Don't play with it

My super amazing boyfriend gave me a laptop yesterday as a gift. So now instead of trying to make a netbook do laptop work, I have no excuses to not publish posts in a timely manner. I can finally edit everything ideally in a full sized screen. (Yay me!)

With that said, I can finally get those old posts from summer I had intended to write. I feel now is a good time to state that many of the minor details have since faded from memory but the epicness of the experience I hope to still be able to portray in these consequent posts. My summer getaway choice was somewhat unorthodox and spontaneous as this summer I found myself in exploring the Nature Isle of the Caribbean.

Why Dominica you ask?

Well I had the opportunity to meet a Dominican friend in Physics 1 at SGU. We bonded through the suffering of classes and exams and then found ourselves together again to endure Chemistry 2. At that point we decided to not make the universe conspire more to form a friendship, and we were close since. Along the way many other little friendships were formed and we were all toying with the idea of the trip. Somehow envisioning the trip in our mind the way MTV made Cancun look on Spring Break back in the day. In the end, the big group resulted in just me going.

Me on the plane..

Right above the clouds.

To be honest, I had no idea what exactly to expect from the trip. As fate would have it, I bounced into folks who had visited there before and gave me a list of "must-see" places. My mom insisted there was no night life. My dad insisted I'd love it as there was a lot of nature stuff to do. My friend? She's a city girl who doesn't like the bush, nor mosquitoes, nor cute furry wild animals or the sea.

Lhana, my friend, did an awkward job preparing me. For one, she got me adequately fearful of surviving the landing with strange stories of very rough landings and wind currents making it impossible to land due to mountainous terrain and even actual crashes. Other people correlated her story. What really happened? I found myself mesmerized by how many coconut trees were visible in the forest from above land. Then I found myself fantasizing about how much coconut water much be available on the island and how much I would drink. Then next thing I know? I'm on the ground, smooth landing. I found the flight to be super quick. Literally felt like I hopped a bus from my home, to town, then to country. The ability to be one place now and another then still marvels me sometimes.

Look at all the trreeeeeeesssss....! I know you can't really see how many coconut trees are there.. But I swear it looks like there's almost a plantation happening.

Then I arrived. I think the drive from the airport took me longer to get to my friend's house than the actual plane flight. I stayed in Castle Comfort, near Rosseau, high enough to see a beautiful sunset every day if I so desired. My taxi driver did an amazing job bringing me up to speed on what to expect on the island. He made me wonder (not saying that we don't...just never been a tourist on my island) if our local taxis invested this much time for no extra charge to sell Grenada. Leatherback turtles are protected there as they are in Grenada. My taxi driver was a part of the group that tries to protect him. He told me stories of how skilled some of the hunters are to know when turtles would come on shore by the moon and weather. The wildlife is pretty similar to Grenada but they also have agouti. I wasn't blessed with the opportunity to see one but I heard they were super cute. Everything wild is protected, right down to the mountain chicken (frog), and seasonal. They take these things so seriously that there's even Iguana crossings. Yes, it's illegal to bounce an iguana trying to cross the road. It so happens that Lhana failed to bring me up to speed on all this seasonal stuff that it seemed like the only thing readily available was typical stuff like fish or chicken, etc. However, no complaints here.

Normally, I'm iffy when it comes to fish. It's a moody, sometime-ish, if I feel like, maybe, sorta, kind of decision making process. I approached it with the same mindset... and then when I tried it, my world changed. While Grenada with it's not so active nightlife is more active than Dominica. Shellon, the foodie, was able to get food at any hour she desired. And when I discovered steam fish, you can bet your bottom dollar I pestered Lhana to help me acquire it.

In Dominica, there are little food places that open at night and serve amazing food. When it comes to fish, it's not like here where you take what is offered and prepared. Instead, when you go, there is a big basin of seasoned fish. You pick which fish you want. Then tell the chef how you want it done - steam, fried, etc. and then patiently wait for your meal to be prepared. Everything was oh-so-delicious. If I so desired jerk or grilled chicken, pork or fish, that was readily available late at nights reliably from I'Cho (It's hot).



Things I found most curious... In Dominica, both the top and bottom of the windscreen is tinted. Some vehicles have straight tints, some have wavy ones like this one in Lhana's mum's car, some have a heavy tint with a narrow slit.

We outchea..!