day nineteen

This was it. The day of all days. The hike that could potentially be my last. Six hours, 4747 feet up, and 3.5 miles of trail. I was over this trek before it began. After a silent 6:30am breakfast, we piled into the vans and took off. Our mountainous climb began when we turned up a precarious road, going nearly vertical up the hill. At about 1900 feet up, we drove by orange, grapefruit, and other citrus groves, plus the ever-present banana trees. Upon arrival at the beginning of the Morne Diablotin trail, we detoured to a public restroom, only for it to be locked up. A foreboding sign to the already dismal day, with gray clouds looming overhead. Alex decided to stay back with a stomachache (no fun at all) as the rest of us lined up singularly behind the guide. The trail had three sections, each one lasting about an hour. The first: straight up both stairs built into the mountain and natural stairs made of roots. When the guide book described this as a “spinning class mixed with American Gladiators,” it wasn’t kidding. After barely conquering the never ending staircase (the neat looking trees and parrot calls made it easier), we encountered the next obstacle: mud and vines. The ground for the next hour consisted of a gloopy, ankle deep pool of mud, escapable only by using the vines and tree branches overhead as monkey bars (cue Tarzan music). Granted, a few times I fell into the mess (only to pull my soaked boots out with a slurping noise from the ground), but the adventurous environment was so much fun. By now the group had split up based on speed. I was in the “one step at a time” group, along with Haley, the professors, and two other guides. Felicity joined us by the end of our time in the mud pit, as we ran into the most challenging segment of the climb: rock walls. Looking back, walking up sheer rock with few roots to grab seems nearly impossible. Not sure how I managed it, but my muscles are still sore. A bit over three hours from the start, we made it to the top! Only to see nothing, as the mountain’s peak lay above the cloud line and everything below was obscured. Still, it was a moment of pride – I had just climbed the tallest peak on Dominica, the second highest in the West Indies! After a photo sesh, we began the trek down: everything we had just done, we were going to do backwards. Three hours later, I was about to rol into the parking lot. Covered head to toe in mud, I had given up a long time ago on staying clean and chose to focus more on getting down quickly. I was impressed with how much I’d done on the way up – the way down seemed to take longer! As the group was an absolute mess, and Skell wasn’t going to let us into his prized van that dirty, we walked up the road to a creek to wash up. I laid down in the cool water in a vain attempt to clean off. It was probably my favorite part of the day, just relaxing in the water and seeing how much mud I could get off (note: socks are good for scrubbing!). After a while in the creek, we passed Skell’s inspection and clambered back in the vans, physically exhausted an hungry. We ate some oranges from the side of the road (thanks to Skell and Alex for picking them!) and wished for our beds on the ride home. I found some ferns in my hair later, and a few bumps and bruises on my legs and arms. Totally worth the adventure! After a brief visit to J.R.’s, Felicity, Kristen, Alex, and I headed back to La Flamboyant for dinner. Dr. Seraphin had two friends over for a group dinner at the hotel, but the students left early to go to bed. Lights out before 10 – an impressive day not to be forgotten!

days seventeen and eighteen

I would like to acknowledge Kristen and myself for becoming semi-better at Microsoft Excel, now we’re able to do the FREC assignments without too much confusion. After the learning, Kristen, Alex, Felicity, and I headed to the Cartweel Café (Dominican spelling) for some lunch. The cheese salad was, as A.J. would say, banging! Lettuce isn’t used very much here; instead most salads come with cabbage and extra carrots. Different than home, but I’m a fan. The whole group headed up the road to the botanical gardens for an informative tour that afternoon. In 1979, Hurricane David ravaged the island and destroyed many of the trees in the park. Signs of the storm still linger, the most notable a flattened school bus and a tree growing out of it. We learned about invasive lizards from neighboring islands that have taken over the gardens, saw a tree whose fruit was thrown at Jack Sparrow in Pirates 2 (aptly named cannonball), and saw a heron on a telephone wire. After returning to the hotel, we retreated to the WiFi powered basement. Time to write a rough draft for GEOG. What was supposed to be five pages per group wound up being 12, but I’m glad my group had more than enough ideas for the project (how to utilize Dominica’s natural resources). Some white rice for dinner (still nursing my stomach back to health) and some more paper writing. After a great Skype conversation with Kevin – what a good cousin! – it was time for some TLC: Toddlers and Tiaras. Late start to classes on Friday, yay for sleeping in!

