. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how the heck the plane was going to land. There didn't appear to be a single flat surface. The plane landed safely on a tiny runway,( the size of a pack of gum) and I was reminded of when we landed in Puerto Rico and saw a giant iguana off to the side on the runway. I checked in with customs and had no issues. I hopped into a full van of students and left my luggage on a truck to be transported separately. I was lucky that I wasn't one of the few people that had their luggage lost at the airline. The ride was a little shock for a few reasons. 1.) They drive on the opposite side of the road. 2.) Traffic signs do not exist 3.) pedestrians are everywhere and run from the road like crows scattering when a bus comes whizzing by. 4. who needs a speed limit? The roads are as wide as the bus with large trenches on both sides serving as ditches or graves (dual purpose I suppose). So as we drove 75 kph around sharp turns and hills and potholes and dogs and children. The ride took about an hour. I felt as if I rode the carnival teacup ride 16 times straight and finally felt the need to be queasy.

I later arrived at the Jenner complex (nicknamed the Barn) where I was welcomed with paperwork and a hot meal. I called  my Mom and Sarah from the phone and let them know I arrived safely. I then met my landlord who drove me to the apartment and introduced me to the ways things are done. I have a propane stove, and I have to buy units of electricity from the store for anything to work, otherwise it literally shuts off. I have posted pictures to my Facebook page of my room but I'll toss a few on here if I can figure that out.

The last few days were orientation and we heard basic info and some stories. Mr. Sheakly described his tour to the boiling lakes where his one-legged tour guide lead his pack to the boiling hot springs. Unfortunately for the tour guide, his name was Skippy. yes Skippy. I burst out into a laughing fit in the middle of the lecture hall. Skippy. no legs. not much skipping to be done. HA HA.  Another presenter talked about hurricane safety like "don't try and surf during a hurricane". Yet of course. You know he wouldn't say something like this if someone didn't try doing it. It's like the obscure warnings on the side of hair drier ."Please don't take a bath and dry your hair at the same time"  DUH! I get it haha.

Today I went on a tour on the Indian river and it was really nice! I'll post pictures above. I was told that on this river the Pirates of the Caribbean filmed the seen where Jack visits the witches hut. Down the river was a really cool bar hut where they sold rum punch. I was told that there wasn't any punch in the punch but I'll leave that story to those people. I returned to campus and set up my bank accounts and got a LIME phone service (contact me if you want the number). After that I went to the BBQ where I was given a fresh coconut to drink out of. ( it was really delicious and had an odd texture). It is probably better for cooking so I'm going to dry it out and cook it in my rice tomorrow.

I played a few games of ping pong with a 5th semester student from Israel named Zack and he confirmed the possibility of coming to MI for my 5th semester. I then walked to the IGA (supermarket) and purchased several bags of heavy groceries and lugged them half a mile up a freaking hill to my apartment. I looked ridiculous or savagely manly. I'll let the passers by give you the verdict.

And that has been my day thus far!