I love delayed school days – waking up on my own time is such a blessing! Only having a review class for the GEOG paper wasn’t terribly taxing on the mind, setting the stage for a restful day. After a bank trip, Kristen and I visited the Juice Man – banana and mango, totally in love with fruit smoothies. We walked to the equivalent of a bright yellow Wal-Mart, Astaphans, getting some bread (so delicious, and oddly shaped) and checking out the store. Everything here is so different than America! Most products say “Made in U.K.” or “Made in France” (written in French). I finally wrote my postcards, only two weeks after buying them, now I just need to take them to the post office. We found a strange movie on TV today, Nobel Son. Not trashy, just interesting. Kristen had her Skype interview with Purdue today, so Felicity and I walked around town while she was busy. This town does not sell granola bars anywhere; I suppose that must be an American custom. I bought some huge water bottles in preparation for our six (yes, six!!) hour hike to Morne Diablotin (literally Devil Mountain) tomorrow, aka the death march that might be my last. Keep me in your prayers! Group dinner at the Laughing Lobster and group dessert at the local ice cream store. Dairy craving, satisfied. Skyped home, got some words of encouragement for tomorrow’s hike, and blogged about the week. Time for bed – we leave for the mountain at 7am!

days fifteen and sixteen

Classes – water pollution and total cost were the topics in each class. Alex and I went to the local grocery store (only 4 aisles, versus the tens of aisles at home) for some American style food – potato chips and sun chips. After a filling lunch of harvest cheddar sun chips, the group piled into Skell’s van. As the last person outside, I got to sit in the most coveted seat: between the driver and passenger seat (it’s raised and has no handhold for when the van swerves…it’s really great). After a very bumpy 40 minutes ride, we arrived at Macoucherie Rum Distillery. It’s the only distillery on the island that uses cane right from Dominica – super cool! We saw the sugar cane growing in the fields, the grinders to extract the juice, the water mill powering the plant, and the distillery machines. The entire place smelled like molasses and alcohol, not much of a surprise. At the end of the tour we had some samples of their different kinds of rum – cleared out my sinuses very quickly! The distillery owns beach property across the street from the plant, and we got to hang out in the water for a while. We saw where the river met the sea, creating a mix of warm and cold currents that made standing in the water a bit difficult. The bottom of the sea was all stones, leading to everyone floating as not to hurt their feet. After some coconut right from the tree, we traversed back towards Roseau. Once again, Skeel took us on a detour, this time to a hotel a few minutes past the city. The professors checked it out for a potential place next time for study abroad, much to our dismay (the place had a pool, we were totally jealous). For dinner, all of the girls and Dr. Hasting went to Old Stone for Sarah’s birthday. My desire for American commodities is hitting me hard – I miss quick service! Dominican time is throwing off my instant gratification expectation. Once again, the night ended with TV (the Bourne movies were on!) and excitement for no classes on Wednesday! A delayed MLK holiday is fine by me!

Waking up at nine without class hanging over my head was great, minus the overwhelming pain in my stomach. Feeling groggy and in need to do something, I jogged the hotel stairs a few times before realizing the stomachache wasn’t going away. As per usual, a monolithic cruise ship towered over the city - I am amazed at how those boats float! I opted out of a trip to Trafalgar in favor of resting, hoping I’d feel better. A few hours of HGTV later, I was feeling a bit more normal. A cheese sandwich at the Laughing Lobster helped calm my growling stomach. I went to a Chinese place with Alex, Kristen, and Dr. Hastings for something to do – the food seemed pretty good, once I’m back to normal I’ll have to try some. To my delight, Twilight films 2 and 3 were on TV: the best worst acting and cheesy plot of all time, it definitely brightened my crappy day. The movie The Switch ended the night, it was adorable and was a cute ending to the day. Looking forward to some relief tomorrow!